Get Your Kicks on Route 66......Before It's Gone

[SfanGoch]

Interesting piece on The Mother Road.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Back in 2011, I drove most of the remains between Oklahoma and LA, inclusive. Great fun if you like gritty top-down old-school travel and don't share the ride with any whiners. 

Plans to head that way again in late August or September this year.

https://roadtrippers.com/stories/the-ultimate-guide-to-route-66?lng=-109.58235429162846&lat=37.376076551554746&z=5&a2=t!10296177

[eastown]

Did that entire trip in 2012.  From Ontario Canada to Chicago and every inch of 66 that was available, to the Santa Monica Pier.

 Great trip. We did it in our 54 Chevy Wagon.

Attached pic was taken at the El Rancho Hotel in  Gallop New Mexico.

 

  Bob

[Rob Hall]

I've driven on some of the remaining parts in Ca, Az, and NM...some interesting places. 

[Jim N]

Interesting, but the writer never seems to indicate what is causing or why the highway is endangered.

[Greg Myers]

Flagstaff Arizona, don't forget Winona . . .

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, eastown said:

Did that entire trip in 2012.  From Ontario Canada to Chicago and every inch of 66 that was available, to the Santa Monica Pier.

 Great trip. We did it in our 54 Chevy Wagon.

Attached pic was taken at the El Rancho Hotel in  Gallop New Mexico.

Love that Chevy! Man, she's pretty.  

[espo]

I was a passenger with my mother driving our BLACK '49 Ford four door around 1950 from Chicago to Santa Monica. In the western states it was so hot we started driving  at night and I remember watching the Heat Lightning across the horizon. We carried several Desert Bags on the front bumper so we would have water for our selves and the car.  Spent one night in those concrete Tepees you used to see on old Post Cards. My coloring Crayons melted all over the rear package tray. Makes you thankful for the invention of Air Conditioning for your car.   

[modelercarl]

WOW!  This post sure stirs up memories for me.  In 1953 my parents bought a new Buick 2 door sedan for a reunion trip to Ventura, CA.  My dad's parents, a brother and a sister (4 cousins) had all moved to Ventura, CA about 6 years before.  My dad took 5 weeks off work and we hit the road leaving Garden City Michigan, taking "the Southern Route" out to CA and then the "Northern Route" back to Garden City Michigan.

At that time the Southern Route was Highway 66 (now Interstate 40).  We ended up taking 10 days for this leg of our trip due to the many interesting towns, events, attractions (including a side trip to Hoover dam) along the route.  I remember the desert bags hanging on the front of the car, but we also picked up a window mounted "air conditioner" somewhere along the way.  It was supposed to keep the car interior cool when you forced air through it but I don't think you could drive fast enough for it to be effective.  I remember my dad giving it away at a gas station where we had stopped.  Like I mentioned I still have vivid memories of this trip, one of the best ever. Have often thought about taking this trip again at a very leisurely pace, but I think time has run out.....

We did return via the Northern Route but none of us enjoyed it anywhere near as much as travelling through the Southwestern US

[Greg Myers]

These were good for about 20 minutes,

that's when all the water evaporated, then it was time to pull over  and fill it up again. 

You have to pull over because the fill hole is on the outside.

You also need someone to pull the cord inside to rotate the straw cone through the water ever so often, slowly, mind you, or you're gonna get wet.

Yep, it keep you cool , for awhile. 

[Badluck 13]

15 hours ago, Greg Myers said:

These were good for about 20 minutes,

that's when all the water evaporated, then it was time to pull over  and fill it up again. 

You have to pull over because the fill hole is on the outside.

You also need someone to pull the cord inside to rotate the straw cone through the water ever so often, slowly, mind you, or you're gonna get wet.

Yep, it keep you cool , for awhile. 

I want one of these sooooooo bad for my '66..

[1972coronet]

Old overhead sign in Barstow , c.1964 . Note that it was a then-new green background sign ( signs were black background until then ) , and that it's "co-signed" as I-15 / US 91 __  I-40 / US 66 . 

Present-day "updated" , same sign . Note the 'Greenout' [sic] placards over the old US shields . 

 

[1972coronet]

The stretch of I-40 from this junction in Barstow and all the way out to Needles Highway is a long , lonely stretch , with only one 'populated' town midway : Ludlow .

I last drove that road back in October 2006 on a trip to Laughlin , Nevada ( Las Vegas' Mature Brother ) with my dad sitting passenger-side . I set the cruise control at 80 MPH and let 'er go ( 1999 Camry with V6 ) ; and when my dad saw that 80 MPH , he said "You're going to get  a [speeding] ticket !"  . I said , "Not at 80 MPH --- the CHP is looking for people driving in an unsafe manner and / or in-excess of 90 MPH . I'm more likely to get stopped if I'm travelling at 70 MPH ! " .  Arthur Lee & Love Forever Changes , Television Marquee Moon , and other 'we-both-agree-on-this-band's-sound' discs helped keep things cool . 

[Rob Hall]

Drove through there once a few years ago in the other direction...went from Phoenix to Flagstaff then took the 40 to the 15 and down to the 10 and on to LA in a rental '15 Tahoe.  Went home via the 10.   Some interesting desert landscape out there.   I went to So Cal many times over the last 10 years by taking I-10 all the away from Phoenix, and I-8 a couple times to go to San Diego..

[OldTrucker]

Beautiful 54 wagon Bob!

Traveled old66 a lot as a kid here in Illinois and in Missouri! 

You saw the giant astronaut in Wilmington then!,

Lived within a half hour drive from 66 most of my life!

[Force]

Me and a couple of friends rode on the Route 66 from Topock via Oatman, Kingman, Hackberry to Seligman some years ago, interesting ride, after Seligman we took I 40 to Flagstaff.

[eastown]

Thanks for the 54 Chevy compliments.

  Bob

[restoman]

18 hours ago, Greg Myers said:

Flagstaff Arizona, don't forget Winona . . .

The guy who gave us permission to get our kicks...

[Daddyfink]

We drove some of it back in 1984 when we visited Williams, AZ 

Sure was some pretty scenery along the way!

[Greg Myers]

If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the highway that's the best
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six!

It winds from Chicago to L.A
More than two thousand miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six!

Now it goes through Saint Looey
Joplin, Missouri;
Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty
You'll see Amarillo;
Gallup, New Mexico;
Flagstaff, Arizona;
(Don't forget Winona)
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino

Won't you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip?

Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six!
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six!

[SfanGoch]

 

[Badluck 13]

Ohhhhhh yeah great video and version of the song Joe !!!!.....Never can go wrong with Nat King Cole !!!!

[Greg Myers]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CgZnUXqvi8

Rolling Stones 

[Ace-Garageguy]

How 'bout Nelson Riddle's theme for the TV show?

 

[SfanGoch]

It's right up there with the best of them with that hip, sophisticated late '50s-early '60s sound just like the theme from "77 Sunset Strip" and "Peter Gunn". Route 66 used to be on MeTV. Both "77" and "Gunn" are presently on the schedule. Now, if they only brought back "Naked City".....

Yeah, I'm digressing. My thread.