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This year, the world's leading authority on Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request), Jim Asher, will turn 65 years old. To celebrate, he is planning a trip with his wife to drive most of Route 66, "the Mother Road,." They plan to start getting their kicks on Route 66 in St. Louis, MO, and from there they'll drive west to California -- with a few side trips along the way.
He'll document his planning and the trip down below, so please stay tuned for more details as they come! : ) |
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To start preparing for the trip, I ordered a couple of books, the EZ66 Guide for Travelers by Jerry McClanahan and Route 66 Travelers Guide and Roadside Companion by Tom Snyder. I have also ordered Ghost Towns of Route 66 by Jim Hinckley and Route 66 Then and Now by Joe Sonderman. They'll arrive soon!
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Next, I enlisted the help from a friend who traveled Route 66 in the fall of 2019 on his move from Chicago to Los Angeles. He knows that I love pics of old signs, so he sent me some great pics from his trip so that I could post them on my Instagram account, @sign_on_the_dotted_line. Some of the pics he sent me are below.
He's been offering suggestions and advice as I've started planning the trip.
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Third, I've started listening to the 'Route 66 Podcast," HERE. I just started listening a couple of days ago, so I've only heard the first three episodes so far! Lots more to go!
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Based on the discussion of the podcast's second episode, I've even watched the Pixar movie "Cars." It turns out that Michael Wallis, author of Route 66: The Mother Road, was the voice for the Sheriff of Radiator Springs.
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I've been working on a preliminary itinerary. Due to timing (for the length of our trip and for time we'd like to spend in LA with one of our daughters), we will start our trek west on Route 66 in St. Louis. Here is the likely plan:
St. Louis . . . Lebanon, MO . . . Tulsa, OK . . . Oklahoma City . . . Amarillo, TX . . .
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Today I was able to listen to episodes 4 and 5 of the Route 66 Podcast (see Milepost 3 above). In episode 4, the podcast's host, Anthony Arno, spoke to a recent high school graduate, Dylan Wallace, who painted a Route 66 mural on the side of an antique shop. I ran a Google search to take a look at the mural (shown at the left), and I discovered the website "Route66Times.com" -- and the "east/west" feature they have below the highlighted photographs on their site looks like it will be a GREAT resource!
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I learned about the National Park Service's Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program from the Route 66 podcast featured above at Milepost 3. The NPS Route 66 site is HERE, and I will definitely be exploring their information and the "related links" between now and our trip.
Below: A map of the portion of Route 66 that we will be traveling. The complete map of Route 66 from the National Park Service is HERE. |
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SIDE TRIPS: We're still playing with our itinerary, but it looks like we'll be taking four side trips during our trek down the mother road:
1. Before we head for Oklahoma City from Tulsa, OK, we're going to head north to Bartlesville, OK, to see Price Tower, the only skyscraper erected designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. 2. After Gallup, NM, we're going to travel north to see Canyon de Chelly. 3. At Flagstaff, we're going to head south to Scottsdale, AZ, to tour Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West (we saw his original Taliesin in Wisconsin last summer -- check out our Travelogue HERE. 4. Prior to heading to Kingman, AZ, we're going to spend time at the Grand Canyon. NOTE: Not a side trip -- but we MIGHT be in Albuquerque for part of their International Balloon Fiesta. NOTE: Since we have already seen Santa Fe, NM, we are not taking a side trip there. |
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My wife and I have started an Instagram account to post pics to document our planning for the trip -- and to document the trip once we head out west.
Check it out -- HERE. 
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The two books I ordered arrived (see Milepost 1 above), and one of them came with a cool pull-out map.
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I heard about "Route" magazine today, so I ordered a subscription. For information about the magazine, click HERE.
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