These days, home Internet service is seen as a necessity. It’s a utility, nearly as important as running water, or even electricity. But I’m old enough to remember when having access to the World Wide Web at home was a rarity. And back before social media sites like Twitter and Facebook (or even MySpace!) the only real way for netizens to build an online platform was to construct their own website. But even then, it seemed that very few people had either the time or the inclination to master HTML.
All of that changed when the “web log” came along. Better known by its truncated nickname, the “blog” first appeared during the late 1990s, though it would be another few years before your grandmother and all her fellow retirees would take a shine to these online diaries. The mid-aughts, from 2004 to 2008 or so, were kind of like the Golden Era of Blogging, where individuals with an excess of time and enthusiasm took to boring the rest of the world by writing about their hobbies. Most of these blogs were labors of love, but amazingly, a few authors were able to turn their passions into viable online businesses.
The majority of these personal blogs have been abandoned now, but quite a few are still out there on the Web, silent and forgotten. And among these digital relics, my absolute favorite dead blog is an old classic called “Mustang Rolling.”
I stumbled across this site in 2006, back when I was living and working in Charleston, South Carolina. Blogging was still a new and notable hobby in those days, and the Post & Courier newspaper had run an article profiling some of the area’s most popular bloggers. One in particular— an anonymous travelogue written by the owner of a slick new Mustang GT coupe— captured my imagination immediately. At the time, wide swaths of rural South Carolina were still largely undeveloped, with the promise of adventure waiting just off the beaten path, and I was fascinated by the idea of exploring the open road.
And yes, while it is a little cringey to go back now and read through the earliest posts, most of which were basically just awkward glamour shots, I choose to focus on how the author’s journalistic endeavor matured over time. As the weeks passed, this anonymous blogger must have grown tired of waxing the beast, and he actually sat down behind the wheel to take his pride and joy for a spin. The car pictures never really stopped, but over time, more interesting places than the driveway began appearing in the background. And the author, for his part, took to ruminating on his travels with a series of narrations that echoed John Steinbeck.
Once the author finally clued in to the fact that such a beautiful car was meant to be driven, he set off along the back roads of the Palmetto State, kicking off a winding, wandering journey which would last for nearly six years. Driving for hours at a stretch, never once deigning to stop in at a chain store or a franchise restaurant, the author managed to cobble together a unique bucket list of lesser-known landmarks like Bowman’s UFO Welcome Center. Because let’s face it, you really can’t claim to have visited South Carolina unless you’ve stopped in to the World-Famous African Kingdom of Oyotunji (as seen on TV!)
Of course, in true hipster fashion, my absolute favorite posts were those where the author stumbled across some hidden gem which I’d already happen to “discover” on my own. No disrespect, though— classics like the Pon Pon Chapel of Ease ruins will always be more treasured when you manage to find them without the help of a guidebook. And I do have to give the guy credit: he sure had a knack for rooting out the best hole-in-the-wall barbecue joints.
Even after my gig on the traveling circus took me away from Charleston, I continued following “Mustang Rolling” through the very end of its run. The travels continued on apace, until one day, they didn’t. This particular site went out the way all blogs do; not with a bang, but with a quiet whisper. The author’s once-regular posts dwindled in 2010, during what looked to be an unplanned gap year, followed by one final pass through South of the Border in 2011.
It’s impossible to say what might have happened. Maybe the author simply packed up and left South Carolina for a better career opportunity, same as I did. Or if we can be so bold as to stereotype the driver of a new, custom sports car as an older male— one with a particular affinity for barbecue— then it’s also possible that he might have passed away by now. His beloved steed ‘Windveil’ might have been handed down to the next-of-kin, a younger generation with too many responsibilities to just slip away and put the wind at their back on whimsical journeys of discovery. The treasured car might well have been resold at some shady dealership along Savannah Highway, available for some other lucky owner through a series of affordable monthly payments and a low, low introductory interest rate.
But in my mind, at least, I like to imagine that the author and his Mustang might have just chosen to drive off into the sunset. The two of them could still be out there today, just beyond the range of cell phone coverage and Wi-Fi signals. The original blog might be dead, but who knows? They might have found some new way to lay down their digital tire tracks, so that wanderers like us can follow behind.