Armet and Davis style Denny's on Colorado Blvd. PooBah, one of the all time great record stores, is across the street. Also across the street are more examples of the (once common) Googie architectural style that is slowly disappearing from along the route.

Surplus Surplus Sign

This surplus store, C&H Sales Company, on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, CA went out of business. I'm glad they left the sign when they sold off the surplus inventory, but fear that the next tenent may scrap the sign. Before they closed I had the opportunity to browse the shop one last time and dig through boxes of cast-off electronic and mechanical parts for 'who-knows-what?'.

Inspired by 'A Drive to Inspire'

Wow, what's not to like... a road trip down Route 66 in an alternative energy version of my all time favorite, the 66 Pontiac GTO. All I can say is that CNG Route66 is my kind of blog. Stay tuned, I'm going to find out more about this project.

Williams, AZ

I stopped for dinner at Rod’s Steak House. Rod’s is where I went with the family back in 1975 or so. I only recently learned that this is where my Dad always stopped on his way across country. Back in 1975, when we were driving through Williams, we had dinner there. The thing that stuck in my mind was that Dad always teased us (or, maybe just me…) about Rod’s. I have a vague memory of this night. What I remember most, is that someone (probably me) spilled a drink, or threw up or something. Anyway, the dinner was ruined, and from then on, Rod’s Steak House was synonymous with kids ruining dinner-out. Remind me not to make fun of my kids for the dumb stuff they do and spoil their childhood memories.

William is a cool little town. This is the place to spend the night. Next time, I won’t make that mistake.

Holbrook

I pulled into Holbrook just to see and photograph the Wigwam Motel. Just inside town, I saw this gas station and pulled over. What caught my eye are these pillars that seem to be painted to look like they were moved here from the nearby petrified forest. There was a man inside the fence who saw me stopping to take pictures of this abandoned gas station. I felt a bit like I was intruding since he kept looking my way with this angry scowl. As much as I wanted to go chat with him and find out the history of the place, I didn't get the sense that I was too welcome. I would love to hear the history of this place, and find pictures of the station at it's heyday. Since there's no signage it's hard to research from afar. Here's hoping to get some help from the web.

I'm getting the sense that there are some people on the road that feel they're being treated like animals in a zoo. Here I am, looking like a tourist with out of state plates, taking pictures of what looks like a failed business. So, I guess I can understand that.
Too much rubber-necking I guess because I was pulled over by a cop and warned… at least no budget-busting ticket for me. Hey, that might just be a first!

I should have thought to get the cop's picture.

Gallup, New Mexico

I stopped in Gallup and took some pictures of the Hotel El Rancho. Again, here’s one that must have a million photos floating around the Internet. What I’d like to see is a complete catalog of every building still standing along all alignments of Route 66. There are a few motels here, like the Blue Spruce Lodge that have historic signs, and no doubt have interesting histories. I’m not sure I’ve ever been to Gallup before, and I didn’t know what I’d find.

By now I’m regretting that I didn’t spend the time and $ for the tour at the Elk City Museum. I could pull over at every town, and by now I’ve discovered that I should take the business 40, at least, where I can. But, the pressures of getting back to LA and jumping into an increasingly dismal job market are pulling me on.

Tucumcari

I rolled into town around dinner time, thinking that the lighting was just right for photos. I took some pictures at Del Rios and the Blue Swallow. Sadly, these were fuzzy and not well lit, but why worry? It’s not like the world needs yet another twilight photo of the Swallow. In fact, the neon was dark anyway.

Dinner/first quarter of Monday Night Football at the Pow Wow Motel/ Lizard Lounge. I'm starting to wonder about making this a family trip. It's just a few weeks before the election and it seems there's just a whole lotta one viewpoint around here. At least on the radio. I don't get how these markets in the middle of the square-state part of the US can support 2 or even 3 radio stations with the same host. For mile after mile, I'm forced to listen to this clown named Hannity rant about Obama. Just silliness, too and increasingly shrill. Glad I brought my iPod.

Glenrio

Diner in Glenrio

I captured this when the light was just right - the sun setting on the town.

Glenrio

I knew I had to stop in Glenrio to take more pictures of abandoned buildings. There’s a ‘no services’ exit for Glenrio, and the signs for Route 66 (and back to the 40) are still there. It seems that there’s only one residence in Glenrio. In addition to a ‘sort-of-late-model’ ford subcompact in the driveway, there’s a beat up old jeep out in the weeds by the road. Here’s a town famous among travelers of Route 66 for the First/Last Motel in Texas and it’s sign that reads First or Last depending on which direction you’re traveling.

Amarillo

The Big Texan. I just got out and snapped a quick photo. I toy with the idea of stopping to browse, but it’s not lunchtime, I’m not hungry, and the road is calling. This is a recurring theme for me on this trip. I want to stop, but I want to press on. There’s a growing sense that I don’t have the time to do it right, so I should just do a fly-by to get the lay of the land for a future visit. More on this later I’m sure as I’m becoming increasingly anxious to get back to California. I’m beginning to question the wisdom of my spontaneous road trip across half of the US.

Alanreed

Old ‘66’ Gas station. I followed the lead of numerous adventurers ahead of me and wrote my initials in the dust on the window.

West Winds Motel

I just dig this picture. The Mustang looks like it's just sitting back there, waiting, snorting, pawing the ground. Mostly in shadow... with the business end peeking out with one watchful eye. Don't know what the chair means, I'll leave that to someone else to sort out.

Erick

I’d seen a picture of the closed and possibly abandoned West Winds Motel. Since the picture was interesting, with an old truck sitting in the weeds out front, I pulled off the 40 for a quick look. The town of Erick itself is a lot more picturesque than I’d imagined. Signs alert the traveler to the Roger Miller museum, and provide directions there. If I’d known then that the museum celebrated the birthplace of the dude who wrote the classic “King of the Road”, I’d have stopped there. I have to admit that by this time I’m still in a kind of funky fog about the trip, and my plans.


My goals at this point:

• Get back to LA by Tuesday (Wednesday at the latest)
• See the country – whatever that means
• Do some reconnaissance for a future ‘Route 66 Family Vacation’

(Ever since Pixar’s ‘Cars’ came out, there’s been some interest in the family to travel Route 66. The plan is really just a vague idea that it would be fun for everyone to travel across country and see the sights, and the history of Route 66. I’m still skeptical that a trip like this would actually come together. There’s interest, for sure. There’s geography, history, and even some entertaining things to do. The problem is that my kids can’t seem to spend more than 15 minutes in the car before the fighting starts, and within half an hour it is usually intolerable. Half the time, in fact, the fights begin in the driveway or during the packing and preparation stage.)

The first thing I notice as I cruise down the road in Erick, is an old truck on the corner lot. To the right, past the truck is a yard full of cool old stuff. There’s a yellow plane and other artfully arranged junk in the yard of a house.

Barking dogs reminded me that there may be residents here who don’t want a road-tripping tourist lurking around taking photos.

The West Winds Motel is here. This is a great spot for taking pictures, even if the ‘keep out’ and ‘No trespassing’ signs are a bit threatening. This motor court style motel is a perfect example of those rapidly disappearing symbols of the Mother Road.

Elk City

There’s another museum here. Although this one might even be better, I’m too antsy to risk it. This turns out to be a decision that I regret. I did buy a book at the museum, though: “Route 66” by Tim Steil. I plan to use this guidebook along the way to help me find interesting spots. At this point, I’m still not that interested in a fully guided tour, but it seems that there’s a lot I could miss if I don’t know what to look for. Still, I have no good idea of what I’m doing. If I keep on at this rate, I suspect I’ll make it back to LA in a couple of days, but what’s the purpose? What’s the goal? Do I really just want to drive down the highway and stop at a cheap hotel each night without much of a plan?
Sometimes after I get to know a place, I try to think back to the first time I visited. This is mostly something I notice after I’ve been back a few times. I remember walking down a street in Seattle and realizing that although I knew I was headed North, I’d walked down the same street years before, and not really known where I was, or which direction I was headed… same with London, Minneapolis, and even parts of Los Angeles. It’s a curious sensation, and each time I find myself trying to think back and capture the earlier, first, experience. I think it’s a deep desire to both go back and view someplace with fresh eyes, yet to have enough context to know what to look for. On this trip I’m experiencing a new place each day. But, I suspect I’ll be back and get to know the place better. Each morning I print out the next segment of the turn by turn directions on http://HistoricRoute66.com. The book adds some context for me so that the whole ‘plan’ is designed to provide some context for my fresh eyes. So when I return, I’ll be better prepared to recapture the experience.

Who says you can’t go home again… we’ll see.

Clinton, OK

The Museum and Tour
Here I am at my first Route 66 museum. I have no idea what I’m doing here, but I figure that I got to spring for the $4 for the movie. The plan is starting to gel… maybe. After passing through the rooms of the tour, each has its own soundtrack, accessed by pressing a button on the wall, and getting the tune. Glenn Miller, Elvis, and of course, Get Your Kicks... The movie is okay and somewhat informative. Maybe it’s just that I’m eager to get back on the road and see the sights and sites, but the movie seems to bog down the last five minutes. Long, slow, takes of lost highways and bridges with weeds growing up through cracks in the pavement, pictures of rusty barriers and ‘dead-end’ signs. This is Route 66 today but I have to get out of here, The Mother Road is calling.

On the Road

The desk clerk gave me some directions to the nearest I35 on-ramp, and said I should just follow the detour signs from there. I stopped just across from the I94 on-ramp, and snapped some pictures of the Minneapolis skyline.

When I got to the freeway, there were no detour signs for the I35W, just signs that said it was closed and a sign that said to take Hiawatha to get to the Airport. Since I figured that was as good as I’d get, that’s what I did. I went to school here for a few years, so I had a rough idea how to get to the airport. I guess they figure that if you're going to be hanging around Minneapolis in the fall, you better know where you're going or else...

Traffic was hell and I got really lost. Plus, I had a really bad cramp in my left leg. That’s fine for an automatic, but since I’m driving a stick in traffic, I had to stretch before I crashed the car. I stopped at Minnehaha Falls Park to snap some pictures, and asked for directions. I stopped in Albert Lea for lunch and to catch some college football. No need to break out the camera here, nothing to see as far as I could tell. No offense Albert Lea

The Plan

Before I go too much further, I should post the original plan. I wrote this the morning of October 24th from my hotel room:

The Plan
Well, there is none, really, since this is a game-time decision… Before I leave, I’m going to have a quick look online and see what Starwood hotels I can use points for my journey. Looks like I have some choices in KC and Oklahoma City, or I can go through Denver. I’m a bit worried about the weather in Colorado. I’d seen lightning from the Denver airport on my earlier layover on the way out from LA. I figure I can get down to Oklahoma City and catch the 40 from there. That will give me the chance to do some side trips exploring The Mother Road. The budget is small. I have a few hundred dollars and some credit cards that I don’t want to use for meals. I’ll pay cash for meals, points for hotels, and credit for gas. Gas is $1.00 - $1.50 less here than it was in LA when I left!
The trick is to see if I can break the trip up into reasonable stretches. I want to drive 5-10 hours per day, including stops. I want to stop where I can stay for points (or cash and points), which means I’ll have to stay in larger cities. Since I don’t know these cities, I’ll have to check online and see where I’m going to stay each night. I’ll print up directions to each night’s hotel (or first choice at any rate) so that I have a destination. Worst case, I can get to one Starwood hotel and book a room and get directions for another. A quick check on the Starwood site proves that there are no Starwood hotels between Albuquerque and LA. In my mind, anyplace closer than Needles doesn’t count, since I can’t justify spending money or points on a place so close to home. Oh, and I'll travelog the whole thing.

Minneapolis, MN

Night 1 - Westin Minneapolis

I went out for a steak with my buddy Bill, and then we went to a place called “Nye’s” for live music. The ‘live’ music at Nye’s consists of a piano bar with bad Karaoke. On the way back to the hotel, I decide to head back out west instead of driving back to Madison. I share this with Bill, who encourages me to make the drive.

When Bill drops me off at the hotel he casually mentions that I35W is closed until Monday. Since this is the main road out of town, I'm tempted to call the whole thing off, and head back to Madison. Nah, I figure I can ask for directions at the desk when I checkout.

Leaving Minneapolis

I took this picture as I was leaving Minneapolis. I know that MN has nothing to do with Route 66, but a trip has to start somewhere. As it happened, I was in Minneapolis when I decided to do the road trip back to LA (I had a flight back, but that was leaving Madison, WI in 4 days).