Route 66 - 06.30.2008

Today was a very busy day as we visited a Uranium Mine in Grants NM and then started driving. Our next big stop was in the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forests of which we have uploaded pictures of each. What an experience. Within 18 miles there is two very distinct and different kinds of scenery. If you are ever close to Holbrook AZ you must see these. Because I am over 62 I was able to buy a pass that will let me in to any National Park along with all of my passengers for a one time fee of $10. What a deal.

New Mexico and so far Arizona has done a very nice job of preserving many of the motels, garages, and eateries along the way. We had a great lunch in a very old diner today.

We are now in Flagstaff and are going to the Grand Canyon in the morning.

Route 66 06.29.08

Today we drove from Amarillo TX to Grants NM. We have had some very bad roads on this journey in one instance we turned around and went back after traveling over a was board road for more than a mile. Often times we had only dirt and this trek would not be good except with a 4 wheeler. The scenery was very nice as we did see mountains and a lot of what I call painted desert. A stop a a rest area as we entered NM proved interesting as the water was shut off. It seems a news crew was there for a story about what the water was contaminated with e-coli. A journey through a museum was very nice at Santa Rosa NM. My co-pilot was tired today so she missed some of the journey as she slept. An 18 mile trek through Albuquerque was very interesting as several of the old hotels and diners had been well maintained. I would guess better than 75% still looked good to excellent. We stopped at Grants because there seems like ther may be a lot to see here but in the morning.

June 28th 2008

Today we drove from Stroud OK to Amarillo TX. We stopped at an old stone armory that was being used to conserve some items for route 66. It had several stations that had either seats from various vehicles or bed to watch movies about different phases of route 66. The highlight of this stop was a 1964 1/2 white Ford Mustang. On our route we were taken by a really big lake that I have forgotten the name of but will look it up and add it later. The next stop was at the National Route 66 Museum. This was priced at $3 a person but did not have a lot of content or memorabilia. Our next major stop was at a Groom TX where we saw the worlds largest cross and a leaning water tower. At the cross was a set of stations that showed the events from the sentencing of Jesus until his rising from the tomb. This was really moving.

We really trekked over some very rough and narrow roads today. Because Interstate 40 was parallel we cheated a little bit getting on and off of the interstate. We really struggled with the directions in our guide book while in Oklahoma City and were temporarily misplaced for about an hour. The Garmin sure saved our bacon when we plugged in an address of a known spot within our directions. The first thing we will visit in the a.m. is the Cadillac Ranch.

June 27th 2008

Today was a little longer day traveling as we started at Springfield Mo and are now at in Stroud OK. We saw an awful lot of countryside without seeing many interesting things. I have uploaded a couple of unique bridges and some very shop worn buildings that seem to be a plenty in Oklahoma. I have also uploaded pictures of our stops at two different refurbished gas stations with plenty of nice looking cars and antiques. The stretch of road has been very rough at times with one section of 3 miles especially rough. Ainslie has become a nice map reader keeping her grandpa on the right trail as we twist and turn often the book we are using and the signs are in disagreement. Following the book has been a god send.

I almost forgot about the highlight of seeing a big blue whale that was formally at a campground and has now been placed in a state park on Rt 66. We also saw lots of murals again in various towns. It has been nice that some of the businesses remain named after Rt 66 also.

June 26th 2008

We traveled from St Clair to Springfield MO today. Our day stated off by stopping at a Antique Toy Museum in Stanton. It was full of old dolls, trains, trucks and about anything else you could think. Ainslie found this interesting. Our next stop was at Bourbon where we ate at the Circle Inn Malt shop which was not to bad and the prices were reasonable. We had to take a picture of the water tower with the name "Bourbon". In Cuba we saw the old Wagon Wheel Motel and the town had many murals painted on their buildings. Several old cottage style gas stations were along he route many with their old signs. We saw an old A& W Hamburger Family at Rolla which was not as good a condition as the ones by the camp ground about 30 east of Iowa City on I 80. At exit 176 we took a side trip on an old dead end stretch of Route 66 to see three old cabin motels on Arlington road which led to an abandoned town. Our last stop was at Exotic Animal Paradise where we had an opportunity to drive into an area among animals that were loose. Some of the animals were quite aggressive about trying to get food.

We are staying at a nice Bets Western Coach House Inn in Springfield for the evening.

June 25th 2008

We drove from Iowa City to St Clair Mo where we are staying at Budget Lodging. The price is reasonable and the place is clean. We ate at a 70 year old cafe (Lewis Cafe) that was inexpensive and good. Other than a few signs we have not seen much to talk about since joing route 66 at the Chesterfield interchange with Hwy 100. More tomorrow.

Start of the trip

Ainslie and I will start our journey on Wednesday June 25th after completing a couple of tasks before leaving town. Beacuse of the recent flooding in the midwest we plan to drive from Iowa City to StLouis and join the route there. As many of you know the route actually starts in Chicago and we will after making the trek westward someday start at Chicago and work our way to St Louis.Ainslie is my 12 year old grandaughter and I am 62 years old having retired the end of January. It is our intent to follow route 66 to California and drive up the coast and return on a northern route through many of the national parks.We hope to update this blog each day but that will depend on if internet access is available where we stay. We have set up a place holder on Flickr and I will uplaod photos of our journey daily (again when possible).
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