Route 66: On the road that kicks

The road is a mystery, a legend, a place of history and dreams. The Highway named Route 66 which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California. The street doesn’t exist anymore as a highway, but since it was vanished it becomes more fame every year. Nowaday is is a road covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km) and it no longer leads to a destination. The street itself the destination.

Since the highway was decommissioned, these mystical "Route 66" Nat King Cole sings about in his hit single “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” is hard to find on modern maps. In some places, in fact, the physical road is unpaved and virtually impassable, other places have street signs with the name, but nothing around than shrubs desert and dust. When you’re looking for the original Route 66 you have to go to Flagstaff and then to drive to Kingman and Seligman not on the Interstate 40, no. You have to choose the small street next door! This mostly invisible litle brother of I 40.

Then you still follow a few miles of the original road John Steinbeck called the "Mother Road" in his novel "The Grapes of Wrath." But better you don’t have great expectations, like Gaslight Anthem sings about with a side glance up to Charles Dickens. The famous Historic Route 66 loop between Seligman and Kingman is a tourist area where you will met a lot of busses with visitor from all over the world who are looking for traces of the great times when Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper done their “Easy Ride” for Hollywood.

Along the street who is coming close to the Grand Canyon as it passes through the large and lonely Hualapai Indian Reservation you find a lot of souvenir shops, cafés and diners and much more rusty cars, abandoned Cadillacs and graffiti for the “Route 66”. People here are linving from the history and the fame from former times that was founded by singer Bobby Troup who writes the Song “Get Your Kicks on Route Sixty Six” when he was on the road to LA in 1946.

Later Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones and Depeche Mode played his tune and sing the verses “Won't you get hip to this timely tip when you make that California trip
get your kicks on Route sixty-six”. Behind Flagstaff the adventure begins, behind Seligman you are in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of your ride. Take a look into nothing on the left and after that a look into nothing on the right. Miles and miles and miles to go and no one with you. All the others stuck in Seligman, the self named “Place of birth of the historic Route 66”. The most of the fun is done when you`re reaching und Kingman, the self-named „Capital of Route 66“.

After this place the way usually leads you straight to Colorado and California. But we have had a better idea ;-)

More pics under the link section.

Follow me on my epic journey through America:

Grand Canyon West: No-pics allowed of this beauty
Grand Canyon: Scenic views into the abyss of earth
Graveyard of giants: The Jurassic Park at the Navajo Trail
More than monumental: The heart of the wild west
Arches NP: The biggest bow you've ever seen
Zion Canyon: Ice-cold feet in narrow waters
Bryce Canyon: God's glowing stones
Las Vegas: Home of Bad Luck
Red Rock Canyon: Road under the ocean
The dry throat of the desert
Mt. Withney: High on thin air
Eating flies on Mono Lake
80.000 miles of steel wire
Beyond the everlasting trees
Crazy climbers at El Capitan
The wonder of the Sierra Waves
Into the home of horror
Where Easy Rider is alive
Blue skies over Alabama Hills

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