#446 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday September 2)
If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way
Take the highway that’s the best
Get your kicks on Route 66…
Good morning,
For some reason, today I’m focused today on the number “66” and this song… Most of us know the words of “Route 66.” The list of cities and towns along the way is fun and rhythmic:
“It winds from Chicago to LA
More than two thousand miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66
Now you go through St. Louis
Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty
You'll see Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona
Don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino…”
How did it come into being and what is left of it now?
BEGINNINGS AND EARLY HISTORY
Back in 1857, a wagon road west along a similar route to what became Route 66 was contemplated. The original road was started in 1913, portions of which (before it was diverted) remain in the Cajon Pass (the steep pass between the San Gabriels and the San Bernardinos that is traversed by Interstate 15).
The auto road itself began in 1926 and was not fully paved until 1938. Cyrus Avery, a Tulsa businessman and chairman of the state highway commission, is credited with the idea for the road. He founded the U.S. 66 Highway Association and coined the nickname, “Main Street of America.”
During the mid-20th century, the road was a primary route west and was a boon to otherwise forgettable communities along the way. It quickly found its way into American culture, beginning with The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, and continuing to include a TV show of the same name. It became a symbol of the idea of wanderlust and the open road in American culture, including in the eponymous song.
From the Route 66 Historical Association:
“Route 66 was a highway spawned by the demands of a rapidly changing America. Contrasted with the Lincoln, the Dixie, and other highways of its day, route 66 did not follow a traditionally linear course. Its diagonal course linked hundreds of predominantly rural communities in Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas to Chicago; thus enabling farmers to transport grain and produce for redistribution. The diagonal configuration of Route 66 was particularly significant to the trucking industry, which by 1930 had come to rival the railroad for preeminence in the American shipping industry. The abbreviated route between Chicago and the Pacific coast traversed essentially flat prairie lands and enjoyed a more temperate climate than northern highways, which made it especially appealing to truckers.”
REMINISCENCE
I remember traveling along Route 66 in “Sonnenberg driving vacations” with my parents. At the time, one could travel pretty quickly in its more desolate areas, but had to slow down, sometimes to a crawl (but always under the watchful eye of local police with “speed traps”) when going through some towns. Along the way, particularly in what was then dubbed “Indian Country,” one would stop at “trading posts.” These stores had no shortage of cat’s eye stones, carved wooden totems, kachina dolls and all size and sort of souvenir. The places themselves seemed throwbacks even then. To a kid, these trading posts were mysterious collections of exotica. Even as a child, some of the parts of Route 66 already were being bypassed by the more direct, faster, Interstate Highways.
My father had a legendary lack of a sense of direction. For navigation, he relied upon my mother’s sense of direction and my map skills. One time, as I pored over the list of sites provided in the Automobile Association’s Tour Book, I asked if we could visit Dinosaur Tracks, Arizona. He indicated we needed to make some progress and he didn’t want to stop. Being a wise-ass and, taking advantage of my father’s imprecise navigational skills, I simply directed him there anyway. I could tell my father was amused, despite his feigned anger, which quickly melted away—but I got to visit, along with other sites of varied importance along the way.
On the subject of dinosaur tracks, I remain a sucker to this day for fossil remnants throughout the West… And yes, there are plenty—like Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming. Much of the American West was underwater for millennia. And there are a number meteor craters and dormant volcanic cones, as well. But I digress…
WHAT REMAINS
The advance of progress and the need for greater speed (and fewer speed traps) led to the Interstate Highway System. And that meant Route 66 would be cut in pieces often bypassed. When I was a kid, Interstate 40 was completed in certain areas, with Route 66 filling in the gaps. But that was soon in the past. Route 66 ultimately died a slow death. What remains is a string of roads through tired old cities that used to depend upon the trade of truckers and vacationers along the way, which now is left to slow decline. Some portions, particularly in the Midwest, have been named Historic Route 66 and aficionados will make pilgrimages to visit these pieces of history. Some portions remain well-traveled even today. Glendale Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, all the way to the ocean in Santa Monica, have “Historic Route 66” signs today.
ROAD TRIPS
Don’t knock them. The open road during the summer, a little heat, windows open (or air conditioning blowing) the radio blaring, and places to visit—great and small! Tell me these sights along Historic Route 66 and Interstate 40 aren’t classics: https://www.arizona-leisure.com/route-66-attractions.html
THANKS
Thanks for putting up with me and my musings. I’m a lucky guy to know you.
Historic 66,
Glenn
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