The "America's Main Street! Get Your Kicks On Route 66!" Story

It was an ordinary day. Reading a story in my "Good * Old * Days" magazine titled "Remembering Route 66."  The story told of our nation traveling along America's Main Street; Route 66.  Ah, the family road trip!  Remember going on a vacation where you traveled across our mighty country?  My wife and I traveled from Pennsylvania to Florida and back again when we were first married.  Never did it with our three children.  Not sure we could handle all the commotion in the car with three children who are only about 4 years apart in age from each other.  Well, I recently read a neat story titled "Remembering Route 66: The nation traveled along America's Main Street."  Ah, the family road trip,  Can you think of anything more exciting than packing your family automobile and heading out to see the grand expanses of the United States?  For many families in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, the trip along Route 66 was one memorable vacation.  Route 66 spans from Chicago to Los Angeles and takes you through 8 states from the cornfields of Illinois to the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean.  An exciting trip that takes you across the mighty Mississippi into Missouri, venturing into Indian Territory in Oklahoma, through old mining towns along the dusty Texas Panhandle, looking for large cacti while crossing the sunbaked earth of New Mexico, marveled to the grand expanse of the Grand Canyon then traveling miles and miles through the Mojave Desert until finally arriving amongst the glitz and glamour of Hollywood stars in California.  Along the way there are plenty of stops, such as an underground tour in Missouri's Meramec Caverns where Jesse James once had his hideout.  Perhaps you might like a stop at one of the many reptile ranches along Route 66.  Perhaps a stop at the TeePee Curios Trading Post in Tucumcari, New Mexico which would give you a chance to explore a dizzying assortment of turquoise beads, pop guns, souvenir plates, colorful salt-and-pepper shaker sets and postcards.  Oh yeah...you may want a few pieces of Bazooka bubble gum with the enclosed Bazooka Joe comics!  If you had taken your trip during the golden age of the automobile, you might be able to drive along Route 66 to see neon signs that alerted travelers of upcoming amenities, often with flashing arrows pointing the way.  Along the way you would be able to see recognizable signs such as the Texaco Star and the Sinclair dinosaur.  Sit in your car and wait for the attendant to fill up your tank and wipe the bugs off your windshield.  Most average families had the freedom to travel when a gallon of gas was only about 30 cents.  Along the way you could easily find camping grounds or family run motels along the side of the road.  Usually families could find a clean room for $2 to $3 a night.  Some motels even had individual garages for your car if you stop at their place.  In Arizona and California you could have the opportunity to "Sleep in a Wigwam" for the night.  Maybe even stay at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, New Mexico where Hollywood stars like Humphrey Bogart and Betty Grable spent the night while filming.  Could also stay at the Oatman Hotel in Oatman, Arizona where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard stayed after getting married in nearby Kingman.  If you get hungry you could stop at the Eat-Rite Diner in St. Louis or maybe head to the Luna Cafe in Mitchell, Illinois which was run by Al Capone.  You could scramble up on the Continental Divide sign in New Mexico where on one side the water flows to the Pacific Ocean while on the other, to the Atlantic.  Route 66 was planned to connect the urban parts of the Midwest and the West with the rural areas and small towns in between.  In the beginning, much of Route 66 consisted of dirt roads, and as it passed through the Western states, service stations or motels were few and far between.  America's love of driving grew the popularity of Route 66 and also ushered in its demise.  Eventually faster roads took the traveler away from all the neat sights.  In 1979, the official designation of Route 66 as a through highway was eliminated, and in 1985 the highway was officially decommissioned.  Today, more than 85% of the original road is non-drivable, although in some places you really have to seek it out.  Many of the businesses and roadside attractions that made Route 66 unique have succumbed to the ravages of time.  The National Park Service has established the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program to help keep the memory of this unique route and its slice of Americana alive.  Sad, isn't it?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.