One of my reasons for wanting to drive Route 66 was to experience something of what the US looks like away from big cities or well-developed towns. Although we have driven a lot in holidays in the past, it was usually with a purpose in mind - moving from one attraction/sight to another. The brief in those cases is usually to get there as soon as possible, so the interstates or major highways are the best bet to achieve that and, as I've said, also effectively blocks out properly small 'small town USA'. This is something I need to explain a little. Town size in the States is very different to how it is viewed in the UK. Consider where I live, in Ramsbottom, Lancashire. It is a town of around 18,000 people with several places to eat, quite a few pubs and bars, one petrol station, one main CofE charch and one Catholic church as well as three supermarkets. It is pretty solidly the definition of a 'town' this side of the Pond. In the US, we have driven through places that call themselves a 'city' that have a population of less than 6,000 and only one or two bars yet have a proper police station, a multi-screen movie theatre, a couple of car dealerships and a choice of several gas stations. 'Small', population-wise does not mean lacking in amenities. The major highways (our A-road equivalents, if you will) connect this size of towns and we have seen many of them. This time I wanted to go smaller still...
Driving the old 66, in Oklahoma and Missouri especially, is often about driving the backroads, the routes now little travelled, save for the folk who live in the communities that dot the path of the old highway. Here, communities often consist of collections of very large static caravans. To call them that is to do them an injustice because a) they are about 50% bigger than the biggest static vans in the UK and b) it gives the impression of a trailer park which these groupings certainly are not. I think of then as modern-day log cabins, a way to get into the property market when bricks and mortar might prove too expensive, but just like houses despite the lack of foundations: gardens are laid out, the BBQ is on the patio and roads run between the homes. Over and over again we passed through communities where 75% or more of the homes were of this kind with, every so often, a newer, stone-chimneyed residence. Often though, the only 'solid' construction in these towns would be the church or chapel, always immaculate, single storey and, invariably, Baptist of some sort. The impression left was always of a proper, tight-knit community centred around a meeting place (in this case, the church), the archetype of settlements for millennia. It was, somehow, a comforting sight.
We're still here!
Route 66 also provides an inventory of the strange and the downright bizarre roadside attractions that range from relatively straightforward such as the beautifully preserved 1930s gas stations and the Route 66 museums that dot the road at fairly regular intervals to the absolutely bat-shit crazy, "What ia that all about?" items that, in some ways, are more fun to not find out the story behind it and just accept it for what it is. The latter type of attractions are, of course, some of the most memorable. Some of the best included a giant, green tiki head ('headicus giganticus') apropos of nothing - the next door diner is not remotely South Sea island in theme, the "World's Second Biggest Rocking Chair" - it was the biggest, until fairly recently when some other town built one bigger. Fanning, Missouri still reckons there's mileage in being No 2, so their rocker still sits proudly by the side of the road. The general store next to it had an amazing selection of sodas - no Pepsi or Coke. The ones we tried - a cola for me and a limeade for Elaine were...interesting, I'd say. Then, there were the giants - these were all over the place. Apparently starting life as statues of Paul Bunyon, they have been converted from being bearded and carrying an axe to being clean-shaven and carrying, a rocket, a massive hot dog and...er, nothing in the case of the one done up to look like a cowboy and standing tall over a used car lot. One town had a water tower built so that it looked as if it was collapsing. The comparison with the slightly more famous leaning tower in another city, although attempted, was probably a little out of reach of this modern homage. The Cadillac Ranch (over-painted and a dumping ground for hundreds of empty aerosols but still interesting), the Bug Ranch (a tongue-in-cheek nod to the Caddy Ranch and, given that there is an abandoned diner, garage and gas station on site, rather more atmospheric) and the Blue Whale model (don't ask) were all srange and good, but the crowning glory of the weird was Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch. Fun, amazing, an enigma, just stunning. I appreciate your work, Elmer and dfinitely worth a picture to give you a flavour of its strangeness.
Two more places are worthy of a mention, one quirky in an almost disturbing manner and the other an unexpected gem. The first is the town of Seligman in Arizona. It has the standard things you find on Old Rooute 66 towns: old gas station (check), old cars parked at the gas station (check), various shops selling Route 66 memorabilia (check), loads of mannequins sitting outside and on the roof of said shops (che....er, what the heck?). I have no idea what this is about: one shop having them might be seen as a bit quirky, but several shops sporting them looks a bit like a scene from a B-movie where the tourists go missing in the middle of nowhere when the mannequins come to life! The second attraction is the Round Barn at Arcadia, Oklahoma. This is a true curiosity: downstairs, it is an eclectic mix of standard tourist tat and hand-written/hand-drawn histories of the barn, the town and the surrounding area, folder after folder of this labour of love. Upstairs, however, the domed roof of interlaced wooden laths is like standing under a giant woven whicker basket. The wooden floor, installed in return for dances and social gathering being hosted in the space, has been polished by the thousands of steps of those who have gathered here over its lifetime. The barn is, in a way, a reflection of the history of Route 66 itself. In the 1920's, with the newly commissioned Route 66 running through Arcadia, the barn became the most photographed attraction on the Mother Road. With the development of the interstates, the traffic along 66 declined and the barn fell into disrepair, the roof eventually collapsing. The roof was restored in 1992 and, with the Old Route 66 becoming a tourist 'must-do', the barn is once again a destination spot on 66. If ever you do "plan to motor west" as the song goes, the beauty of the upper floor of the Round Barn is definitely worth stopping for.
Done!
So, it's over. Two-and-a-half thousand miles (plus a few extra for side trips) clocked up, most of it in fantastic sunshine and ridiculous temperatures. I've seen the sublime (the Grand Canyon) and the ridiculous (take your pick - there's a lot to choose from) and I've had a great time. There were times - probably once a day, in fact - when I felt great pleasure in just driving. Being off the interstates and on backroads, doing 55 mph instead of 80 and not having to worry about other cars (there were't that many) allowed me to feel just like those using Route 66 must have felt back in the 1920s: liberation, the freedom of the open road and a car to experience it. Those moments literally sent a shiver down my spine and I fell in love with driving again. We travelled on Route 66 as an interstate, where the modern, soulless six lane highway has overlaid the original; as a dual carriageway, the first in the US; as a single track road, no longer the first choice to move between cities but still linking rural communities; and also as a dirt track, the tarmac long since gone and 66 now a memory scored into the network of fields under a huge, open sky. Two-and-a-half thousand miles of history, of joy, of America.
There is one final thing to mention. I have to be so, so grateful to Elaine for being with me throughout this adventure. She is the world's best sat nav and juggled between our Route 66 guidebook and a phone app to a) keep us on route throughout and b) guide us to the sights and attractions along the way. I know she enjoyed it and I want to say a big thank you to her for facilitating my huge enjoyment over two-and-a-half weeks. Thanks chick!
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