Route 66 and the Arctic circle

What most people don't know is that Route 66 was not one highway from the
time it was first designated as 66 to when it faded with the advent of the
Interstates. I live close to Springfield Illinois and, depending on what
era you want to look at, there are at least three different Route 66's that
I know of within 25 miles of me. If you want to count the Alternate 66's,
Business 66's, and City 66's, I'm sure there are a bunch more.

I remember a road trip or two from St. Louis to Chicago that went through a
lot of little towns in Illinois. Many of those towns all but dried up when
Interstate 55 bypassed them. There's still a lot worth seeing, though.

Here's a web site to start with:

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/66-Mainpage.html

--
Gary
Central Illinois USA
Visit Lucy & Gary and do the jigsaw puzzle at
www.under-1-roof.com/PuzzlePage.html


"PB" wrote in message
...
Despite having travelled a fair amount in my 20s (Europe, Mexico,
Japan, Australia, New Zealand, North America (mostly the coasts
multiple times), I never went anywhere more exotic (Africa, China,
India) and never took the one road trip i always wanted to take,
though it may be
overrated.

For pure Americana and retro classic kitsch, I'd a loved to drive
down
Route 66. Is it in that much disrepair now ?

"Oklahoma City, down through Missouri......get hip to this kind of
trip, and gonna take the highway that's the best..." Burma Shave.


Hell, I've also never seen the mythical Canadian Arctic hinterland. My
old geologist friend used to tell me it was stunningly beautiful and
grand up there.

"Gary" wrote in message
...
What most people don't know is that Route 66 was not one highway from the
time it was first designated as 66 to when it faded with the advent of the
Interstates. I live close to Springfield Illinois and, depending on what
era you want to look at, there are at least three different Route 66's
that I know of within 25 miles of me. If you want to count the Alternate
66's, Business 66's, and City 66's, I'm sure there are a bunch more.

I remember a road trip or two from St. Louis to Chicago that went through
a lot of little towns in Illinois. Many of those towns all but dried up
when Interstate 55 bypassed them. There's still a lot worth seeing,
though.

Here's a web site to start with:

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/66-Mainpage.html

--
Gary
Central Illinois USA
Visit Lucy & Gary and do the jigsaw puzzle at
www.under-1-roof.com/PuzzlePage.html


"PB" wrote in message
...
Despite having travelled a fair amount in my 20s (Europe, Mexico,
Japan, Australia, New Zealand, North America (mostly the coasts
multiple times), I never went anywhere more exotic (Africa, China,
India) and never took the one road trip i always wanted to take,
though it may be
overrated.

For pure Americana and retro classic kitsch, I'd a loved to drive
down
Route 66. Is it in that much disrepair now ?

"Oklahoma City, down through Missouri......get hip to this kind of
trip, and gonna take the highway that's the best..." Burma Shave.


Hell, I've also never seen the mythical Canadian Arctic hinterland. My
old geologist friend used to tell me it was stunningly beautiful and
grand up there.






But from St. Louis west I think it was pretty much all one road. I have a
nice coffee table book that I was given about 66. could look up that part
of the history. But the book pretty much looks like what I saw going from
California to St. Louis on 66 then to Dayton, OH on 40 in 1964.

It seems to me I heard somewhere that PB wrote in article
:

For pure Americana and retro classic kitsch, I'd a loved to drive
down
Route 66. Is it in that much disrepair now ?

"Oklahoma City, down through Missouri......get hip to this kind of
trip, and gonna take the highway that's the best..." Burma Shave.

Actually, no, that doesn't match the typical Burma Shave rhyme scheme
or the words to the song. "Route 66, written by Bobby Troup in 1946,
made very popular by Nat King Cole, and still a popular jazz number.
Lyrics, describing the trip, at
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=73707
--
Don Kirkman

You're probably right! I grew up in St. Louis but I only drove on the St.
Louis - California part of the road on a trip in about 1965/1966. I don't
remember how much of 66 was left by then--probably not much.
--
Gary
Central Illinois USA
Visit Lucy & Gary and do the jigsaw puzzle at
www.under-1-roof.com/PuzzlePage.html


"CalifBill" wrote in message
...


But from St. Louis west I think it was pretty much all one road. I have a
nice coffee table book that I was given about 66. could look up that part
of the history. But the book pretty much looks like what I saw going from
California to St. Louis on 66 then to Dayton, OH on 40 in 1964.

Here's a web site to start with:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/66-Mainpage.html

Another good one: http://www.rt66nm.org/
New Mexico shows it off in two contexts: a still-existent (here and
there) two-lane backroad, ranging from well used to near-abandoned,
and still-in-use main streets (Central Avenue in Albuquerque is a
prime example).

At the cost of some scenic backtracking, you can also, or instead,
drive the locally much different pre-1938 alignment, which goes up to
Santa Fe, cuts through Albuquerque north-south, and goes down to Los
Lunas before rejoining the post-1938 shortcut at Mesita, west of
Albuquerque.

Allow as much time as you can, both because of the curves and
sightlines and narrow lanes and shoulders of a decidedly pre-
Interstate highway, and in order to explore nearby sights (of both the
manmade and the pretty-rocks-on-an-epic-scale types) and get a feel
for the pace of life in a (not quite) bygone era, a lot of cultural
homogenization ago. To rush is to miss the point; Route 66 is a
cultural meme more than it is a piece of asphalt.

Enjoy your trip,
--Joe

"Gary" wrote in message
...
You're probably right! I grew up in St. Louis but I only drove on the St.
Louis - California part of the road on a trip in about 1965/1966. I don't
remember how much of 66 was left by then--probably not much.
--
Gary
Central Illinois USA
Visit Lucy & Gary and do the jigsaw puzzle at
www.under-1-roof.com/PuzzlePage.html


"CalifBill" wrote in message
...


But from St. Louis west I think it was pretty much all one road. I have
a nice coffee table book that I was given about 66. could look up that
part of the history. But the book pretty much looks like what I saw
going from California to St. Louis on 66 then to Dayton, OH on 40 in
1964.



In 1964, seemed to be mostly the old 66. They had not interstated most of
the road, except in the Tulsa area.

"Gary" wrote in message
...
You're probably right! I grew up in St. Louis but I only drove on the St.
Louis - California part of the road on a trip in about 1965/1966. I don't
remember how much of 66 was left by then--probably not much.
--

In 1965-6 most of Route 66 was still intact wasn't it? KM
--
(-:alohacyberian:-) At my website view over 3,600 live cameras or
visit NASA, the Vatican, the Smithsonian, the Louvre, CIA, FBI, and
NBA, the White House, Academy Awards, 200 language translators!
Visit Hawaii, Israel and more at: http://keith.martin.home.att.net/

You might be right! I do remember going through Amarillo and a bunch of
other towns and cities that I probably would have by-passed if the
interstate had been open. (That was back when I was young and in a hurry!
Now I've decided that traveling the interstates is the fastest way to get
anywhere in this country without seeing anything! I stay off the
interstates if I have a choice!)
--
--
Gary
Central Illinois USA
Visit Lucy & Gary and do the jigsaw puzzle at
www.under-1-roof.com/PuzzlePage.html


"Alohacyberian" wrote in message
...
"Gary" wrote in message
...
You're probably right! I grew up in St. Louis but I only drove on the
St. Louis - California part of the road on a trip in about 1965/1966. I
don't remember how much of 66 was left by then--probably not much.
--

In 1965-6 most of Route 66 was still intact wasn't it? KM
--
(-:alohacyberian:-) At my website view over 3,600 live cameras or
visit NASA, the Vatican, the Smithsonian, the Louvre, CIA, FBI, and
NBA, the White House, Academy Awards, 200 language translators!
Visit Hawaii, Israel and more at: http://keith.martin.home.att.net/

"Gary" wrote in message
...
You might be right! I do remember going through Amarillo and a bunch of
other towns and cities that I probably would have by-passed if the
interstate had been open. (That was back when I was young and in a hurry!
Now I've decided that traveling the interstates is the fastest way to get
anywhere in this country without seeing anything! I stay off the
interstates if I have a choice!)
Gary
Central Illinois USA

LOL! Yes, the Interstates ARE faster for those in a hurry. And, yup, now
that we're older, wiser and not so much in a hurry, it's far more
interesting to travel off the Interstates! Bon voyage! KM
--
(-:alohacyberian:-) At my website view over 3,600 live cameras or
visit NASA, the Vatican, the Smithsonian, the Louvre, CIA, FBI, and
NBA, the White House, Academy Awards, 200 language translators!
Visit Hawaii, Israel and more at: http://keith.martin.home.att.net/