I live about four doors down from Route 66 in L.A. Just another four lane, lots of traffic road that I try to avoid whenever possible… It’s funny, the name Route 66 sounds sort of romantic even to me, then I look down the street and think, nope, no kicks here…
When I was a kid we lived in southern California and my grandmother lived in Tulsa. So, yes. A lot.
We drove by a volcano (Amboy Crater), usually stopped in Albuquerque to visit one of my mom’s old friends and eat at the Hacienda in Old Town (which is still there, but you can’t watch them make sopapillas anymore), and I remember lots of giant jackrabbit signs advertising some place we never could stop at. Because it was a trap.
When I was in college in Oklahoma my roommate and I drove from Norman to Tulsa a lot, and to not spend money on the turnpike we took the old road, which was 66 for some distance. Last place I ever saw a Burma Shave sign.
How ironic – I was in Los Angeles just last week to research and blog about doughnuts and one of the best that I had (still to be written up), was Donut Man on Route 66. I thought it might be cliché to reference the song, but I really DID get my kicks insofar as that particular doughnut stand was concerned!
I lived on Route 66 when I was at University of Missouri - Rolla, or Missouri University of Science & Technology as it is now. Due to campus housing shortages the university rented out all the motels along Martin Spring Drive which was Route 66 back in the day.
I’ve stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. I’d be really shocked if a hot looking girl drove by in a flat bed Ford (although the song doesn’t say that she was hot, I just imagined it that way).
We used to drive the Amarillo-Oklahoma City portion a lot before Interstate 40 was finished and we were heading to my grandmother’s house in Arkansas. Living in Albuquerque for a while as a young adult, my apartment was not too far from from Central Avenue in Albuquerque, which is the old Route 66.
We traveled Route 66 a lot when I was a kid, and I have to agree. Most of the eateries were small-town diners, most of the motels were fleabags, and most of the roadside attractions sold the same tacky junk.
My grandmother worked at the “historic” Midway Restaurant in Cuba, MO. My strongest memory of it is that my grandmother herself wouldn’t eat there.
Not to mention that in Missouri, the road was often two-lane, with hills and blind curves. There’s not a lot of nostalgia involved in remembering my father swinging out to pass a fully loaded semi trying to go up a hill, only to see another fully loaded semi in the process of burning its brakes out coming down the hill.
Earlier this year I drove from St. Louis to Dwight, IL on Route 66. We started at the Chain of Rocks bridge (in order to avoid East St. Louis). There’s a lot of towns on Old 66 that have embraced the old road. Atlanta, IL was pretty cool. The Palms Grill Cafe is set up like a 50’s diner and still has the Greyhound sign hanging outside. Downtown Pontiac was pretty cool. There’s the restored Standard Oil station in Odell and the Frank Lloyd Wright designed First National Bank Building in Dwight. Along most of the route from Springfield north you can still see the south bound portion of the divided highway.
It took us about 10 hours to get from St. Louis to Dwight, but we did stop along the way to see some sights. If you’re ever in Springfield make sure you stop and see the Dana-Thomas House. It’s one of Wright’s masterpieces.
No. I live near there. I quickly learned that you’d catch less dangerous diseases if you got kicks someplace else.