TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP Route 66, America's 'Mother Road', revs back to life
Route 66, America's 'Mother Road', revs back to life
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Updated: 2017-06-05
Route 66, the iconic US road threading through eight states from Chicago to Santa Monica, offers a glimpse of a bygone era of history.[Photo/Agencies]
For decades, Route 66 captured the imagination of travelers the world over, offering a glimpse of a bygone era of US history, when people hit the road in search of adventure and a better life.
The two-lane highway established in 1926 and coined the "Mother Road" by John Steinbeck seemed to encompass the essence of the United States, threading through eight states from Chicago to Santa Monica.
But after it was decommissioned in the 1980s in favor of larger and faster thoroughfares, Route 66 appeared headed for the dustbin of history as the mom-and-pop stores, kitschy motels, diners and gas stations that lined the road gradually shut down.
"Entire towns folded up, and what had been a 2,400-mile (4,000-kilometer) carnival became－to a large extent－a 2,400-mile ghost town," explains David Knudson, founder and executive director of the nonprofit National Historic Route 66 Federation.
In recent years, however, the iconic road that has been immortalized in countless books, movies, music (Get Your Kicks on Route 66) and a TV series has been experiencing a nostalgia-driven revival that is attracting tourists from around the globe.
Ultimate road trip
"Foreigners come to travel the road because it gives them a chance to experience America before we became generic," says Michael Wallis, a historian and author of Route 66: The Mother Road.
"It's still the road of adventure because nothing on Route 66 is predictable," he adds.
"I often say, 'You know what you are going to get at McDonald's ... but if you are on an old two-lane such as Route 66, you could go into a cafe, a greasy spoon, a pie place, a diner and you don't know what you're going to get.'"
Wallis says the fastest-growing groups of tourists on Route 66 are Chinese and Brazilians, as well as Europeans drawn by the idea of the open space and the "roadtrip of a lifetime".
"I have clients in their 20s and 70s who are fascinated by this road, and everyone is looking for convertible Mustangs and Harley Davidsons to experience it," says Zsolt Nagy, who twice a year organizes Route 66 road trips that cost up to $8,000 per person.
"Business is booming. The roads are better. The signs are better. It's coming back to life," says Zsolt, who is from Hungary and who fell in love with the open road about 10 years ago when he traveled it.
"I think the legend is growing like crazy."
Bob Russell, the mayor of Pontiac, a settlement about two hours southwest of Chicago, says his small community of about 12,000 people is a prime example of the resurgent interest in the road.
"It has been an amazing transformation," he says of the town that boasts four museums and 27 large murals, and is considered one of the jewels of Route 66.
"There is a special aura for Route 66 to the overseas people because it represents freedom, the open road, your scarf around your neck and your hair blowing in the wind."
'Sundown towns'
Driving today along stretches of the fabled highway－85 percent of which can still be traveled－one can see renovated motels with blazing neon signs, newly opened museums, quirky sights and souvenir shops galore.
There are also half-abandoned communities and crumbling ghost towns that echo Steinbeck's epic 1930s novel of the Great Depression, The Grapes of Wrath－the story of a family that embarks on a journey along Route 66, fleeing the Oklahoma dustbowl for California.
And while the road for many may evoke images of a more innocent America, as encapsulated in Norman Rockwell's paintings, Route 66 had a more sinister side for black travelers.
Half of the 89 counties that lined the highway were known as "sundown towns" where African-Americans were banned after dark.
The author Candacy Taylor was researching a travel guide on Route 66 when she stumbled on The Negro Motorist Green Book, which listed safe places along the road－and notably revealed that the Ku Klux Klan ran Fantastic Caverns, a popular tourist attraction in Springfield, Missouri, and held cross burnings inside.
"All of the American narratives around what it means to hit the open road and the freedom and the symbolism that comes along with that was a dramatically different story for black people," says Taylor, who encourages people to "look beyond the bobby socks, the Chevys and the chrome" to experience the real Route 66.
"It's an American icon, just like Marilyn Monroe or Elvis," she says.
"But Route 66 is not perfect and shiny. There are a lot of cracks in that metaphor, in that illusion of what America is."
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Although I've travelled on many American highways, I was never on Route 66.
I worked as the GM at a Holiday Inn Express that was on Route 66 in Weatherford, Oklahoma. It runs alongside of Interstate 40 there, so if you get off the first Weatherford exit heading west from the 40 the hotel is right there. It was one of the "sundowner" towns for many years and many of the locals still spoke with pride of the fact. Now it's the home of Southwestern Oklahoma State University and is the birthplace of Gen Tom Stafford who was an Air Force astronaut. He was the commander of Apollo 10 and circled the Moon and was the first man to test fly the Lunar Landing Module on that flight. He was also the Commander on the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, becoming the first General in space. Meeting him was just about the only good thing I can say about Weatherford. Most of the people were racist or sexist rednecks. The owner turned out to be a real dickhead. He ran for the state legislature as a republican and I wouldn't campaign for him because I told him I couldn't lie and tell people that I believed in what he stood for and besides he knew I was a liberal when he hired me and I was the hotel manager and it wasn't part of my job. He lost (for the 2nd time because most other people didn't like him either) and all of a sudden I wasn't a "team Player" anymore and down the road I went back to L.A.
There. THAT should attract the one-track minds around here.
What did Trump do now? He's a kook.
I knew that if I put Trump's name in the headline this article would get a response.
One of the stars of Route 66 looked like a young Donald Trump
Martin Milner
I remember watching the TV series, and that they drove a Chev Corvette.
Much of Route 66 is what is today known as Interstate 40. My wife and I traveled along about half the Route in March of 1972, going from Long Beach, CA to Amarillo, TX , before cutting north to visit a relative of hers in southern Iowa, on our way to my parents' home in Michigan and hers in Kenosha, WI. I was on a thirty day leave pending deployment to the Western Pacific and, at the end of that time, flew back to LA to rejoin my ship.
In later years, looking at the map of that trip, we saw very many interesting things that we should have stopped to see. We didn't. Deployment to WestPac meant deployment to Vietnam, so we wanted to spend as much of the thirty days as possible with our families. Because of this, we really didn't see many of the more described parts of the highway. A couple of impressions of the trip have stayed with me over the years, though.
We drove a 1966 Corvair. It was a good little car as long as you didn't make any high speed turns. With the 4 cylinder engine, it wasn't likely to attain a very high speed anyway, and, on anything but a level road with no load in the vehicle, the engine was underpowered. We had all of our possessions loaded in it and were headed through the mountains of southeastern California. I clearly recall hitting 70mph at the bottom of one particularly steep hill and doing 25mph by the time we got to the top with the accelerator flat on the floor the whole time.
An impression that has lasted for many years happened on the second morning of our trip. We stayed the first night in a motel in a small town in New Mexico not too far west of Albuquerque, I believe the town was named Mesilia. We resumed our trip east before dawn. I clearly remember coming to the top of the pass in the Sandia Mountains and first seeing the city. The valley had a low fog that morning and the sun was shining on the fog and the taller buildings of Albuquerque. Absolutely beautiful. As we drove through the city, we passed right in front of the Sandia Nuclear Weapons Center. In 1969, when I attended the basic Naval Gunnery School in Illinois, I was told that I should apply for training as a Gunner's Mate Technician. They are specialists who work on nuclear weapons. I was also told that, if I did so, the training would take place at Sandia, and that, since most of the people being trained there were Army and Air Force personnel, the girls in Albuquerque were very attracted to the much scarcer Naval uniform. Since one of the requirements for such training was a commitment for seven years of service, I passed that off as just trying to get me to sign up for an extra three years. Then I drove past the Center and what did I see......yep, several sailors walking down the street, each of them having two or more young ladies hanging on their arms. The Gunner was actually telling me the truth back in 69!!!
Thanks to Ttga and Randy. Does anyone else have a Route 66 experience to share?