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| Route 66 sculpture on Central Avenue in Albuquerque (Photo by Hunner) |
At the end of July, I kicked off the East Coast leg of my
Driven by History road trip driving on Route 66. I headed east from
Albuquerque, New Mexico on Interstate 40 and hopped off at times to follow the
two lane remnants of the Mother Road. It’s a story of multiple narratives, some
faded, much like history in general. What’s left of Route 66 sometimes serves
as a frontage road for the Interstate, and at other times, it winds through the
countryside and small towns. To see the changes in our country since the 1950s,
all you have to do is pull off the superhighway and drive the old route.
The United States has a long history of roads connecting our
nation. In 1806, President Jefferson signed an act to create the National Road
to connect the mid-Atlantic coast of Maryland and Washington D.C. with
Illinois. Even during the late 19th century, as railroads spread
across the continent and sped people and goods around, roads continued to serve
vital routes for wagons, buggies, and bicycles. The safety bike came over from
England and by the 1890s, 1,000,000 had been sold in the U.S. The suffragette
Susan B. Anthony claimed “Bicycles did more to emancipate women than anything
else.” The rage for bicycles also spawned a Good Roads movement.
At the turn of the 20
th century, automobiles entered
the scene. At first, cars served only the rich. Their price, their unreliability
as they tended to break down, and the lack of good roads all made them more
playthings than reliable transportation like horses or bicycles. Then in 1913,
Henry Ford pioneered the automobile assembly line which radically reduced their
cost. With the assembly line, a Ford car took only ninety-three minutes to
make. Working people now could afford a Model T and for some, such a vehicle became
essential for getting their produce to market or delivering goods to clients.
Needless to say, cars revolutionized many aspects of 20
th century
living. We are all descendants of Ford, Dodge, and the other many automobile innovators.
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| Model T (From exhibit at National Route 66 Museum, Elk City, Ok.) |
Cars required different roads than wagons. Steep hills and
mountains, deep rivers, and muddy routes all impeded the horseless carriages. A
demand for good roads grew as cars proliferated, and as adventurous souls began
to drive across the country. As a result, a federal highway system began to unify
the various routes and standardize the numbers for roads—odd numbered roads
went north and south while even number ones went east and west.
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| Standard federal highway sign as the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, Ok (Photo by Hunner) |
One of the first of the unified federal road system, Route 66
came into being on November 11, 1926. It ran from Chicago, Illinois, through
Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and ended at Santa
Monica, California. Its total length was 2,448 miles (3,940 km). From the
beginning, Route 66 sought to connect small towns and villages to the rest of
the country.
The Mother Road transported Great Depression refugees fleeing
the Dust Bowl like the fictional Joad family in Steinbeck’s
Grapes of Wrath and played a vital role
in rushing people West during World War II as the government chose many places
along the route for military facilities and war industries. It helped
facilitate the greatest mobilization of workers and material in U.S. history as
people flocked to Southern California for jobs. After the war, the road inspired
both the TV show
Route 66 which ran
on CBS from 1960 to 1964 and Bobby Troup, Jr. who penned the hit song about
getting your kicks on Route 66. Postwar popular culture embraced the Mother
Road as an icon for the mobile American Dream.
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| Route 66 and Main Street (Photo in the National Route 66 Museum) |
Today, there is little historic fabric left of the Mother Road.
Some segments still exist, and a few motor courts and buildings survive along
the route. For those seeking Route 66, they must use their imagination and
memories. Local efforts to preserve the route like the National Route 66 Museum
in Elk City, Oklahoma, and the restored Conoco station in Shamrock, Texas are interesting
parts of the great road. Car clubs and booster organizations work to preserve
and publicize what is left to attract tourists. And it works. I heard of a
group of Norwegians who flew into Chicago, rented Harley-Davidsons, drove the
route, and then shipped the bikes back as they returned to Oslo. I also saw a Route
66 Diner on a highway in Sweden years ago. The Mother Road still attracts die-hard
fans from around the world.
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| Restored Conoco gas station in Shamrock, Texas (Photo by Hunner) |
The decline of Route 66 came about with the passage of the Federal
Aid Highway Act of 1956. President Eisenhower experienced both the frustration of
traveling cross country in pre-war U.S. as well as the ease of using Germany’s Autobahn
highways. Using the German model, he helped pass this act to fund the building
of limited access superhighways, partially justified as a way to get people out
of big cities in case of a nuclear attack by the Soviets. By 1970, almost all
segments of Route 66 were replaced by the interstate highways. The final patch
of the Mother Road was bypassed by Interstate 40 at Williams, Arizona in October
1984.
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| Abandoned Esso Station on the Mother Road (Photo by Hunner) |
As I drive to history, I see layers of the past side by side
with the modern. Two lanes black-tops hugging the contour of the landscape next
to broad ribbons of grey cement slicing through hills and leaping over valleys.
I witness vehicles rocketing along at 80 and 90 miles an hour, and giant trucks
pulling two, even three trailers charging down the highway. For the most part,
interstates efficiently move vehicles, people, and goods across our vast
country. I admit, when I have to make good time, I often jump on an interstate
to make it to the next historic destination.
To be sure, interstates are engineering marvels. Overpasses soar
through the air like ribbons of concrete. Interchanges weave cars and trucks at
high speeds in an intricate dance to connecting routes. And people fly down the
highways at breakneck velocities, far exceeding the speed limit and still
arriving safely. It is a wondrous road system essential to the wellbeing of our
county.
So here’s my concern. In the 1980s, I drove trucks full of
art around the country. Back then, I enjoyed country cafes, often on main
streets in the small communities. Today, I vainly search for small locally
owned restaurants in these small towns. To find a meal or even a cup of coffee,
one must often go out to the interstate exits and have a franchised meal. The blur of speeding along at 75 miles per
hour, the homogenization of the franchises on interstate highway system dull us
to the rich diversity of our country.
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| Traffic jam at rush hour in Indianapolis on I-470 bypass (Photo by Hunner) |
William Least Heat Moon published
Blue Highways in the 1982 about his road trip on the country byways
off of the interstates. He is an elegiac writer with a great eye for the life
in people and landscapes. He advocated for slowing down and enjoying the trip as
opposed to rushing to our destinations. In
Blue
Highways, he taps into who we are as a country as he interacts with the
people of America. It serves as a counter-narrative to our fast paced lives and
perhaps evokes what Route 66 fans seek when they travel the Mother Road.
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| Classic gas pumps at the Conoco station in Shamrock, Texas (Photo by Hunner) |
In a land as big as ours, we need roads to connect us. Thomas
Jefferson knew as much when he signed a law creating a National Road. Dwight
Eisenhower also knew this when he advocated for the interstate highway system.
But roads don’t just get us to where we are going. They take us through the
vast cornfields of the Midwest and wheat fields of the Great Plains, through the
hot deserts of the Southwest, through the dense cities of the Atlantic
seaboard, and through the thick forests of the South. Underneath our modern
highways lay two lane roads, under those lay pioneer tracks, and under those
lay Native American trails. Our transportation network is built upon more
ancient routes and shows us that humans embrace mobility, that from our first
steps on this continent we immigrated, we traveled for trade and for adventure,
and we pursued a dream of finding a better place for ourselves and our
families.
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| The Mother Road in Missouri with Interstate 40 in the background (Photo by Hunner) |
My next blog which I also post tonight is a short detour off
of Route 66. I visited the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site in western
Oklahoma. We see Cheyenne Peace Chief Black Kettle again as well as George
Custer.
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| The Wagon Wheel Motor Court in Missouri on Route 66 (Photo by Hunner) |
