As I mentioned in the Cars’ thread I was an editor of a newspaper along Route 66 in New Mexico a few years back. I really loved it. My father had been a truck driver and drove the Mother Road when he was young and told stories about the highway. I also road on it with my family a little (but I was very young at the time), so to be involved with all the activities along a specific stretch of it was great.
Most of the people who had the Route '66 oriented stores or shops along the highway were my friends (in my area at least). The guy who has the Teepee Curio Shop, the guy who had the '66 Restrauant, the couple who own the Blue Bird Motor Court that has (or had, it may not be any longer) all the rooms decorated in 50s style and even have those cool little 40s/50 mini carport/garages next to the rooms. To those people, 66 was really special. It wasn’t just a money making gimmick. They really liked experiencing the history of the road and enjoyed knowing about it and enjoyed the people who wanted to talk about it.
I also got a big kick out of the people who come along the highway and try to drive as much of 66 as possible. There were also a bunch of classic car clubs who would come through town every year to match up their cars and the Mother Road. They were always fun to interview. Especially fun were the non-American clubers who would drive their classic American car with maybe an Airstream trailor or the college classes who were traveling the road as a class for credit at some college on the East or West coasts. It was a hoot-and-a-half.
I used to hop on my old motorcycle and ride Route 66 between Tucumcari and San Jon (a stretch of about 22 miles). It was spooky in a lot of ways. There are a couple of ghost gas stations where the old highway snakes between the two towns up and down a few hills and you really get the feel for the road as it was.
Anyway, I used to get a major kick out of Route 66.
