West to Barstow, California

We left Holbrook this morning in cool, windy weather. The wind stayed with us all day, but we did see the warmest weather we have on our trip. At Needles, California, the temperature hit 78 degrees, but was down to 60 degrees by the time we got to Barstow. The whole western section of the country had very windy weather today, but it is supposed to lighten up tomorrow and be a little cooler. We stopped at Kingman, Arizona , and went to another Route 66 Museum located in the Powerhouse Visitor Center. It has displays covering the 50s. It has a typical street mock-up with items that would have been used at that time.

A favorite hangout was the soda fountain.

One section was devoted to the dustbowl era, with quotes from the Grapes of Wrath. During the Depression there were over 200,000 people who went west hoping to find a better life in California. Most ended up in migrant camps, and only about eight percent stayed in California. The rest went back to the Midwest within a few months.

Another display showed the early settlers and the wagons they used to travel west.

A display case had a collection of amethyst glass. Clear glass is naturally green and before World War I magnesium from Germany was added to the glass to bleach it. When exposed to the sun the glass turns purple. After the war selenium was added to the glass which will then turn amber when exposed to the sun.

Across the road from the museum was another old locomotive. It was a steam locomotive built in 1927 and converted to oil fuel in 1941.

We had lunch at Mr. D's Route 66 Diner.

We visited the Bonelli House a few blocks down the street. It was built in 1915 and was only lived in by the Bonelli family. It is filled with original furniture, clothing, and personal items.

It is a very interesting house with many innovations. I'll do a more complete post on it after I get home.

We'll be heading north tomorrow and will leave Route 66 behind.

Route 66 Views

We started out this morning in Amarillo, Texas. Our first stop was at the Cadillac Ranch right out of Amarillo. It was never located along Route 66 even before the cars were uprooted and put at their present location in 1997. However, it is a fun icon to see. There are 10 Cadillacs planted nose down in the dirt, and they are covered by graffiti.

It was 39 degrees and very windy, so I didn't linger too long.

Our next stop was down the road in New Mexico. We got off the Interstate and onto Route 66 at Santa Rosa. There we went to the Route 66 Auto Museum. We rarely bypass a car museum!

They had many lovely old cars and lots of Route 66 memorabilia.

They had a map showing the route that 66 followed, Chicago to Los Angeles.

We had lunch in Santa Rosa at the Silver Moon. It has been open on Route 66 since 1959.

Santa Rosa has several old abandoned buildings that lined Route 66. You can see remnants of the old buildings even from the Interstate.

We decided to limit our travel on old Route 66 to the Santa Rosa leg and those portions that run along the same roadbed as the Interstate and save Albuquerque and other attractions for another time when we could spend more time. We traveled on through New Mexico on Interstate 40 to the Arizona border and stopped at the Visitor's Center which is nestled among lovely brown cliffs.

We stopped tonight at Holbrook, Arizona. We'll continue on west tomorrow morning.

Route 66 Museum

Today we started out just south of Springfield, Missouri, and traveled to Amarillo, Texas. We traveled all but a short portion on the Interstate, but it roughly follows old Route 66. You are able to drive along portions of Route 66, especially through Oklahoma. You can purchase guides to help you drive along the still existing portions of the "Mother Road", and in places the old surface is still intact. Other places it is gone completely, some places the Interstate follows the same pathway, and other places it is dirt road or dwindles to a bike path. You weave back and forth across the Interstate, and the speed limit is much slower. On a trip about 8 or 9 years ago we did drive for quite a ways along 66, but it is time consuming to do that, so today we stuck to the Interstate. We did get on Route 66 at Elk City, Oklahoma. On our last trip through we had stopped at the Route 66 Museum in Elk City, and we stopped there again today, although we only had about an hour before their closing time. We made a quick trip through.The Museum is set up to show scenes from all eight states that Route 66 ran through.

From Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, Route 66 is a cross section of the U.S. and there is something magical about it.

At least 85 percent of Route 66 is still available to be explored. It was pieced together in 1926 from an existing network of trails and unnamed roads, most of which were dirt paths at the time.

The road gained attention in 1946 when Bobby Troup sang "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" and from the Sixties TV series "Route 66".

There are many groups in all eight states who are working to save the as much of the road and roadside icons that remain. There are many books, videos, and publications available that are devoted to Route 66.

There is a certain nostalgia about traveling along any portion of the "Mother Road" and even driving a small portion can be an adventure. I think that's what Route 66 was all about--adventure. People traveled it for many reasons, but it was always an adventure.

At the same location as the Route 66 Museum, there is also an Old Town Museum depicting early Oklahoma life. There are several buildings set up with many historical items on display.

There is a church, gas station, doctor's office, general store, blacksmith shop, etc. There is also a Farm and Ranch Museum.

I of course stopped in the gift shop, and I purchased a Route 66 sign for Marty to hang in his new shop. Of course Alaska is a long ways from Route 66, but the magic stretches all the way to the Far North.