Get Your Kicks on Route 66!
We decided to follow Bobby's advice and travel, as much as possible, the length of this historic stretch of concrete and asphalt.
The Mother Road was commissioned in 1926 and was the major national East-West highway for decades. It was rendered obsolete by the Interstate Highway System and parts of it no longer exist -- no longer exist, that is, as a contiguous highway. But there are scores of relics of the Fifties along the road and many restored diners, gas stations, museums and other curiosities still there to see and enjoy.
When we were fortunate enough to acquire two very special Corvettes, the 1953 Commemorative Edition Corvette:
.. it seemed like a great idea to take this pair of nostalgic Corvette icons on the trip that helped make Corvette a household name (through the TV series starring Martin Milner and George Maharis as "Tod Stiles" and "Buz Murdock"):
What the heck, we already had our "Buz(z)"..
To read about the origin of Route 66 click HERE and to read about the Route 66 TV series, click HERE.
We met during Valentine's week at Hilton Head Island, SC to do the planning. We wanted to experience all the quaint (goofy?) things-to-do along the road so we bought just about every Route 66 guidebook, map and DVD we could find. Chaz sat at the laptop building an Excel spreadsheet while everyone else tried to stay in sequence with multiple maps, books and DVDs. Here's what THAT session looked like:
 Gael |
 Jackie |
|
 Buzz |
 Chaz |
The idea is to take our time, scheduling no more than 150-200 miles each day. We figured this would give us plenty of time for sidetrips, photos -- and to meet friends along the route (more about this later).
If you meet up with us along the way you'll get a commemorative dash plaque:
The trip is planned to end at the pier in Santa Monica, CA around mid-day, Thursday, May 13th.
Click HERE to see the day-by-day plan for our adventure.
Gael did it! Here are two shots of our trunk packed and ready to go with room to spare:
Sunday, April 25th - Bowling Green to IndianapolisMonday, April 26th - Indianapolis to ChicagoTuesday, April 27th - Chicago to Lincoln, ILWednesday, April 28th - Lincoln, IL to St. Louis, MOThursday, April 29th - St. Louis, MO to Lebanon, MOFriday, April 30th - Lebanon, MO to Joplin, MOSaturday, May 1st - Joplin, MO to Oklahoma City, OKSunday, May 2nd - Oklahoma City, OK to Sayre, OKMonday, May 3rd - Sayre, OK to Amarillo, TXTuesday, May 4th - Amarillo, TX to Tucumcari, NMWednesday, Cinco de Mayo (Ole!) - Tucumcari, NM to Santa Fe, NMThursday, May 6th - Santa Fe, NM to Albuquerque, NMFriday, May 7th - Albuquerque, NM to Gallup, NMSaturday, May 8th - Gallup, NM to Holbrook, AZSunday, May 9th - Holbrook, AZ to Williams, AZMonday, May 10th - Williams, AZTuesday, May 11th - Williams, AZ to Needles, CAWednesday, May 12th - Needles, CA to Victorville, CAThursday, May 13th - Victorville, CA to Santa Monica, CA - FINIS!This was truly a trip of a lifetime for us. We had the best time and met some truly wonderful people. We encourage everyone to drive at least part of the Mother Road. You won't forget it.
Of course, we had to return home. Click HERE for Buzz and Jackie's return adventure and HERE for ours.
Hope you enjoyed it -- we sure did!
.. and
