| insomniac |
This is Howard, reporting in for Road247.
EVERYONE is asleep, and for some reason I'm not tired. I'm checking in from Daniel Lee's house in Chicago, whose family is nice enough to host us for a night. (They are *SO* nice to be having us here... owe them big) Ted's pointed out that it's been 12 days since we've been in a house, and it sure is nice to settle down for a bit. I'm glad we're spending a few days in Chicago, it's hard to be on the road all the time!
We woke up late, especially because Ted is sick, and Lisa and I are a bit tired too. My knee is also kinda busted; it's my wushu landing knee that's given me trouble ever since, and I managed to bang it yesterday on some metal structure at the City Museum.
So we headed out around 11ish, which is the latest we've ever done, and picked up old Route 66. Our stops included:
* The world's largest ketchup bottle.
* Henry's place-- this was awesome. The guy raises rabbits, and is a huge Route 66 aficionado. So we get in and he chats it up like crazy with us, and gets his rabbit to autograph some posters. Pretty crazy.
* An old diner thing, good food, but wasn't that special
* Abraham Lincoln's old home-- that was pretty cool.
* Cozy Dogs- birthplace of the corn dog. Very yummy and funky looking.
* an dthen it was already 5, s owe decide to truck it to Chicago and skip the rest.
* and Funks Grove Sirup company... sirup is spelled sirup to indicate that it's 100% pure, apparently. tastes really good, it's lighter than traditional maple syrup and not as sweet, but has this really awesome maple taste to it. Even better was the fact that we called way past six to ask if they were open, and she's like "Well... we could just open up for you" So we drive over and we're greeted by Mrs. Funk herself, a really nice lady with white hair and an awesome dog.
So we did get our kicks (however briefly) on old Route 66. I don't fully understand the affinity for this route, because it is *just* an old road. I love the whole mythology of it all, but like Jerry pointed out over the phone, you can't help feeling that maybe it is outdated and a rapidly fading dream.
Speaking of dreams, I should be sleeping. Off I go.
EVERYONE is asleep, and for some reason I'm not tired. I'm checking in from Daniel Lee's house in Chicago, whose family is nice enough to host us for a night. (They are *SO* nice to be having us here... owe them big) Ted's pointed out that it's been 12 days since we've been in a house, and it sure is nice to settle down for a bit. I'm glad we're spending a few days in Chicago, it's hard to be on the road all the time!
We woke up late, especially because Ted is sick, and Lisa and I are a bit tired too. My knee is also kinda busted; it's my wushu landing knee that's given me trouble ever since, and I managed to bang it yesterday on some metal structure at the City Museum.
So we headed out around 11ish, which is the latest we've ever done, and picked up old Route 66. Our stops included:
* The world's largest ketchup bottle.
* Henry's place-- this was awesome. The guy raises rabbits, and is a huge Route 66 aficionado. So we get in and he chats it up like crazy with us, and gets his rabbit to autograph some posters. Pretty crazy.
* An old diner thing, good food, but wasn't that special
* Abraham Lincoln's old home-- that was pretty cool.
* Cozy Dogs- birthplace of the corn dog. Very yummy and funky looking.
* an dthen it was already 5, s owe decide to truck it to Chicago and skip the rest.
* and Funks Grove Sirup company... sirup is spelled sirup to indicate that it's 100% pure, apparently. tastes really good, it's lighter than traditional maple syrup and not as sweet, but has this really awesome maple taste to it. Even better was the fact that we called way past six to ask if they were open, and she's like "Well... we could just open up for you" So we drive over and we're greeted by Mrs. Funk herself, a really nice lady with white hair and an awesome dog.
So we did get our kicks (however briefly) on old Route 66. I don't fully understand the affinity for this route, because it is *just* an old road. I love the whole mythology of it all, but like Jerry pointed out over the phone, you can't help feeling that maybe it is outdated and a rapidly fading dream.
Speaking of dreams, I should be sleeping. Off I go.
posted by Howie C | 11:30 PM
2 Comments:
bad wushu knee? I didn't know that it still plagued you- I hope I don't get one of those, but I can see why you have one- it's pretty rough some of those landings.
Just so everyone doesn't think I'm a total cynic, the comment about Rt 66 was in comparison to US 1 (Rt 1) on the east coast and was meant to be more observation than judgment. I haven't seen Rt 66, after all.
Though probably not as storied as Rt 66, Rt 1 itself has what I imagine is the same sort of fading nostalgia and mythology, being an old highway with the communities that grew around it. Before Rt 95 was built and took away most traffic, Rt 1 was the main highway running up and down the coast from the Canadian border in Maine to Key West, FL. A Wired contributor did a roadtrip on the whole route.
At least in the part I'm familiar with, Rt 1 is now a mix of mid-20th century (and more recent) decay and very modern developments/sprawl. It doesn't seem like a year passes that there aren't construction crews building the next shopping plaza or megaplex. This might reflect the suburbia that is southeastern Massachusetts, but I think that there is very little left of what one might consider the old Rt 1 culture; the road's history is mostly represented by the sleazy hotels and dive bars that have managed to survive from the 50s-80s. There may be some old hidden gems, but I hadn't taken the time to find them.
But the point was that Rt 66 has a mythology, and the communities around it can't help but be affected. I'm no cultural critic, but outside looking in, it seems like the communities perpetuate (and probably even invent) myths to attract tourists and end up conforming to the myths to some degree. Probably a simplistic way to look at things, but it makes me wonder just how much of what's seen on old roads is preservation and how much is a show.
Dunno. My two cents.
...that ended up being pretty cynical after all.
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