History of the Great American Road Trip

Historic Route 66 - Snow Covered Peaks; public domain image

History of The Great American Road Trip

Not so long ago in America, taking a vacation meant packing up luggage, an ice chest, possibly the dog, and of course the family and setting off on a road trip. The rise of air travel changed this scenario for some, but definitely not for everyone. Pulbished in 2021, the 2019–2020 Portrait of American Travelers® survey by MMGY Global revealed a resurgence in road travel. Since 2015, the survey recorded a 64% yearly increase in road trips. The trend is far from over, with 50% of Americans planning to travel more in 2024. Of those, 63% will hit the road.

I am writing this in a remote cabin on a river in California, one of many stops on my own road trip adventure. The April 8th total eclipse of the sun sent my husband and me across six states in our SUV to Texas. We were not alone. Millions traveled to the path of totality, which included parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. On the way home, I keep running into eclipse travelers. While waiting for tables at restaurants or for admittance to tourist attractions, we swap impressions of totality. Restaurant and service staff confirm that the recent crush of new business is due to eclipse travelers.

The great American road trip seems here to stay. After driving paved-over stretches of the Old Oregon Trail and Route 66, it makes me smile that essential slice of American history lives on. Most people take the interstate nowadays, but for those who seek roads less traveled, the rewards are substantial.

The opportunities for safe road travel abound today, but this wasn’t always the case. At the turn of the 20th century, wretched roads and the limited capabilities of horses, wagons and coaches hampered travel. Most covered long distances by steam locomotive. However, a few hardy souls set off on horseless carriage excursions. These intrepid individuals began the tradition of adventuring by private motorized vehicle that we enjoy today.

1899 Quinby Electric Carriage; public domain image

When recalling his 1903 trip from Colorado Springs to Santa Fe, attorney Phillip Delany declared: “and so the machine is conquering the old frontier, carrying the thudding of modern mechanics into the land of romance. . . .” Much taken with the idea, he went on to note: “The trails of Kit Carson and Boone and Crockett, and the rest of the early frontiersmen stretch out before the adventurous automobilist.”

While exploration appealed to adventurers like Delany, others wanted to escape the rigors of city life into a romanticized dream of nomadic travel. These tourists belonged to the upper-middle class. The cost of an automobile (between $650 and $1,300) placed owning one beyond the reach of most households. Besides this constraint, gas stations and garages were not largely available outside city limits. While a wealthy person might overcome such limitations, the average American could not.

Bad roads increased the likelihood of breakdowns and misadventures. One motorist in the Wyoming of 1909 described the roads he traveled as “deep ruts, high centers, rocks, loose and solid; steep grades, washouts, or gullies…” He also described “unbridged streams, sand, alkali dust, gumbo, and plain mud” as “common abominations.” Venturing off the beaten path for long distances demanded a great deal of self reliance. Mishaps could and did happen.

The first successful transcontinental journey was undertaken on a whim and a $50 bet in the spring of 1903. Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson, his friend, Sewall K. Crocker, and a bulldog named Bud set off from San Francisco in a 20-horsepower Winton touring car. This feat inspired others. 

Horatio Nelson Jackson, public domain image

Between 1901 and 1908, transcontinental drivers loaded their vehicles with numerous tools, sleeping bags, water carriers, camp stoves, navigational instruments, first aid supplies, rain-proof ponchos, pith helmets, tire chains, spare parts, firearms, and more. Mary C. Bedell published her gear list in Modern Gypsies, her 1924 account of auto touring: “tent, duffle bags, gasoline stove, Adirondack grate and a kit of aluminum kettles, with coffee pot and enamel cups and saucers inside.” This equipment increased the weight of her fully loaded automobile by “four or five hundred pounds” and gave the automobile a striking resemblance “to a hermit crab staggering across the ocean floor burdened with its house on its back.”

In time, wages rose and prices for used cars fell. Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908, improving the availability and affordability of automobiles. The increasing number of automobile travelers sparked the interest of merchants across America. Gas stations, garages, roadside diners, and hotels sprang up along more traveled routes. 

Eventually, interconnected roads became highways like Route 66. The great American road trip was born.

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt fell in love with literature at an early age when her father read chapters from classics as bedtime stories. When Janalyn grew older, she put herself to sleep with tales "written" in her head. Today Janalyn is a storyteller who writes western historical romance and medieval epic fantasy. Romance, mystery, adventure, history, and whimsy appear in all her novels in proportions dictated by their genre.

Learn more about Janalyn Voigt and her book series.

The Bunyan Derby - The Grandaddy of Long Distance Races

Since this is publishing on July 4th and I'm sure there are foot races sometimes run in connection to the celebration, what better topic than a footrace that lasted days and months? 

We're all familiar with marathon races, and some of you may have completed in cross country when you were in school. But I recently learned of a race that took place in 1928 that started in Santa Monica, California on March 4, 1928, and ended at Madison Square Garden in New York City on May 26, 1928. That's 3, 323.5 miles!

1928 publicity photograph of KGGM (now KNML), a "portable broadcast station" hired by C. C. Pyle, which each evening transmitted reports along the route of the race. Photo: Wikipedia, Public Domain

Dubbed the Bunion Derby as you can imagine, it gained a lot of attention. Sports promoter Charles C. Pyle organized the race and promised a $25,000 first prize which is a lot of money now, but back then it was a huge sum. 

Andy Payne, taken several years
after the race

One-hundred-ninety-nine competitors began the race, but by the time they arrived in New York, only 55 runners remained.The runners, mostly made up of ordinary men with ordinary jobs, what today, we might call blue-collar workers, traveled same route as the infamous Route 66. There were among the runners professional athletes, both runners and race walkers, but none of them finished the race.

According to author, Charles Katsner, in his book, Bunion Derby, the 1928 Footrace Across America, Route 66, from L.A. to Chicago, was the toughest portion of the race. "In 1928, it snaked through mountains, deserts, mud, sandstorms, and blizzards. Little of the road was paved west of Oklahoma." But farther east after all of that, the racers would endure the industrial cities of Chicago, Gary, and Cleveland. Back then they may not have coined the term "smog" yet, but there was plenty of it in those cities.

A young Cherokee from Oklahoma named Andy Payne had entered the race with hopes of using the $25,000 to pay off the mortgage to his farm. Most of the latter days of the race, Andy held the lead but the second place runner was hot on his heels, until health setbacks forced him to drop out. Finally on May 26, Andy won the race and received the $25,000 prize. He used the money as planned and built a new home on the property.

The following year, another transcontinental race, following the same route was held and John Salo, the second place winner in the first race, won. But that time around, the race was financially insolvent and Salo never won any money.

You can read more about this interesting race by going to this article on Runners World's website or Wikipedia .

Here's actual footage from the race with both it's start and the finish at Madison Square Garden (which was an outdoors arena back then). There is no sound on the clip.

Have you ever participated in a marathon? Please leave a comment and tell us if you did.

Pamela Meyers has written several historical romances set in her hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and has another in the works to be published in May, 2021.

She lives in northern Illinois with her two rescue cats, not far from her home state of Wisconsin and can often be found there enjoying Friday fish frys and gathering fodder for new stories.

Old Route 66

Almost Gone But Not Forgotten

by Martha Rogers

I am currently researching and writing a novella set in Texas on the old Route 66. I have found the history of the highway fascinating and when I realized 2016 is the 90^th anniversary of the highway, I decided to share some of what I have learned. Proclaimed the "Mother Road" after  Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath called it such, Route 66 is the source of legends, romance, and nostalgia.

Two men, Cyrus Avery of Tulsa, Oklahoma and John Woodruff of Springfield, Missouri deserve most of the credit for the highway link between Chicago and Los Angeles, it wasn’t until their dreams merged with a national program of highway development that their efforts came to fruition.

In 1916, the first legislation for public roads first appeared, but even after revisions in 1921, it wasn’t until 1925 that plans were actually executed. In 1926, Route 66 was officially named as the Chicago to Los Angeles route. From the beginning, planners intended to connect the main streets of rural and urban communities along the way for practical reasons and give them access to a major national thoroughfare.

Santa Monica: Beginning of the Road

The course of Route 66 was anything but straight. Its diagonal course rambled through predominantly rural communities across flat prairie lands. After leaving 

California, it ran across Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico before cross the plains of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois. This enabled farmers to transport grain and produce by way of trucking which had come to rival the railroad by 1930.

From 1933 to 1938, the highway commission employed thousands of male youths from virtually every state to pave the final stretches of the road. Because of this monumental effort, the Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway was designated as “continually paved” in 1938. 

The highway played an important role during WW II as the route facilitated the relocation of troops across the Midwest. During that time, Bobby Troup, a former pianist with Tommy Dorsey, wrote a lyrical road map that gave us the familiar phrase, “get your kicks on Route 66.” Nat King Cole released his recording of the song in 1946.

Businesses along the route prospered as travelers had need of lodging, food, 

and even car repair. The tourism generated by a Post-War travel society, ensured success for the tourist courts, diners, and garages springing up across the land.

As the travelers shunned hotels in larger towns, the motor courts or motels began to thrive. They offered amenities such as adjoining restaurants, souvenir shops and swimming pools. 

Ironically, the same need for mobility and improved highways that gave Route 66 its popularity also signaled its demise and by 1970, nearly all segments of the highway were by by-passed by a four-lane interstate highway. Because of lack of interest and poor maintenance, the final section of the original road was by-passed by Interstate 40 at Williams, Arizona in 1984.

The old Route 66 was decommissioned on June 27, 1985. Signs were removed and the road was almost lost. Even today you will have difficulty finding it on current maps. Many states have Historic Route 66 signs along the way, but rarely do they give instructions for exits or directions to the old road where it veers off from the interstate. However, a number of states such as Oklahoma have established Route 66 Museums where travelers can stop and gather information about the "Mother Road." This one is in Clinton, Oklahoma

                            

Many of us are familiar with the old TV show starring Martin Milner and George Maharias. That show brought Americans back to the route looking for new adventures. Segments of the highway can still be found along the route and that’s what I went looking for and found the route through the Panhandle of Texas that will give my heroine a great new adventure in her life.

More information can be found on the web-site: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/66-info.html

Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband Rex live in Houston where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren.  A former English and Home Economics teacher, Martha loves to cook and experimenting with recipes and loves scrapbooking when she has time. She has written three series, Winds Across the Prairie and Seasons of the Heart and The Homeward Journey. Her new contemporary series, Love in the Bayou City of Houston and novella, Christmas Blessing are now available on Amazon.  

Find Martha at:  www.marthawrogers.com

The Mother Road and Weedpatch Camp

Carla Stewart here. My series on Route 66 wouldn't be complete without exploring its importance during the Great Depression. It was, after all, John Steinbeck who traveled this historic ribbon of highway and dubbed it The Mother Road. If you're just now joining us and want to read more of the series, here are the previous posts: Santa Monica Pier, America's Main Street, and Route 66: More Tales from the Trail. 

One thing I've learned as a writer is that the more I learn about a subject, the more there is to know. Although I've seen the movie The Grapes of Wrath and was, and still am, struck with the rawness of what it must have been like during the Depression of the 1930s, I didn't fully grasp Steinbeck's passion about telling the story of the Joad's until I read Children of the Dust Bowl by Jerry Stanley (I highly recommend it!). It's a thin book loaded with pictures and tells a powerful story. 

The economic crash of 1929 thrust our nation into the throes of the Great Depression, but it was a drought combined with poor farming practices, failing crops, and low prices that burdened the "heartland" of America even more. Years of boiling dust storms compounded the problems, especially for people in the "Dust Bowl" - an area covering parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. 

Erosion of farm land during the Dust Bowl. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

A Child of the Dust Bowl. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Printed flyers from California began to arrive in drought-ridden areas with promises of food, work, and continuous sunshine. For those who had reached the limit of their resources and saw nothing but more dark days ahead, it was viewed as a ray of hope. The Mother Road became the exodus to a better life. 

Only it wasn't better. 

More than one million people loaded all their belongings in jalopies and flatbed trucks and set out for the Promised Land along, you guessed it - Route 66. Getting there, for some, took months as they traveled through blast-furnace heat, winding mountain roads, bridgeless rocky paths, and washed-out mud banks. Hunger and uncertainty were constant companions. They cooked outside, slept outside, went to the bathroom in the woods, and did it all again the next day. Many didn't make it over the Black Mountains of Arizona or the 143-miles of desert that greeted them when they did reach California. 

Rear view of an "Okie's" car as it headed west. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

Those that did make it were greeted with signs like these:

NO JOBS HERE! 
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR WORK - KEEP OUT! 
10 MEN FOR EVERY JOB! 

The migrants were relegated to camping out in tents or shacks made from cardboard or tin, gathering together in shared agony at the bottoms of dry lake beds. These squatter camps became known as Okievilles - places that John Steinbeck visited and which became the inspiration for The Grapes of Wrath. 

Henry Fonda in the movie, The Grapes of Wrath. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

 
In 1936, the federal government, via the Farm Security Administration, began building camps for the displaced Okies to provide emergency shelter and improved living conditions. People flocked to them, grateful for the one room cabins or tents on wooden platforms. The cost: $1.00 per week. Many couldn't afford this, but were allowed to work off their rent doing maintenance and other jobs. One of the camps was situated on Weedpatch Highway, and Okies called it Weedpatch Camp (the name Steinbeck used in his novel). As they tried to enter into community life, they were shunned and ridiculed. Okies were thought to be ignorant and filthy and were banned from shopping in many towns. California parents didn't want "Okies" going to school with their children. "Okies, go home!" was the battle cry of citizens across the state. In school, little girls were called "maggie" and "maggot," a play on the word "migrant."  

Between Weedpatch and Lamont, Kern County, California. Children living in camp. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath from compassion mixed with revulsion that people would be subjected to such treatment in America. The novel was published in 1939, sold 500,000 copies before the end of the year, and won the Pulitzer prize. It also created great controversy followed by a movement to ban the book from schools and libraries. Californians said it was one-sided in favor of the Okies. Others said it was obscene. An Oklahoma Congressman called if "the black, infernal creation of a twisted, distorted mind." Although it was banned in its day, it is still considered by many to be the greatest novel ever written. More than 14 million copies have been sold. 

Florence Thompson, an "Okie" of Cherokee heritage, known as the Migrant Mother. Photographed by Dorothea Lange in California. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

The story doesn't end there. The Okies of Weedpatch Camp and the ten or so other camps built in California were a resilient people. They never lost hope and always believed that tomorrow would bring better fortune. When a unique school was constructed at Weedpatch Camp that employed a host of excellent teachers and taught both traditional and vocational courses, it became the envy of other citizens in the county. Soon people were petitioning to let their children attend Weedpatch School. Many of the "Okies" who attended went on to become businessmen, educators, and successful entrepreneurs. 

Part of my interest and passion for including this in my Route 66 series is personal. My parents both grew up in the middle of the Dust Bowl. My mother's family (her parents and four little girls) were among the Okies who migrated to California in hopes of a better life. I don't know if Weedpatch was the camp they lived in or where my mother attended first grade. I don't know whether she was treated shabbily or called ugly names. I don't know whether Grandpa found work or not, only that Mother said they nearly starved. As for school, she said she learned nothing the year they spent in California. Disappointed and discouraged, they returned to Oklahoma. So while Route 66 is, and always will be, about the people who traveled it, I like to think that the Mother Road is also the road home.  

Carla Stewart is the award-winning author of six novels. With a passion for times gone by, it is her desire to take readers back to that warm, familiar place in their hearts called “home.” Her 2014 release, The Hatmaker's Heart, was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award and the Selah Award. Her newest release is A Flying Affair. Daredevil Mittie Humphreys navigates her heart as well as the skies in this beguiling adventure of grit and determination during the rollicking Roaring Twenties. Learn more about Carla at www.carlastewart.com

"A well-written romance with characters willing to do what they need to achieve their dreams. The storyline is believable, and some of it is based on true events. Stewart did her research and brings to attention a forgotten piece of history, the Women's National Air Derby."―RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars

"Compelling action scenes, clever dialogue, and believable characters add spice and depth to a multidimensional tale....The historical detail and vivid action scenes anchor an enjoyable story."―Publishers Weekly
 

Route 66 - More Tales from the Trail

Carla Stewart here. Hope that you've had a chance to take a road trip and enjoy this beautiful fall weather. It's time for us here to continue our journey on historic Route 66, the Mother Road. If you're just now joining us, you can catch up with the sights we've already explored here and here. 

We left off in Tulsa, which now welcomes travelers to meander through this city known for its Art Deco architecture and beautiful hills. Below are the modern entrance and a vintage motel on old "66" in Tulsa. At one time the Will Rogers Motor Courts was on this same stretch through Tulsa.  

Tulsa sign welcoming people to Route 66

The Oasis Motel in Tulsa - from the glory days of 66 and still in operation

.

Through rolling countrysides that once was home to the Creek, Cherokee, and other Native American tribes, the road passes through Arcadia, Oklahoma, home of the Round Barn. The barn, built in 1898, predates "66", and locals say that when new, a person standing near a wall could hear a pin drop on the other side of the building. Many people spent their evenings here dancing to the fiddle music in the early days of Oklahoma statehood. 

Round Barn in Arcadia, OK - photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

The highway cuts through Oklahoma City where once the Kentucky Club overlooked the road from Persimmon Hill. Reputed to be the hangout for outlaw Pretty Boy Floyd, it was a colorful roadhouse frequented by bootleggers, gamblers, and painted ladies. Today, it is more respectable and has been renamed The Oklahoma County Line and serves up a variety of tasty barbecue. 

Indian trading posts, filling stations, and country cooking diners like Jigg's Smokehouse and Johnnie's Grill dot the rest of the road in Oklahoma. Elk City, near the Texas border, hosts the official National Route 66 Museum where you can find an old pickup truck outfitted like the one from The Grapes of Wrath.

The Mother Road cuts through eight counties of the high plains of Texas. This is cattle country, wide open with no seeming end before you reach Amarillo. Just outside of Amarillo is the Cadillac Ranch. Built by Stanley Marsh in 1974, the ten Cadillacs are planted nose down at the exact angles of the Great Pyramids. The abstract art, covered with graffiti, symbolizes the American fantasy - After WWII, to own a Cadillac was a dream come true, and this hard-edged prairie sculpture depicts that. 

Cadillac Ranch - Amarillo, TX - photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

Ghost towns dot much of the rest of the Texas strip of "66" but New Mexico beckons. The Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari is still in operation, its neon sign still open for weary travelers. The old road winds through sagebrush where once giant buffalo herds roamed, hunted by Comanche Indians. Much of the terrain looks like a barren wasteland earning it the name "the great Sahara of North America." It was the home of many cowboys, American settlers, and gunfighters. Spectacular sunsets can be seen most evenings in eastern New Mexico, but if you train your eye to the north and west, mountains rise from the horizon. 

In the early years of Route 66, Santa Fe was part of the trail. This magical mountain city - the oldest European-settled community west of the Mississippi - was also the end of the Santa Fe Trail. In 1937, a straighter route bypassed Santa Fe and many villages in the vicinity, saving westward-ho travelers as much as four hours of travel time. Today the route parallels I-40 through Albuquerque, nestled beneath the Sandia Mountains and spread out over the Rio Grande Valley. Manny Goodman's Covered Wagon Trading Post sits on the eastern edge of town. Albuquerque's Old Town district  is dotted with motor courts, diners, and souvenir shops. The road begins a steep incline as you drive west up Nine Mile Hill. It is a land of pinion trees where pueblo homes once graced the landscape, but soon there are endless miles of black lava fields with sharp-edged formations, an area given the name malpais, Spanish for "bad country." Today it is still referred to as the badlands. Grants, NM - a railroad mining town  had establishments like Pat's Lounge, the Silver Moon Bar, and Speak Easy Grill. Just ahead is Gallup, sometimes dubbed the "Indian Capital of the United States" since it is surrounded by the Navajo Reservation. Gallup at twilight is a ribbon of neon lights with myriad trading posts that sell jewelry and the many fine arts of crafts of the New Mexican tribal people. 

After the stark, sometimes bleak miles of New Mexico, Arizona offers splendor along Route 66. The highway skirts the edge of the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert that is part of the Navajo Reservation. Both are worth a short side trip to feast on the sights.

Painted Desert in Arizona - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

The first major town is Holbrook where travelers can stay at the WigWam Motel, built in 1950. 

WigWam Motel - Holbrook, AZ - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

Just past Holbrook, headed west is one of the most famous tourist stops - the Jack Rabbit Trading Post. Here you can have a cold cherry cider and buy everything from postcards to a whimsical stuffed Jackalope - half rabbit, half antelope. 

Jack Rabbit Trading Post - Joseph City, AZ - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

A mural at the Jack Rabbit Trading Post - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

 
Route 66 continues along northern Arizona, still replete with diners and businesses that herald the Indian culture of the Old West. Flagstaff is in the mountains, and it's here that you can turn off to the Grand Canyon, one of the most majestic sights in all the world. Breathless wonder will make you glad you stopped. As the road winds west through Williams and Kingman, it soon gives way to the Colorado River valley and just across the bridge - California and the unforgiving Mojave desert.

Needles is a sun-baked town just across the border and is one of the oldest towns in the desert. The land across the Mojave is bleak, dry, and hot, the landscape dotted with scraggly sage brush and Joshua trees. 

Joshua Tree in the Mojave Desert - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

 
Barstow and Bakersfield offer some respite for travelers, but the ultimate end, and the quest of people for generations lies on the other side of the San Bernardino mountains - Los Angeles sprawling all the way to the Pacific Ocean at the end of the Santa Monica Pier - which is where I started this tale about the Mother Road. 

I hope you've enjoyed the trip, and now - for your listening pleasure - the great Nat King Cole:

Carla Stewart is the award-winning author of six novels. With a passion for times gone by, it is her desire to take readers back to that warm, familiar place in their hearts called “home.” Her 2014 release, The Hatmaker's Heart, was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award and the Selah Award. Her newest release is A Flying Affair. Daredevil Mittie Humphreys navigates her heart as well as the skies in this beguiling adventure of grit and determination during the rollicking Roaring Twenties. Learn more about Carla at www.carlastewart.com

"A well-written romance with characters willing to do what they need to achieve their dreams. The storyline is believable, and some of it is based on true events. Stewart did her research and brings to attention a forgotten piece of history, the Women's National Air Derby."―RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars

"Compelling action scenes, clever dialogue, and believable characters add spice and depth to a multidimensional tale....The historical detail and vivid action scenes anchor an enjoyable story."―Publishers Weekly

 

Route 66 - America's Main Street

Hello again, from Carla Stewart! 

This is the second installment of the Route 66 series. If you missed the post on Santa Monica Pier last month, you can find it here. While California is the END of this historic ribbon of road, today we'll go back to the start and travel along the highways and byways from Illinois to Oklahoma. Along the way, I'll point out some of the more famous landmarks and give you a few facts as well. 

"66 is the mother road..."   ~ John Steinbeck

 

Route 66. It's a magical place that has been an inspiration to literature, music, drama, art, and dreamers. It's a road well-traveled by generations, meandering through the heart of towns. No wonder it's become known as America's Main Street. It's not just a road, though. Route 66 is people. In his book, Route 66, The Mother Road, Michael Wallis says:

"Route 66 is Steinbeck and Will Rogers and Woody Guthrie and Merle Haggard and Dorothea Lange and Mickey Mantle and Jack Kerouac. It's thousands of waitresses, service station attendants, gry cooks, truckers, grease monkeys, hustlers, state cops, wrecker drivers, and motel clerks....Truly a road of phantoms and dreams, 66 is the romance of traveling the open highway. It's the free road." 

FAST FACTS
Birthdate: November 11, 1926
The Father of Route 66: Cyrus Stevens
Number of miles from beginning to end: 2400 (usual estimate but varies because of different alignments through the years)
Number of states that it crosses: Eight. Traveling from east to west, they are Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. 

Route 66 Begins (Chicago, 2011)

It begins in the heart of downtown Chicago not far from the shores of Lake Michigan - a city that is a melting pot of people and cultures - a salute to the working class of America. Take Route 66 south out of Chicago and you'll find places like the sky View Drive-in Theatre and Skinny's Cafe in Litchfield, IL. Where Illinois meets Missour, the Chain of Rocks Bridge spans the Mississippi River. It's unique feature is the 22 degree horizontal bend in the middle. 

 

Chain of Rocks Bridge. St. Louis, MO - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

Other noteworthy stops along "66" in Missouri are the Meramec Caverns in Stanton, touted as the world's only five-story natural wonder and the place outlaw Jesse James used as one of his hideouts. 
 

Meramac Cavern (Missouri) - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

Missouri is also the home to the Wagon Wheel Motel in Cuba and Pecan Joe's Candy and Souvenir Shop in Newburg. On the western edge of Missouri in Joplin, travelers pass Dolly's Chili House, Tophat Diner, Dutch Village Motel, and Dixie Lee's Dine and Dance Bar. Just ahead: Kansas. 

Kansas has the shortest stretch of "66" - only fourteen miles in the far southeast corner, but here you can find the historic Galena Mining and Historical Museum dedicated the massive lead mine that once operated here. 

The West and East collide in Oklahoma making it the the crossroads for America's Main Street. Here "66" is a melding of Burma Shave signs, neon lights, and Old Indian Territory. And it's the land of Will Rogers and Mickey Mantle. One of the more famous sights on all of Route 66 is the Big Blue Whale in Catoosa, OK, just outside of Tulsa. Once a popular swimming hole where sunbathers rested on top of the whale, dived from its mouth or zipped down the slide coming from its side, the tourist attraction is now in a state of decay. Recent reports indicate that restoration plans are in place. 

Big Blue Whale - Catoosa, OK - Creative Commons use: Photo by Nicholas Henderson via Flickr

I've a few more places in Oklahoma to show you before we head west, so I hope you'll join me next month for more sights along America's Historic Main Street. For now, though, tell me about the most interesting place you visited this summer. Are your vacations about relaxing, visiting theme parks, or taking in our country's history? I'd love to hear your comments. 

Carla Stewart is the award-winning author of six novels. With a passion for times gone by, it is her desire to take readers back to that warm, familiar place in their hearts called “home.” Her 2014 release, The Hatmaker's Heart, was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award and the Selah Award. Her newest release is A Flying Affair. Daredevil Mittie Humphreys navigates her heart as well as the skies in this beguiling adventure of grit and determination during the rollicking Roaring Twenties. Learn more about Carla at www.carlastewart.com

"A well-written romance with characters willing to do what they need to achieve their dreams. The storyline is believable, and some of it is based on true events. Stewart did her research and brings to attention a forgotten piece of history, the Women's National Air Derby."―RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars

"Compelling action scenes, clever dialogue, and believable characters add spice and depth to a multidimensional tale....The historical detail and vivid action scenes anchor an enjoyable story."―Publishers Weekly

Santa Monica Pier and Boardwalk

Greetings from Carla Stewart! 

Wiki Commons Photo

I'll be posting a series on Route 66 over the next three months, but a recent trip to California and the "end of Route 66" prompts me to begin with what really should be the final episode. However, as I've traveled many sections of Route 66 over the years, I've found that it doesn't really matter where you start as there are treasures all along the way. 

 

 

Stinky Beginning

As glamorous and vibrant as the Santa Monica Boardwalk is today, it's hard to believe that it really had a stinky beginning. Santa Monica, as part of the greater Los Angeles area, sits on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, and by the beginning of the twentieth century the city had grown by leaps and bounds. So much so that disposing of sewage waste had become a problem. The idea was proposed that they would build a 1600-foot long pier with a pipeline running under it to carry treated sewage to the Pacific Ocean (a practice that was stopped in the 1920s). The project was completed in 1909 with much fanfare. To obscure the real purpose behind its creation and to avoid the pitfalls of wooden piles, the pier was made of concrete - the first concrete pier on the West Coast. 

Concrete piles under the pier - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

Thousands of people attended opening day complete with a tableau vivant performance entitled The Surrender of Rex Neptune. At dusk, the mighty king of the sea (Rex Neptune) climbed onto the deck and declared that he was there to destroy the pier. After the Queen of Santa Monica told him it was made of concrete and was impossible to destroy, Rex Neptune inspected it and admitted defeat. He then dove from the end of the pier into the ocean in a blaze of flames. The crowd loved it.

Best Fishing Spot in Santa Monica Bay

The pier gained instant fame as everyone's favorite fishing spot as entire families flocked to try their luck. Stories of the 500-pound fish that "got away" circulated with some basis of truth to them as giant sea bass weren't uncommon in the waters of Santa Monica Bay during the early years of the pier. 

Early days of the Santa Monica Pier - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

Amusements Galore

To "keep up with the neighbors" who boasted of amusement parks along the ocean, a second pier was built adjacent to the existing one in 1915. Dubbed the Looff Pleasure Pier, it boasted a carousel, roller coaster, Bowling and Billiards building, a fun house, and a new picnic pavilion.  It was a top local attraction until 1919 when the pier collapsed. It turned out that the concrete piles weren't meant to last and rust caused the pier to drop two feet. Repairs took more than two years. 

Ocean Park Beach along Santa Monica shoreline with Santa Monica Pier & Amusement park in the distance. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

A Storied Life

 

The new pier gave way to a wooden boardwalk over the concrete, but the amusement park waned in the early 1920s. The La Monica Ballroom which looked liked a floating castle was built and was the hot spot in town until the Depression years. 

In 1925, Olaf C. Olsen, a retired sailor started a small boat fishing operation and worked to keep the large commercial operations away from the Santa Monica Bay. During the Depression, he donated part of his daily catch to those who needed food. Elzie C. Segar, a cartoonist who was a regular at the pier, found in Olaf C. Olsen a real life hero for his comic strip Thimble Theater - the character we all know as Popeye! The rest is history. 


In 1934, the Santa Monica Yacht Harbor, was fashioned to host a highly publicized sailing regatta. The yacht harbor attracted the likes of Charlie Chaplin who had a mooring there, and in 1941, an archway was constructed at the entrance with neon lettering - "Santa Monica Yacht Harbor" - The arch has since become an iconic symbol. 

Yacht Harbor sign as seen today - Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons

A Lifeguard Service (and training center) was started in the 1920s and remained for several decades. Buster Crabbe and Johnny Weissmuller - both actors who played Tarzan on the big screen - were inducted as honorary lifeguards. 

Other attractions were Paddleboard Clubs - an idea imported from the Hawaiian Islands, gambling barges, and a resurrected amusement park. 

Wartime activities at the pier during WWII included local commercial fishermen dumping their catches on the pier to be loaded onto navy vessels and sent to feed our troops. Some of it was trucked to feed the American people as well. Federal assistance had to be brought in to help with the wear and tear that the relief operation had on the pier. At the end of the war, the La Monica ballroom saw new signs of life with bookings by Desi Arnaz and Western Swing bands. It was also the site of the first-ever live broadcast of a television variety show. 

By the 1960s, the attractions had deteriorated and the clientele had gotten pretty seedy. Activists and Hollywood stars worked diligently to keep the spirit of the pier alive until a "Save The Pier" campaign was started in 1972. Renovations were done, but in 1983 a fierce winter storm assaulted the pier destroying one-third of it. A full-scale restoration project ensued, and the pier has had a busy life ever since. 

I must confess, I'd never been to a Boardwalk quite like it. An amusement park that rivaled many I've been to, food stands, restaurants, a variety of souvenir shops, sun-bathers and swimmers enjoying the wide, sandy beach, and this -

The end of Route 66. That's what I'd come for - to have my picture made here. It turned out, though, that the entire afternoon on the pier was a pure delight with the salty sea breeze and swarms of people who'd come out for a day of fun! 

I can't wait now to share more Route 66 wonders with you in the next few months. Until then, how about you? Have you been to the Santa Monica Pier or any other spots along Route 66? Care to share some of your memories? I'd love to hear them. 

Carla Stewart is the award-winning author of six novels. With a passion for times gone by, it is her desire to take readers back to that warm, familiar place in their hearts called “home.” Her 2014 release, The Hatmaker's Heart, was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award and the Selah Award. Her newest release is A Flying Affair. Daredevil Mittie Humphreys navigates her heart as well as the skies in this beguiling adventure of grit and determination during the rollicking Roaring Twenties. Learn more about Carla at www.carlastewart.com

"A well-written romance with characters willing to do what they need to achieve their dreams. The storyline is believable, and some of it is based on true events. Stewart did her research and brings to attention a forgotten piece of history, the Women's National Air Derby."―RT Book Reviews, 4 Stars

"Compelling action scenes, clever dialogue, and believable characters add spice and depth to a multidimensional tale....The historical detail and vivid action scenes anchor an enjoyable story."―Publishers Weekly

 

Research source for this article: The Santa Monica Pier website. All photos except personal ones courtesy of Wiki Commons.