Status Updates From Route 66 Still Kicks: Drivi...

Probably going to use this for ATY's a book about a road trip or a long journey

Always an interesting moment when one of your current reads references another current read...looking at you, Grapes of Wrath

Davy Crockett...a true hero.

Route 66 overlaps the Trail of Tears? How sad

The Harvey Girls named their babies Harvey?? That makes a lot of sense.

~ The eight-state conduit, Route 66, was an enabler: Dairy Queen began in Joliet in 1940; Roy Allen & Frank Wright’s (A&W) original promotional burger-family-in-fiberglass today watches over Route 66 from a roadside perch in Dillon, Missouri; and Dick and Mac McDonald opened their restaurant in San Bernardino, California, in 1940 (before selling out to their milkshake-machine salesman, Ray Kroc).

~ Then the U.S. Secret Service drove the American president to Congress in Al Capone’s Cadillac.

The Corvette used in the Route 66 TV show was actually a sand colored one, but everyone assumed it was red (the heyday of black and white TV!)

~ In February 1946, the celebrated Nat King Cole serendipitously met the young songwriter Bobby Troup, and together they gave the world a wonderful road song, forever changing 66’s moniker from a “highway” to a “route.”

~ But if there is a place to see America at its truest, it is Route 66— the road first renowned for its attractions, then for its deterioration, and now for its attempts to reassert itself in the eyes of those who seek an authentic America. Americans love an underdog. Even more, they love stories about people who rolled high, lost it all, and fought to regain respect. In that way, Route 66 is America.

Pre-read: it's time for another PMW session!! Summer 2026, here we come.

Reading about the incredibly petty way the author decided to skip one of the stops his friend was looking forward to makes me feel a lot better about my solo road trips.