On the road to Route 66 2012
04-03-2012, 08:42 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
On the road to Route 66 2012
Its 5am when we pull out of Toronto, and the light snow has almost melted. The Cayenne is loaded,freshly serviced. The tires are legal but well intone their lifespan and will be changed in Scottsdale when we get there.
Phil is co-driving, and we plan to see more of Route 66 on our way. Our journey will stop at St Louis, Oklahoma City,Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon on our way into Scottsdale AZ. The trip back, loaded with an SL on the trailer and two dogs will be much more utilitarian.
Route 66 ran from Chicago to LA, most of it a two lane concrete highway and famously had two major incarnations,as the road on which millions of migrants headed West for a new life during the Depression, and as a major vacation route in the fifties and sixties. It was a victim of its own success and became a transcontinental traffic jam, bypassed or overbuilt by the great Interstates in the sixties, and many of small towns and tourist attractions that lined it are gone. However, there is a robust preservation movement to protect what's left, and no other road has had such an impact on American car culture.
DAY 1.
This is our longest and most boring day, a straight shot to St Louis, passing through Michigan, Indiana and Illinois to get to St Louis, just inside the Missouri border.
We briefly stop to see a beautifully preserved gas station on a piece of original 66, and divert into Springfield, the state capitol, where one of the three extant Illinois giants still stands. These were once very common 66, but as there businesses they advertised failed or were sold, they disappeared.
We arrive at St Louis and stay right at the Arch. After a cheap meal in the landing district, which seems to consist of tribes of teenage bachelorettes in matching outfits, we call it a day.
DAY 2
Exploration day. We leave early, with our first stop being the small town of Cuba, Mo through which 66 ran. They have painted just about every available space with murals ,advertising commercial businesses, civil war events, even a tribute to a long ago Mayor. The Route 66 cafe has sadly closed:
The wagon wheel motel sign remains, but the motel is long gone
An old Chevy sits on a service bay of a former gas station nearby
We see the first of many religious messages and admonitions for better behaviour:
Leaving Cuba, we decide to skip the Vacuum Cleaner Museum and stop swearing:
Near to Cuba is the worlds largest Rocking Chair.....
We head back on the soulless interstate past the large Bourbon container, but not for long:
66 curved through the tiny crossroads of Paris Springs Mo. Here lives Gary Turner, who recreated the Gay Parita gas station that had burned down many years ago. He steps off his old Ford model N tractor and offers us a Route 66 Root beer. He is a mine of 66 lore and gives us a tour of his garage and the gas station:
He gets all sorts of visitors:
Phil is co-driving, and we plan to see more of Route 66 on our way. Our journey will stop at St Louis, Oklahoma City,Albuquerque, the Grand Canyon on our way into Scottsdale AZ. The trip back, loaded with an SL on the trailer and two dogs will be much more utilitarian.
Route 66 ran from Chicago to LA, most of it a two lane concrete highway and famously had two major incarnations,as the road on which millions of migrants headed West for a new life during the Depression, and as a major vacation route in the fifties and sixties. It was a victim of its own success and became a transcontinental traffic jam, bypassed or overbuilt by the great Interstates in the sixties, and many of small towns and tourist attractions that lined it are gone. However, there is a robust preservation movement to protect what's left, and no other road has had such an impact on American car culture.
DAY 1.
This is our longest and most boring day, a straight shot to St Louis, passing through Michigan, Indiana and Illinois to get to St Louis, just inside the Missouri border.
We briefly stop to see a beautifully preserved gas station on a piece of original 66, and divert into Springfield, the state capitol, where one of the three extant Illinois giants still stands. These were once very common 66, but as there businesses they advertised failed or were sold, they disappeared.
We arrive at St Louis and stay right at the Arch. After a cheap meal in the landing district, which seems to consist of tribes of teenage bachelorettes in matching outfits, we call it a day.
DAY 2
Exploration day. We leave early, with our first stop being the small town of Cuba, Mo through which 66 ran. They have painted just about every available space with murals ,advertising commercial businesses, civil war events, even a tribute to a long ago Mayor. The Route 66 cafe has sadly closed:
The wagon wheel motel sign remains, but the motel is long gone
An old Chevy sits on a service bay of a former gas station nearby
We see the first of many religious messages and admonitions for better behaviour:
Leaving Cuba, we decide to skip the Vacuum Cleaner Museum and stop swearing:
Near to Cuba is the worlds largest Rocking Chair.....
We head back on the soulless interstate past the large Bourbon container, but not for long:
66 curved through the tiny crossroads of Paris Springs Mo. Here lives Gary Turner, who recreated the Gay Parita gas station that had burned down many years ago. He steps off his old Ford model N tractor and offers us a Route 66 Root beer. He is a mine of 66 lore and gives us a tour of his garage and the gas station:
He gets all sorts of visitors:
Last edited by Ronan; 04-03-2012 at 10:42 AM.
04-03-2012, 09:01 AM
#2
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Thread Starter
There are strips of 66 that still have the original Portland cement and are utterly unchanged from the beginning, such as this one:
We decide to make a detour to the only strip of 66 in Kansas. It barely clips the corner of the state for 13 miles.
In the town on Baxter Springs KS, there is, inexplicably, a Renault breakers. I notice a Dauphine on the racks. Opposite the yard sits an old ****** Jeep in the 88 degree sun:
There is a constant thwap thwap on the Cayenne as we are constantly hit by large soggy insects and have to stop frequently to clear the windshield.
We arrive on Oklahoma City, surely the quietest place on earth on a Sunday. If yo ever saw the movie 28 days, its like that. Basically all restaurants are closed, so we eat at the hotel. We walk over to the the Oklahoma City Memorial on the sites of the Alfred P Murrah building, where Tim McVeigh left a truckload of fertilizer and racing fuel and killed 168 people, including children in a daycare centre. His motivation was revenge on the Federal Government for Waco. The memorial consists of a chair for every victim with half size chairs for the children. It sits on a quiet reflecting pool.
We call it a night.
We decide to make a detour to the only strip of 66 in Kansas. It barely clips the corner of the state for 13 miles.
In the town on Baxter Springs KS, there is, inexplicably, a Renault breakers. I notice a Dauphine on the racks. Opposite the yard sits an old ****** Jeep in the 88 degree sun:
There is a constant thwap thwap on the Cayenne as we are constantly hit by large soggy insects and have to stop frequently to clear the windshield.
We arrive on Oklahoma City, surely the quietest place on earth on a Sunday. If yo ever saw the movie 28 days, its like that. Basically all restaurants are closed, so we eat at the hotel. We walk over to the the Oklahoma City Memorial on the sites of the Alfred P Murrah building, where Tim McVeigh left a truckload of fertilizer and racing fuel and killed 168 people, including children in a daycare centre. His motivation was revenge on the Federal Government for Waco. The memorial consists of a chair for every victim with half size chairs for the children. It sits on a quiet reflecting pool.
We call it a night.
Last edited by Ronan; 04-03-2012 at 10:43 AM.
04-03-2012, 09:16 AM
#3
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Thread Starter
Day 3
We stop at Elk City for the Route 66 Museum. Definitely not worth it.
Lucille's roadhouse in Hydro, Oklahoma was an institution until Lucille Haman died at a very advanced age in 2000. The building has been preserved and a modern version now sits in nearby Weatherford. It sits on original Route 66.
[IMG]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n29/RMcG/Route%2066-
2012/3eb44ab0.jpg[/IMG]
We stay on old 66 and cross a long bridge imagining how long lines of 1950s cars managed this in heavily congested traffic:
Just at the border of Oklahoma and Texas sits the ghost town of Texola, which was variously in TX or OK as the border moved periodically,. It appears to have a handful of inhabitants but is mainly abandoned, with the county Jail standing open:
McLean in Texas is a sad little 66 town ,barely hanging on:
Everyone has heard of the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, but the bug ranch in Conway Tx is a tad less famous:
If you were travelling from Chicago to LA, the you would be exactly halfway there in Adrian Tx. There sits the Midpoint Cafe which was one of the buildings modelled in the animated feature, Cars. The character of Flo in the movie was based on the then proprietor, Fran. The waitress was the basis for the facial expressions on the Mazda MX5. Fran drops by to chat with Dennis, the new owner. Next door sits a Chevy on blocks and an elaborately autographed truck.
Back on the highway, we exit at 369 for the Russell's truck stop where the owner has a rotating exhibit of his classic car collection. Notable is a Corvette that has never been driven. The original owner, a car dealer who had retired put it in storage, and the current owner bought it from the kids after his passing:
Back on the highway we are once again exhorted to bette behaviour:
Up ahead, the sky is looking a little iffy as we head into New Mexico:
The temperature drops suddenly from 80 to 37, and we hit a snowstorm. Its a very strange thing as initially the sun is poking through the clouds and the snow is like dry ice, requiring no wipers. It then turns to way snow and we drive into Albuquerque
We are of course, greeted with good behaviour invitations:
The Andaluz Hotel in Albuquerque is excellent and not expensive. Recommended:
We stop at Elk City for the Route 66 Museum. Definitely not worth it.
Lucille's roadhouse in Hydro, Oklahoma was an institution until Lucille Haman died at a very advanced age in 2000. The building has been preserved and a modern version now sits in nearby Weatherford. It sits on original Route 66.
[IMG]http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n29/RMcG/Route%2066-
2012/3eb44ab0.jpg[/IMG]
We stay on old 66 and cross a long bridge imagining how long lines of 1950s cars managed this in heavily congested traffic:
Just at the border of Oklahoma and Texas sits the ghost town of Texola, which was variously in TX or OK as the border moved periodically,. It appears to have a handful of inhabitants but is mainly abandoned, with the county Jail standing open:
McLean in Texas is a sad little 66 town ,barely hanging on:
Everyone has heard of the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, but the bug ranch in Conway Tx is a tad less famous:
If you were travelling from Chicago to LA, the you would be exactly halfway there in Adrian Tx. There sits the Midpoint Cafe which was one of the buildings modelled in the animated feature, Cars. The character of Flo in the movie was based on the then proprietor, Fran. The waitress was the basis for the facial expressions on the Mazda MX5. Fran drops by to chat with Dennis, the new owner. Next door sits a Chevy on blocks and an elaborately autographed truck.
Back on the highway, we exit at 369 for the Russell's truck stop where the owner has a rotating exhibit of his classic car collection. Notable is a Corvette that has never been driven. The original owner, a car dealer who had retired put it in storage, and the current owner bought it from the kids after his passing:
Back on the highway we are once again exhorted to bette behaviour:
Up ahead, the sky is looking a little iffy as we head into New Mexico:
The temperature drops suddenly from 80 to 37, and we hit a snowstorm. Its a very strange thing as initially the sun is poking through the clouds and the snow is like dry ice, requiring no wipers. It then turns to way snow and we drive into Albuquerque
We are of course, greeted with good behaviour invitations:
The Andaluz Hotel in Albuquerque is excellent and not expensive. Recommended:
Last edited by Ronan; 04-03-2012 at 10:45 AM.
04-03-2012, 09:42 AM
#5
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Thread Starter
Today, we start the trek to Arizona and up to the Grand Canyon. Its snowing heavily in Albuquerque and they do not salt, so we will take things a lot more gingerly.
Last edited by Ronan; 04-03-2012 at 10:37 AM.
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04-05-2012, 12:00 AM
#14
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Thread Starter
So, the journey continued. Next morning, Albuquerque was in a snowstorm, fairly routine by Canadian standards, but they do not use salt there, and the roads were lethal, Hard to believe that it was 88 the previous day.
It passed as quickly as it arrived, and as we hit Arizona, it was over....
n Winslow AZ another Route 66 town, they have a corner dedicated to the Eagles song that begins " Standin' on the corner in Winslow Arizona".....
IN Holbrooke AZ sits the Wigwam Motel. Originally part of a chin of six, only two survive. The Wigwams are made of concrete and have survived very well. A variety of elderly American cars are scattered around the parking lot. Rumour has it that the rooms are not too comfortable, however.
A quite restorable diner sits abandoned there, and I also spotted a car that I can no longer remember..was it an Australian-built Ford Capri??.
We drove onwards to Flagstaff, where 66 ran right along the side of the track. We wait for the Santa Fe Intermodal train to go by:
Onwards from Flagstaff lies the gateway village of Williams. on the way to the Grand Canyon I think it was always touristy. It has the distinction of being the very last place in which Route 66 was decommissioned in 1974.
It passed as quickly as it arrived, and as we hit Arizona, it was over....
n Winslow AZ another Route 66 town, they have a corner dedicated to the Eagles song that begins " Standin' on the corner in Winslow Arizona".....
IN Holbrooke AZ sits the Wigwam Motel. Originally part of a chin of six, only two survive. The Wigwams are made of concrete and have survived very well. A variety of elderly American cars are scattered around the parking lot. Rumour has it that the rooms are not too comfortable, however.
A quite restorable diner sits abandoned there, and I also spotted a car that I can no longer remember..was it an Australian-built Ford Capri??.
We drove onwards to Flagstaff, where 66 ran right along the side of the track. We wait for the Santa Fe Intermodal train to go by:
Onwards from Flagstaff lies the gateway village of Williams. on the way to the Grand Canyon I think it was always touristy. It has the distinction of being the very last place in which Route 66 was decommissioned in 1974.
04-05-2012, 12:01 AM
#15
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Thread Starter
The Grand Canyon is a cliche, but no matter how much we have all heard of it, and even visited it, it remains an incredibly impressive sight. A mile deep, ten miles wide and over 200 miles long,it feels like the world's largest cathedral, and makes humans invisible. I have never photographed it well. It takes a lot more skill than mine.
We are staying at El Tovar, one of the very few hotels that sit on the Canyon rim. It is an old log structure with tiny rooms indifferent food, and a thronged lobby with day trippers. However, you can simply walk outside and you are right there on the rim.
People like to sit on the rim, which is unprotected. Now and then one falls in:
Here are a few shots:
We are staying at El Tovar, one of the very few hotels that sit on the Canyon rim. It is an old log structure with tiny rooms indifferent food, and a thronged lobby with day trippers. However, you can simply walk outside and you are right there on the rim.
People like to sit on the rim, which is unprotected. Now and then one falls in:
Here are a few shots: