An Encounter with Route 66 - and Elvis

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Travel my way, take the highway, that's the best. Get your kicks on Route 66. – Bobby Troup

There is perhaps no more fabled roadway in America than US Highway 66. Better known as Route 66, it was immortalized in print by John Steinbeck in his classic depression era novel The Grapes Of Wrath. Nat King Cole sang its praises in Bobby Troup's hit tune Route 66. Marty Milner and George Maharis secured its place in American folklore as the stars of the CBS television series, Route 66, from 1960-1964.

Popular culture may have helped turn US Highway 66 into Historic Route 66, but Route 66 did play an important role in 20th Century America. US Highway 66 was the most direct passageway from Chicago to Los Angeles – the "road to opportunity," as Steinbeck called it. It opened in 1926, and by World War II, the highway was the lifeline between east and west coast military outposts. From 1941-1945 the US government invested nearly $75 billion in capital projects throughout California underwriting new industries and creating scores of jobs.

After the war, thousands of military personnel who had done their training in New Mexico, Arizona, and California abandoned their cold northern hometowns to return west. To them Route 66 symbolized the optimism of post war America. So why my interest in Route 66? Because I had to drive it – or what remains of it – back a year or so ago. My wife and I were finally breaking down and allowing our daughter Erin to take her car to the University of Kentucky where she was a student.

The Cadillac Ranch, located along historic Route 66, was built in the 1970s by helium millionaire Stanley Marsh 3.

So, what kicks awaited us on Route 66? According to the National Historic Route 66 Foundation we would see "wonderful old trading posts and experience America's original 'filling stations' and motels. We would enjoy the scents of mown hay and hickory smoke drifting from pit Bar-B-Que chimneys."

Interstate 40 has absorbed much of the old US Highway 66. Entering I-40 about two hours outside Los Angeles, we were greeted by a road sign that read "Wilmington, N.C. 2400 miles." After that our "kicks" came few and far between. Fortunately I learned I had a very strong bond with Erin. Jimmy Buffet could co-exist with 50 Cent, and Erin could live with show tunes if I could live with The Dixie Chicks.

As far as experiencing America's "first fillin' stations," we paid for that honor outside Albuquerque, New Mexico. After not seeing a gas station for about two hours, the "last gas for 75 miles" charged 75 cents per gallon more than the going rate. What we mostly got on Route 66 was two lanes of highway and lots of arid flatland. The smell of mown hay was overwhelmed by diesel exhaust. Fortunately, unlike Steinbeck's Tom Joad, we had air conditioning.

There were highlights along the way. We spent our first night in Flagstaff, Arizona, which at 7,000 ft. above sea level, is Route 66's highest point. Outside Amarillo, Texas we spotted the Cadillac Ranch, 10 graffiti covered vintage Cadillacs (1948-1967) half buried nose first into the ground. We also passed the world's largest cross in Groom, Texas, the boyhood home of Garth Brooks in Yukon, Oklahoma, and Cowboys Quarterback Troy Aikman's hometown in Henrietta.