Seeing the sights on Route 66.

As you may already know, the original Highway 66 has been replaced by Interstate 40. There are still a few parts of the original road left for nostalgia freaks to drive on though.
The first sign I spotted said something like "Original Route 66" and pointed to an offramp, so with hopes of spotting Martin Milner in the 'Vette, I took the exit.

Whoa! They should have added a postscript to the sign, "Secure all false teeth and babies. Not responsible for loss of vision or bowel control."
Apparently these sections of the "Mother Road" have been left to fend for themselves ever since the Interstate went in. They are little more than black chunks of asphalt, much like those pictures you see of the Martian landscape.

I managed to get about 1/4 mile down the road before I had to turn back. I recommend a purpose built off-road bike and a good leather kidney belt for anyone wishing to try riding any of those sections.

The towns along the Interstate were originally on the Mother Road and they are cashing in on the fame, such as it is. I took each exit and checked them out.

Most of the loops through the towns are filled with new retro-cafes aimed at the hot-rodding crowd. You know, those aluminum and glass buildings that look faintly like an old drive-in. Most are probably designed by someone who has never seen a real drive-in.
There are so many of them, my guess is if you ate a burger in each one of those joints, you would consume a whole cow every 2 towns.

In some spots I saw the old icons. I saw the Wigwam Motel, which was pretty cool. They had old 50s cars parked in front of each unit. I couldn't tell if it was really open for business, as it looked pretty run-down and dusty.

I found out that towing a trailer puts me in the class of big RVs in that there was usually no easy place to park so I could get out and look. I had to be satisfied with a drive-by view.
There are so many RVs you would think they would make some provision for parking them and letting the tourist dollars flow.

I did manage to get into an A&W in Seligman, Arizona though. Had a burger, fries and a root beer, naturally. The root beer was excellent!

I also went through Winslow, Arizona to see the corner mentioned in the song "Take It Easy." Once again no place to park but it looked like an old run-down bar with a couple of seedy desert rat types out front. They were watching a big semi-truck that had jammed up traffic in all directions. The driver was trying to get through a gate into a construction area (or something) which was against the traffic flow and there was a Mexican laborer half-heartedly trying to direct traffic and explain to the driver where he was supposed to go. It was hot and apparently rush-hour in Winslow, so there was a lot of honking and arm-waving and nobody would give the big-rig driver a break. I could hear sirens approaching when I spotted an opening in the mess and jammed on through, hoping I could plead tourist ignorance if the cops got me.
Taking it easy, indeed!

One thing I noticed were busloads of European tourists in all the towns. All the restaurants and souvenir shops were doing great. There were also big groups of high school kids who were spending money like drunken sailors on huge bags of Fritos, gallon-sized soft drinks and the like. At least they were polite and didn't jostle me at the counter.

All in all, an interesting look at what happens to famous American icons. If it was mentioned in history books or was on TV, there must be some way to make a buck off it.

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