Road magic.

We had probably put about 150 miles on from Flagstaff when Roger turned to me and said “Why’d you want to drive Rt 66 anyway?”  In 1910 there were only 500,000 cars in the US.  The population then was 92 million.  Most of those cars drove around town and they were still a bit of a novelty.  By 1920, there were over 10 million cars in the US.  They drove on disjointed trails and getting from here to there was not easy.  It was then that an Oklahoma real estate developer had the idea of a road that connected Chicago to Los Angeles and Rt 66 was conceived.  By the early 1930’s the Great Depression had left many Americans looking for a new future and the Dust Bowl of the 30’s sent many a midwesterner to Rt 66 and California to find it.  The Road gave rise to new towns, interstate commerce and connected the country, much like the railroads had years earlier.  The Road thrived.  But by the mid 1950’s Eisenhower’s Interstate highways system marked the beginning of the end of Rt 66.  Today, the road we drive is intact in some places and long gone in others.  Many of the towns that grew up on the Road were bypassed when the Interstates were formed and have all but disappeared.  So why drive America’s Main Street today?  Because we still can.  Because for now, we still can.

After all, how else could we have seen this?!

The highlight of the day came when our trip-created Spotify playlist, set to shuffle, blew our minds.  We had just gotten off the highway at the exit and were coming into town, not knowing just where the corner was, when that familiar guitar chord came through the car speakers.  “Well I”m a-runnin’ down the road tryin’ to loosen my load…” That was crazy!  We headed a few more blocks and just when we hear “Well I’m standin’ on a corner in Winslow Arizona” it appeared:

Such a fine sight to see!

It was one of those moments I’ll remember.

We worked our way through Arizona headed for New Mexico and it is big country out here.  The perfect spot for crazy things to happen, like this…

A giant crater from a meteorite 50,000 years ago.

Or this

A hotel where you can sleep in a tee pee!

There’s a lot to see when you open your eyes.

Thanks for riding along with us today and please keep those comments comin’!