MAY 12, 2024
VOLUME 59
OPENING REMARKS
It’s been a while since I did a “View” article. View articles are simply that, my thoughts and views about stuff. Not necessarily news kind of stuff. I’m a You Tube junkie, I love all of the different things you can see and experience. I have recently been following the video episodes by Jeff Thisted. He owns and drives a 1955 Chevy station wagon that has been hot rodded and lightly customized, and he drives it from Chicago to L.A. on route 66 as much as possible while shooting some awesome video. Some large pieces of the old highway are sadly gone, and ain’t comin’ back. Why would that interest me? well I have done the same trip from Tulsa to Santa Monica four times. Once with my parents in a 1953 Plymouth Belvedere, once in a 1953 Studebaker Commander Regal Starlight Coupe when I was 21 years old with my wife and kids, once with my wife and kids in a 1959 Plymouth Fury, again in my 1965 Formula S Barracuda, and my final trip was with my wife and kids in a 1970 Plymouth Fury with a 440 Magnum engine. So, watching Jeff’s videos was fun to see all of the old motels and gas stations and towns. Looking at the old road, and how narrow it was, brought back so many memories.
THE CALL OF THE OPEN ROAD
I was born into a family that liked to go places and see things. After WW2 when rationing was lifted, people began to travel. My first big road trip was in 1949, with my sister and her husband in a brand new 1949 Plymouth sedan. We traveled from Tulsa across Texas to Juarez Mexico, then on to New Mexico and the Carlsbad Caverns, then to southern Colorado, and back home to Tulsa. It was an amazing trip for an eight-year-old. For some odd reason I remember Albuquerque and how small it was comparing it to how it looked in the sixties.
The home I grew up in was about two miles from route 66. Alongside the highway was the Frisco railway. On a warm summer night, I could lay in my bed and hear the traffic on 66 and the steam trains coming and going. Our house was quite a lot higher than the rail yards about five miles east of us. When the big steam locomotives climbed the grade going west, they actually caused the windows to rattle in our house, when we were about two miles from the tracks. The steam whistles on those old trains were a beckoning call to go somewhere, anywhere. By the time I was six years old, I already had two trips by rail under my belt. One to Dallas Texas, and one to St. Louis, Missouri. I remember crossing the Mississippi on a train like it was yesterday.
Ironically, the new four lane bypass that took route 66 around most of the populated areas of Tulsa took out my birthplace home as well. We moved to the other side of route 66 to a brand-new home which was close enough to the train tracks we could see the trains from our house. And could hear the traffic on 66 a little louder. The noise from the railroad and route 66 wasn’t a problem, it was a good sound. It’s no surprise after growing up in that environment that I had a bad case of the wanderlust. It didn’t help that my whole family had a passion for cars. I couldn’t wait until I got my first car so I could start racking up some highway miles. ( A side note; The house that was taken out by the new highway was my birthplace, built by my mom and dad and moved to that location almost ten years earlier. The new owners that bought it from the state moved it again and it still stands today, in great condition, looking much like it did when I was a kid. )
My father was the “rules of the road” expert. When I was a kid, I watched him drive while standing behind his seat. I wanted to know how it all worked. I was fascinated by the instrument panel and all of the gauges and what they meant. I used to listen to my dad’s road stories while he was driving, and how drivers were expected to interact with each other, being courteous at all times. How cars interacted with trucks and so on. I listened carefully to his every word which was the gospel of the road. I was especially impressed watching him drive at night, I loved the glow of the instrument panel lights, watching him navigate the darkness. The headlights on the old cars with six volt electrical systems were about the equivalent of a good flashlight. They were really bad in the rain. Every trip with my Dad behind the wheel was a big adventure for me.
AUTOMOBILES AND HIGHWAYS ARE A ROMANTIC EXPERIENCE OF ANOTHER KIND.
That’s exactly why it is a great topic for movies and tv shows. Every road trip is an adventure. It may not be of epic proportion, but you will remember what happened and what you saw on that trip the rest of your life. My late wife was just as smitten by the road as myself. She bought a book in the eighties by a native American author named William Least Heat Moon, called “Blue Highways”. Blue highways are the roads on the map that are blue, which means they are secondary roads found in sparsely populated areas. (we were still traveling by maps, it was many years before GPS and cell phones) She suggested that we follow his route across the western states as far as possible while traveling to Oklahoma from southern California. We did exactly that, what a fabulous trip. You have probably heard the phrase “one horse towns”, well there are a lot of those on blue highways. Your vehicle better be in good condition, because most of the time it’s a long way to any kind of automotive services.
Fortunately for me after my late wife’s passing, I met my current wife, and she too loves to travel. We have been married for sixteen years and have covered a lot of asphalt during those years, some by car, some by motorhome, some by truck and trailer. Also, a fair amount by motorcycle before age caught up with us.
Our last big adventure was about three years ago. We loaded up the trusty old Suburban and headed to Phoenix from Oregon. I added the picture above, because this is the type of road I love to travel on. This is the cut-off from West of Phoenix to Lake Havasu where we visited our grandchildren and great grandchildren. I have to add that I lived in the southwest USA for thirty years and drove these roads extensively.
This canyon is near St. George Utah, the hills and valleys are gorgeous. We loved St. George so much we spent three days there taking in all of the sights. Contrary to what some people think, the desert is a beautiful place. Right about now, it may be a little late, but the Mojave Desert in California is blanketed with wildflowers. It literally looks like a carpet.
PURPLE MOUNTAINS MAJESTY, ABOVE THE FRUITED PLAINS. GOD BLESS AMERICA
In April I celebrated my 83rd birthday, and I have only been able to see 30 out of 50 states, British Columbia, Alberta, and southern Ontario. There are so many beautiful places to see, so many beautiful highways to travel, so many wonderful people to meet. That is the romantic allure of the highway. It allows people of today to have their own personal adventures and see once in a lifetime places.
As you read above, I grew up in Oklahoma, seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time was amazing. Standing in the Rockies looking over vast valleys, and walking through the Redwood forests of California are experiences that can’t be taken away from you. Standing in a wheat field in Kansas in the summer when the wheat is up to your waist for as far as the eye can see cannot be duplicated. Seeing Multnomah falls in Oregon in the wintertime when they are frozen cannot be matched.
My daughters just went to Europe a few months ago, and brought back some amazing photos, but I still haven’t seen my own country yet. I would love to see Main and Connecticut in the fall. I would love to take ride on the old Durango, Colorado steam train. Would love to drive the Blue Mountain Highway. Nope, don’t wanna go anywhere outside of the USA until I have seen everything here, and time is running short. Hell, I haven’t even seen the largest ball of twine yet, but I’ve been to Nashville. Saw the Columbia sitting on the launch pad a week before it exploded.
The United States of America is an awesome place. I can’t thank God enough for giving me the opportunity to live here, during the best time of its existence. It absolutely breaks my heart daily watching it be destroyed little by little, by evil people with no souls. Stand strong against this evil my friends. Do whatever is in your power to preserve our nation.
VINCIT VERITAS ~ LIVE FREE OR DIE
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