A renewed emphasis on the family vacation.

The middle class family feared the undesirables because of the nuisance they brought upon their family time. Because the paid autocamps could not keep them away entirely, the riff-raff essentially drove the middle class from their autocamps in search of an alternative destination. The destination itself was a new part of the motorist idea. The early lure of motoring was that the road could lead anywhere, unlike the constricting railroad. However, now the middle class decided that they were not the knapsack kind of people. In fact, many ideas of what they liked had changed. They desired straight and smooth roads. They did not flaunt their dirt as much as before and preferred to get in touch with nature through a window. Tent sales fell in 1929 to the 1916 level from the peak in 1923-1924.

Drivers' new idee fixe was making miles, not patience and community. The drivers no longer meandered down the dusty road, but moved at breakneck speeds ignoring all picturesque landscape. Motorists adopted driving patterns of the railroads they previously despised. Better and safer roads meant that the originally impenetrable darkness was now overcome. Motorists zoomed along highways late at night and early in the morning. After a long day of high speed traveling the families were usually fed up with one another by the end of the day. The children were cranky and the the drivers were tired. All they wanted was an easy place to get some rest. Besides why would anyone waste precious driving time pitching a tent or cooking over a fire? A prepared home was much more efficient.

Picnicking was an economically viable solution.

The new destination was the cabin, the new economically viable choice. They were generally located in the country so nature was still nearby. But it was simply more comfortable than the tent. The cabins were about one dollar a night in most areas. A tent and collapsable furniture was about one hundred dollars. By bringing their own food and bedding the overnight stay was virtually free. Picnicking on the side of the road for lunch was another option which was inexpensive and let the city-weary traveler spend more time in the open landscape. The cabin inherited all the honorable characteristics of the autocamp: community, informality, family, and indepedence. The cabin increased the motorist's automobility freeing him from the weight of furniture, tents, and other gadgets for camping. This became the "home away from home"; someone's else's home, in a more idyllic setting, with all the wonders of outdoors and all the comforts of home. They had folksy names to maintain the level of informality and appeal to the nostalgia of a simpler life. Names were "U-Smile Kamp," "Kamp Kozy Kabins," "U Wanna Kum Back", "Dew Drop Inn", "U Kum Inn," U Pop Inn," and "Tumble Inn," They combined the idea of a rugged individual with gentlemanly graciousness.

The Dixie Highway, 1910.