To read about our trip down Route 66

Go to the June 2006 archive!

Jealousy is an ugly thing

I came into the office Wednesday morning and I had a voicemail from my parents, left at 5:38 Tuesday evening. Why they didn’t call my cell phone I don’t know, but that’s neither here nor there at this point.

Here’s the transcript of the important part:

“Just wanted to let you know...it’s a long story but we just had a lady tell us that, ‘Oh you don’t want to stay at the Wigwam...’ in Holbrook, you know. (To mom) Because of what? Because ‘It’s musty and stuff.’ She says ‘You want to stay up at’ some fancy La Sperado [sic – it’s the La Posada] something up in Winslow for 80 to 120 bucks a night. We figure we can go to the grocery store and buy air freshener. I was just calling you to see what your opinion of it was. Must’ve been alright, you didn’t discourage us. So ok, have a good week! This is Tuesday afternoon and it’s 2:40 Arizona time so we should be in Holbrook in about 20 minutes. Bye-bye!”

I know my parents are not high maintenance at all and they did make that comment about buying air freshener, so I was fairly confident they would stay at the Wigwams. But still...it sure was a long couple of hours while I watched the clock and waited until it was an acceptable hour for me to call them. We finally connected and they told me that they did, indeed, stay at the Wigwams and found them delightful.

It turns out they had arrived in Holbrook rather early in the afternoon and decided to venture on ahead to check out Winslow so they wouldn't have to stop there the following morning. They were in a shop in Winslow when they had that conversation with a proprietor. Despite that lady’s negative opinion, they backtracked to Holbrook to spend the night. My mom, who is one of the most mild-mannered people around, said she had an urge to stop by that store when they went back through Winslow so she could give that lady what-for!

Now it’s Friday night and we spoke about 45 minutes ago. They’re at the Wigwams in Rialto. I keep having to give them pep talks that they’ll be able to drive to Santa Monica without any problems. They’re driving it on a Saturday morning. It’s just a regular city street with four lanes and traffic lights. But some people (um, person) in this family tend to get a little jumpy in traffic (See also: Amusing stories about my dad backing into someone at a toll booth outside Chicago) and I think this certain person has visions of chaotic freeway traffic with people randomly shooting each other. I’m supposed to set my alarm for 8:45 tomorrow morning so I can wake up and pray for them. :-)

On Jeopardy recently

I forgot to post this...Route 66 was a category on Jeopardy recently. And it really was a category about the Route, unlike another Route 66 category they had a year or so ago that was just about things related to the number 66. (Alex, I'm still pissed off about that, you tease.)

$400
Car lovers go to San Bernardino, home of the Route 66 Rendezvous festival, in this state.

$800 (Read by Neil Patrick Harris)
If you get your kicks on Route 66, come visit this city, my hometown and also home to a minor league baseball team, the Isotopes.

$1200
Take a detour to the Meteor Crater and “don’t forget Winona” in this state.

$1600
“Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.,” but you’re at the end of the road in this beach city on the Pacific.

$2000
Go down to Missouri and see this largest city between Chicago and L.A. on Route 66.

They did not get the $1600 question and I'm pretty sure they only reason they got the $800 question was because one of the contestants was from that city.

Suffice it to say, the $1200 question caused me to shout, "No! Skip the Meteor Crater! It's a sham! It's a tourist trap!"

We're remembered!

Another call from mom and dad tonight. They're enjoying an evening at the Blue Swallow. The owner is still working on the fountain that was newly discovered when we stopped last June. It seems he needs one more glass block for the fountain, and perhaps a little more repair work and hopefully it'll be ready to go!

But the real highlight of the day (for...um...me) was that they stopped for pie at the Midpoint Café. And they started talking to the staff about their daughter and her three friends who came through last June. And locked their keys in the car. Although the lady who helped us wasn't working today, he said that they were familiar with the story of The Four Girls and the Keys. My dad went out to the van and retrieved their printout of the blog so the employees could read all about how we *heart* the people of Adrian, Texas. It's my understanding that there were some good chuckles about our little mishap. Ah well. It's nice to bring joy to people. :-)

Interestingly enough, I was just looking at some of the other Route 66 Web sites and saw that Ron had also recently posted about the Rialto in Joliet. It seems that within an hour or two after mom and dad left the theatre, that Midwestern storm came through and caused part of the sign to fall.

Mom assures me she's keeping a journal of the trip, so sometime after they get back to Iowa we'll transcribe it and post all about their grand adventure.

They're seeing Amarillo...

Mom and dad called to check in tonight. They're in Amarillo. Here's the trip so far:

Sunday: Chicago to Lincoln
Monday: Lincoln to St. Louis
Tuesday: St. Louis to Cuba
Wednesday: Cuba to Joplin
Thursday: Joplin to OKC
Friday: OKC to Amarillo

They're planning to stay at the Blue Swallow tomorrow night, Santa Fe on Sunday, Albuquerque on Monday, The Wigwam on Tuesday, Williams on Wednesday, Needles on Thursday and then three nights at the Rialto Wigwam.

Sunday evening they stayed at the Redwood Motel in Lincoln, Illinois. Dad said it was a nice mom 'n' pop place. Monday evening they checked into a hotel in Mitchell, Illinois, went back out to walk the Chain of Rocks bridge (jealous!), then went back to the hotel, checked out, drove across the river and found another hotel. My dad said the first hotel was a little sketchy, complete with deadbolts that didn't work. They skipped Ted Drewes this time, but living in Iowa it's not like they can't make a jaunt down to St. Louis some other time.

Tuesday morning they visited the Museum of Transportation, which they thoroughly enjoyed. After that they drove on to Cuba and, coincidentally, ended up at the same Best Western we stayed at. They tried the Wagon Wheel, and after talking to a lady at the Best Western, I think we know why it's so hard to get in there. The BW lady said the WW has a lot of weekly guests and doesn't necessarly cater to the overnight Route 66 traveller. That's the feeling I got when I tried to make a reservation there - it was impossible. It's too bad, but I guess it gives them a steady income.

Wednesday they stopped by the Munger Moss and were able to go inside and see some rooms. They are definitely up for a trip back to Lebanon so they can spend the night. Sounds like they spent a nice amount of time chatting there, too.

Although the 66 Drive-In at Carthage was closed, they said they stopped by and had a really nice conversation with a gentleman who works there. He told them all about the theatre and the business and it sounds like they really enjoyed it.

Tomorrow they'll hit the halfway point. I hope they get a slice of pie!

Mom and dad hit the road

Mom and dad are on the route! They stayed outside Chicago on Saturday night, drove in on Jackson Sunday morning and headed back out on Adams. I told them they had to check in a minimum of once a week. They called from Joliet Sunday afternoon.

They stopped outside the Rialto Theatre to take some pictures and were approached by a gentleman who said he was the engineer. He offered to take them inside and give them a tour, an offer they gladly accepted.

I told them that's what they have to look forward to for the next 2,300 miles: Friendly people who go out of their way to make your trip special.

So if you're along the route, keep an eye out for Don and Marsha from Iowa. They're on their way!

Mile 1139/Now it's fractured into many new numbers

I didn't realize we've been posting so much that our Mile 1139 picture got bumped off the front page. We want to make things as simple as possible for our Marlboro friends (because, let's be honest, we want to get rich and famous). I'm a little disturbed that the downsized version of this picture makes me look like I have a tremendous overbite, so I'm posting a slightly larger version because I am a vain and shallow person. Really! It's just a big, toothy grin!

Scroll down to the next post to see my reasoning behind my answer to clue #39, the "fractured into many new numbers" question.

In other news, a little bird tells me the winery is now able to ship to some states. If you're at all intrigued by our talk of the new Tassel Ridge winery (official wine of our Route 66 trip!), you should call them up and ask them to ship you some wine, particularly the Iowa Nouveau and the In the Dark (or the Prelude and Brett's Blush if you're a white/rose person). Down below you'll see a few pictures of me and Ann dishing out samples at the Iowa State Fair. It's darned delicious and I'm convinced if I get enough people to buy it, Bob will give me a lifetime supply.

Interesting happenings from 1937

Jim asked, "What about I 25 through Sante Fe and Albuquerque? I found references to that."

This is why I think this is a hard question to get a definitive answer to! My answer is still five, though. Here's my reasoning. Route 66 up through Santa Fe and down to Albuquerque was the pre-1937 route. So I-25 didn't really bypass Route 66...it bypassed itself in 1937 when they changed it so it ran from Santa Rosa directly to Albuquerque, and then I-40 bypassed that section.

Thoughts?