I think that says it all - but to make it plain, tell us what you think about travelling down an old fashioned highway...


Taking you Way, WAY back in time!

2 lanes, and the last town had a sign saying 100 miles to next gas station...

 

well.. its never happened to me yet. but ive always imagined me goin down the highway the windows down and good ol country music playin. out here in AZ the trip to payson is a beautiful road through the woods. and to flagstaff or sedona with the view of the mountaintops and red rock. id love to cruise down these old highways. tryin to convince my parents into takin my truck up to sedona for our campin trip, for old times sake. my mom and my uncle use to lay on the matress my grandparents had in the bed (camper was on at the time) and would just lay there on there trips to anywhere.

 

another vision for ya:

I think I was five years old or so - anyway, if you look at a 1957 Oldsmobile it had a three part wrap around back window. It made the two door a twelve or fourteen window car including wings and options. That was my Momma's car, no power assist, big muscle wheel wrestling, but so damned cool... 400 Cubic Inch "ROCKET MOTOR" and I was young enough to believe it...


But what I have burned into my memories is watching the stars through that back window set - at 90 miles an hour in the desert night

 

its just awsome.... i cant wait to get enough money saved up after college and move outta the city...

 

I never got to travel on Route 66 but I do have some fond memories of traveling on the Lincoln Highway with my parents in the 60s and 70s before it was replaced by I-80. Across Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming in the blazing summer sun. Little towns, antelope herds, Little America, and those mirages where it looks like water on the road up ahead (heat).

I miss those trips.

 

CW McCall even wrote a song about it....

YouTube - ‪C.W.McCall - Old 30‬‏

 

Whadd'ya mean old fashioned. Two lane roads and 100 miles between gas stations are normal around here. I live in a county that does not have a stop light. A 8,358 sq mile county with a population below 8,000. The nearest highway that is not 2 lane is leaving K-Falls, about 150 miles from here.

I had a chance to drive down part of 66 once, but I had too many miles to go and to few hours to do it. I wish I had more time.

 

They got a lot of old iron along that old road - the area it runs through is prime for UN-rusted cabs and beds

But if you close your eyes at night you can still hear sock-hop music in the air....

"My boyfriends back,
And you're gonna be in trouble...
OOH RAH - OOH RAH!!!"

Man I love that old music

NOT Oregon, texas

 

We have a big portion of the road here in Springfield MO. There are still some old motor inns and motels. The motels are still in business.

One local tv station KY3 recently did a documentery of the Missouri portion of the road. Perhapsit's on their web site.
Also the PBS channel usually does a documentery on the whole road come pledge time.
Did y'all know that "Cars" was based on Route 66?

 

I can believe that. I should probably look for that flick

It's always seemed to me as if the old movies are missing something when it comes to describing what it's really like to get out and just go "DISCOVER" by road
The feel of it is just not there.

You don't really get the sense of "BIGNESS" from pictures easily, so the scale becomes lost

 

Years ago, I was driving a semi. Once I went across a road that started as an interstate, and ended as an interstate. But a portion of it right in middle went over a "mountain". That section of road was 25 miles or so of twists and turns so tight that I was down to 10 MPH in many places. I swear, a couple times I even had to slow down to keep from running into the back of my own trailer.....
The weather was perfect, I wasn't in any kind of a hurry, so I just rolled down the windows and enjoyed the road. Heck, I only met 2 or 3 cars on that entire stretch of road, and didn't see anyone ahead or behind going the same way.
There was a small roadside filling station just before the twisty part started, so I stopped in for a soda and restroom break. The old man inside told me that I was going to hate driving that stretch of road in a rig that size. I just smiled and said I've got all day. He nodded in a knowing manner, and simply replied with enjoy the drive, there's not many like it left. He was so right.

I'd love to go back for another run or 50, in the RX7. That car is just perfect for roads like that.... Too bad they are quickly fading away.

I can't remember for sure, but I believe the highway was designated as 23W, and it was somewhere around the carolina's, virginia, or tennesee. It may not have been as long distance as I recall, but I was actually kinda sad when it straigtened back out. I actually considered going back to have another chat with the guy at the filling station, just to do it again.......
Didn't make a lot of money that day, but I didn't have to pay a penny for the memory either.

 

There is a Route 66 Museum in Seligman AZ. The original name for Route 66 was the National Old Trails Highway. Route 66 stretches from Wacker Drive in Chicago to Ocean Avenue/Santa Monica Blvd. in Santa Monica CA

When the Route 66 signs were being removed, someone...not sayin' who...removed the END ROUTE 66 sign in Santa Monica...in the dead of night.

When Will Rogers was killed in a plane crash in 1935, Route 66 was renamed the Will Rogers Memorial Highway. Today, AFAIK, only the section in OK is still called that.

The Lincoln Highway was the first transcontinental Hwy...stretches from NYC to San Francisco.

This highway (believe it...or not) was paid for by the automakers, tire manufacturers and the petroleum industry. Not one cent of public funds was used.

The Lincoln Highway was the brainchild of Carl Fisher, the overseer of construction was Henry Bourne Joy, prez of the Packard Motor Car Co.

Along the highway, the automakers erected monuments with their names on them for the section they paid for. Most have disappeared by now.

There were also concrete mile marker posts, most of these have vanished, but there's still one in San Francisco, near Golden Gate Park.

I'm not aware of a PBS show inre to Route 66, but there is one on the Lincoln Highway.

The portion of the Lincoln Hwy (Route 50) that stretches from Minden NV thru UT is refered to as the "Loneliest Hwy" in the US.

 

I took many family trips in the late 50s and early 60s between LA and Albuquerque on old 66. I remember dad bought a back seat bed so my sister and I could sleep on the trip. We also had a swamp cooler air conditioner. Looked like an Electrolux vacuum cleaner attached to the window. That was luxury. And of course every one had those canvas water bags hanging from the front grille.

As a teenager/adult in the early 70s thru 80s I took many a trip along old 66 as it was being phased out by Route 40. It was kind of sad not seeing many familiar places but it was sure faster on 40.

Now I wouldn't mind taking a trip down the old highway, but with gas near $4, I don't drive anywhere unless I must. There are many good books with tons of pictures about old 66, so I guess that will have to do. Plus I live just a few miles north of old 66(Foothill Blvd) in San Bernardino county. Still see the old Orange stand and wigwam teepees.

Jim Henderson

 

In 1981, accompanied by a pal, I drove my 1941 Packard Super 8 convertible from Santa Monica to Seligman and back, following the original Route 66 whenever possible.

A smarmy kid in Oatman asked: "Did you bring that old car all the way from CA?"

No I replied, it brought us.

 

Well you can just come up here to alaska. I doubt if we have two hundred miles of 4 lane in the whole state, except for the main highways, a lot of it is still dirt and even a few one lane bridges left.