Riding down the Mother Road

mobile office on Rte 66

[dibbern2]

Have just traveled 66 from Chicago to Gallup, NM, stopping each nite to update client sites and other office work.

Just want to pass this along to friends here: if you have ever considered this type of jaunt, don't hesitate, DO IT! America is changing so quickly, but you can still touch the old small town ways, at least for a little while yet.

Biggest surprise: this is very popular with Europeans. Have met dozens of Brits, French, Germans, Swiss, and Austrians; many on rented Harleys.

[phranque]

maybe even a belgian or two...

[topr8]

yeah (brit here) i've done several road trips down the highways in the usa - avoiding all interstates of course, it's fantasic ... the last one i did was with my brother in a rented Mustang Shelby convertable, for 3 weeks and it was amazing.

[LifeinAsia]

If you REALLY want to see the country, do it on a bicycle [raceacrossamerica.org].
Well, maybe if you're racing like those guys, you won't see as much. :)

[Rugles]

I thought most of Route 66 was gone now.

[arieng]

I live in one of the cities that 66 passed through. On either side of the city, the old Route 66 (not called that anymore) runs parallel to the new Interstate. You can get off at any exit and drive the old highway. In a lot of the small, rural towns, you can still drive through the old main streets and a lot of the old building are still there.

In the city, the old Route 66 is still a major thoroughfare. Many of the old buildings are still there, and a few have become historic landmarks. One old gas station has been converted to a very trendy brewery.

The Old 66 can still be found, you just have to search for it.

[dibbern2]

Strange, we have come accross about a dozen long strings of auto-carrier rail cars parked in obscure stretches of track. These are long: several hundred cars in each string.

It occurred to me that in an economy based on selling 1000's of autos each week (month?) the railroads would need a large fleet of auto-carrier cars. Then, when the economy goes bust, there would be a large surplus of un-needed rail cars.

How would you store this surplus, knowing that in the future you woud need to put the cars back in service? On out-of-the-way sidings in dry country makes sense.

Rt 66 was built to follow the rails accross America, so all this is right outside my car window.

[LifeinAsia]

Back in the late 70s/early 80s, we had a lot of rail cars "parked" on rail lines several miles from our house. Over the years the cars rusted, got grafittied, and probably had transients taking up residency in them. They were a real eye sore.

Eventually, they were removed and the rails pulled up. The area looks so much better now! Even the areas where they threw up tract houses.