You've heard about Route 66, you might have even traveled the road as a kid, sweating it out along with your parents and siblings as you made your great summer escape as you ate up the miles along one of North America's oldest (now rarely used) roadway.
Also known as "The Mother Road," Route 66 can still be traveled, but you will have to leave the freeway if you want to step back into time, if you want to re-experience the feelings you once had as a kid as you zipped by inviting motel, tourist attraction, diner, and Burma-Shave signs.
Does anyone out there still remember the funny sayings that were posting along Route 66 that ended in the famous Burma-Shave sign? Those signs still exist, at least along the stretch of roadway between Kingman and Seligman, Arizona. Reading them now, in middle age, will make you feel like a kid again.
Recently, my husband and I flew into Vegas, but we had plans to explore farther afield than the strip. And we did. Twice in fact. The lure of Route 66 was so great, that after the first day trip, we knew that a second one was definitely in order.
We also traveled an original stretch of Route 66 that took us from Needles, California into Oatman, Arizona, where wild burros roam freely through the tiny town.
The kids, especially those kids past the age of fifty, will love a visit to Oatman; and if you travel the stretch between Oatman and Kingman, you will see the wreckages of old cars from the 40s and 50s that didn't quite make the turn.
Route 66 truly is time travel. Be careful though; like the thousands of bikers that consider Route 66 a "great ride," you, too, might fall under its magical spell. Eat at one of the vintage diners, like Mr. D'z in Kingman or the Snow Cap in Seligman, spend an hour in the Kingman museum, or simply stand in the middle of nowhere, in the blazing 100 degree sun, with desert and mountains stretching out forever, with nary another car in sight.
Historic Route 66, stretching from the Santa Monica pier in California to the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, is a worthy side trip, or a destination in itself. Whether you are in search of a nostalgic step back in time, or you have never traveled the road but you like to get off the beaten path, find an original piece of Route 66. And make plans to drive it.
Start by checking out some of the web sites dedicated to the preservation of Route 66 (there are many) like
http://www.kingmantourism.org/option,com_chronocontact/Itemid,60/, then gas up your car, pack a picnic lunch, remember the bottled water, and be sure to take your camera. Route 66 is a definite must, regardless of the price of gasoline.
Be sure to spend a little cash in the diners, the old motels, and the souvenir shops, those struggling businesses, many still in their original vintage incarnation, that are striving to keep themselves and the spirit of one of America's oldest and most beloved pieces of history, alive.
For more on my trip to Vegas and Route 66, check out my journal entries at http://blog.picajet.com.
Cheers,
Sheree Zielke
1 comments:
What a delightful reminder that I should be exploring more of Arizona.
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