Route 66

 

 

 

Part of our western journey bordered on and sometimes actually followed the celebrated Route 66.
When I was a teenager my family traveled on the famous highway in our epic vacation to California. My dad had dreamed of this trip for a long time, and with little money and a car that overheated we made the attempt.
We followed Route 66 all the way. The highway was lined with colorful motels in classic mid century design and souvenir shops that promised all kinds of thrilling products such as cactus candy, petrified wood, Indian pottery and blankets, and gaudy home decorations. It was a thrill for us to stop and study the exotic offerings, though we never bought any for we had limited funds.

On this trip we were only able to see broken remnants of the old route or portions of the road that traveled through now withering towns that thrived when it was THE route west.

The wigwam motel is still in use in Holbrook, Arizona where part of Route 66 still exists and the lava bed is near Gallup, New Mexico along the old highway.