There is an annual Route 66 run, and then there is "driving Route 66". Never done "the Run" but did drive a large chunk of Route 66 two years ago. Even stopped at "the Corner" in Winslow, Arizona.
Been on the corner a few times my self. This is from last year on
"The 2nd Annual Great Greybeard Adventure" which is a trip I put on from my place in OK to the L.A.Roadster show in June.
Have guys from all over the country meet @ my place and run out together. 9 cars last year, lookin like 13 -15 this year.
Did have 2 cars last year that came all the way from Niagra Falls Canada and ran the whole Rt 66 deal.
By the time they got home they had driven over 9000 miles in 3 1/2 weeks
"It's a girl my Lord in a flat bed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me"
Sorry, I couldn't resist that since it popped into my head as soon as I read your line. I'm sure it will be there for days now.... Hope y'all can join me with that....
Been on a couple short pieces in MO with the Pete a number of years back. Doing the longer stretches in NM, AZ and CA are very high on the wish list and soon. Lord knows I'm not getting any younger.
Brian, I'm with ya on stopping whenever I want. I can dauddle a long time at deserted sites. The family and I were in Monterey last week and drove down the Big Sur coast. We had intended to get all the way to San Simion but had only made 50 miles in 3 hours. We stopped at so many pull-offs, I lost count, but it is all so beautiful and rugged that it was worth the time. 300 pics on that drive too.... We turned around shortly beyond the Pfieffer, Burns park with the worlds most photographed water fall...
Yep I have hit every city but two in the song "Route 66". And loved every minute of it!
But never been on any run, I could see that being a lot of fun. But at the same time, I am a serious roamer when I hit the road. My wife and I will stop for a minute at some "Route 66 Ruins" we call them, or stop here and there never following any schedule. On something like a road trip I think I would have a hard time with going with some guideline on where we would stop, driving past some place I would like to stop at would drive me nuts!
Last time I was in Winslow (about five years ago) that building was an empty walled box, we are talking NOTHING between that wall and the one on the brick wall on the other side of the building. They must have worked their butt off to keep that very important building. You know what's funny before I found that corner I had the wife take a picture of my on another corner. Good old Sno Cap Icecream, I love that place. The first time I went thru there I met the original owner who passed away a few years ago. His son now runs it and is just as nice. The joke is they have more one liners than anyone you could ever imagine. Jokes about every single thing you could ever say at the counter ordering icecream. You want a "small", they have hand you a cone that is about an inch tall. You want one like "him" pointing over to another customer who just got his, he takes it from the guy and gives it to you. It's an experience going into there all right. The original owner and his brother who has the barber shop next door are responsible for making what was left of the original Route 66 an Historical Landmark.
I grew up in Albuquerque ,, in the 50's traveled that route hundreds of times,, wasn't much of a big deal in those days,, but mostly a tourist trap back then,,
downtown ( old town) Central ave( hiway 66) was the cruzin area,, all the way to the sandia mtns to the east,, just wasn't much out there except desert and places to park and mess around,,:>) and a makeshift drag strip on Eubank road
Like me going to San Francisco you can't forget that people come from all over the earth to see where you live, enjoy it and don't take it for granted.
I highly recommend it, and when you do it you need the Cars movie sound track in the car, no kidding, I love that stuff. And take the "Historical Route 66" thru Seligman and stop at Sno Cap. And the Ranch Kitchen in Gallup New Mexico is another one, they put a little flag on your table from the state you come from. Click here for Ranch Kitchen Gallop is probably the best for Neon lit signs on the Route.
I have a million of them on that trip, the Meteor crater in Az. Click here and right near by the Walnut Canyon Cave dwellings. I could go on and on, DAMN I want to go on another road trip!
I recently read where some of the buildings in MO are being restored too. From here it is almost a straight shot down to Saint Louis and catch it all from there to the Pacific.
Depressing sitting here looking out the window at 18" of snow on the ground and 20°. I need another vacation...
The weather isn't all that good right now on the Route either. I was very surprised the first time I went to the Grand Canyon to see snow there! I thought it was desert, but it's at 4500 feet. I went there for Thanksgiving, yep, at our Thanksgiving dinner just a hundred feet or so from the rim of the Grand Canyon. Never thought I would do such a thing, but we just did, we had a chance and we took off and it was spectacular. There is no photo that can do that place justice, it is truly breathtaking.
Brian
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