On to NEW JERSEY

Having left the back roads of Route 66, we now focussed on keeping on the interstate, and headed in the general direction of New York along I-64. Although much easier driving on the interstate, and you actually seem to be getting somewhere, we missed the charm of the old towns. We drove through Illinois and into Kentucky, reaching a place called Lexington. The combination of cheap accommodation, general weariness and the fact that Karen had to get her hair done persuaded us to tie up the horses (or in this case the truck) for a few days in this anonymous town, which was big enough to provide all the conveniences, and small enough that we wouldn’t be racing around looking at tourist attractions, and believe me, there are no tourist attractions in Lexington, Kentucky.

We did, however, find a piano bar attached to a pretty classy intimate steakhouse (much much smaller than our Texas experience!). Karen started chatting to the guy playing the piano and somehow persuaded him to let her have a tinkle (and play the piano). The manager of the place was cool with the idea, so off she went playing a bit of jazz, blues and of course, Beatles. The piano man was quite happy to sit at the bar and watch and drink his beer. He seemed in no hurry to get back as Karen had quite a captive audience. After all, he was getting paid to sit at the bar and drink!

During the course of the evening we met a couple, Dave and Kellie, local Kentuckians (is that a word?). In the space of about half an hour, we had established that Dave is a civil engineer for the Kentucky equivalent of the Roads & Traffic Authority, and Kellie is a personal trainer and masseur. So in time we’d organised a barbeque (or grill as our American friends call it) at Dave’s place, Karen had organised a massage with Kellie, and she’d offered a free visit to the gym she works at. Having not had a decent work-out since Las Vegas, this was readily accepted. So in the course of the few days we spent at this anonymous town, we became firm friends, so much so that they intend to meet up with us in Paris later this year.

The manager at the bar (dirty young man) asked Karen if she would pose for a couple of pictures draped over the piano in a sexy outfit, on the pretext that he could use it as a promotion! He did actually offer her a gig at the place, but of course, due to our itinerary and the lack of a Green Card this wouldn’t happen. The US is pretty strict about these things, so he offered us the pick of the menu in exchange for the pictures. Never one to turn down a free meal, I readily accepted and told Karen what I had organised on her behalf!! So next day, after a change of clothes and make-up, we returned and Karen had her first-ever Kentucky photo shoot!!

We went to Dave’s place that evening for the ‘grill’. He has a fabulous house just outside Lexington, sitting on about 25 acres. The place is immaculate, and the Kentucky grass was the greenest I’d seen since I was in Ireland about 30 years ago. So a great night with lots of food and of course, way too much drink!

Dave's house in a small picturesque town about 12 miles outside Lexington

Dave did such a great job of the steaks, I am thinking of making him an honorary Aussie

Karen, Kellie and Dave get close

Dave also had a piano at his place. He had learnt a fair bit when he was younger, although he didn’t play much, so was pleased that Karen was on hand to give the piano a workout and clear away the cobwebs. Karen of course, was ecstatic that she got to play some more to keep her fingers also clear of the cobwebs!

A great view of Karen and Kellie on Dave's piano

Following our recuperation in Lexington, we headed north on I-75, merging with I-70 just south of Cincinnati. Now at this point, I will digress.

I have to say that having travelled the 3000+ miles from San Francisco, by and large, US drivers are pretty good. I hadn’t witnessed any road-rage, no tailgating, and generally they are very courteous, always happy to move over to let a faster car go past etc etc.

Approaching Cincinnati, all this changed. It was like going from black to white. The interstate approaching Cincinnati from the south was not unlike the Pacific Motorway between the Gold Coast and Brisbane, except I would have to say, in comparison, the Pacific Motorway is a haven of safe road users! This interstate was bedlam. There were so many cars and all were going well over the speed limit, and if you didn’t keep up, you were continually blasted with horns. There were about 4 or 5 lanes most of the time, but there was no system in place. The general idea is you jump from lane to lane to find the clearest route, and if someone does get in your way, you just give them a continual blast of the horn until they move over.

I thought I would have fun, so I drove along with my hand on the horn button for about a mile, until a severe tongue-lashing from Karen and Chloe persuaded me to relent. Some people are just no fun!

Approaching Cincinnati

Safely around Cincinnati, (and still on speaking terms with the family - that's if you consider grunting to be speaking) and crossed into Ohio, we spent the night at another non-descript town called Youngstown. I went shopping and found this huge electronic store “Best Buys” and noted that lap-tops are about 75% of the price you pay in Aus, so I decided to splash out on a new Dell, as Chloe’s second hand Acer which I’d somehow inherited was showing signs of senility. (i.e it would take anywhere between 10 minutes and 3 hours to boot, and if you were lucky you’d get about an hour’s use before it froze up, and the only way to fix it would be to go through the re-boot process. Having a computer that takes longer to boot than an average Space Shuttle launch, I felt it was time).

Whilst in Youngstown, Ohio, we indulged in a little culture by visiting

an art gallery

Some of the locals (well a painting of them, anyway)

Chloe and Chanelle were quite taken with the US School Buses

So, onward again, this time the destination was the Big Apple. On I-80 we drove through Pennsylvania, which must be said to be up there with the “Top 10 boring drives of the World”. Not much in the way of scenery. It was all ‘nice’ but not in any ‘wow’ sort of fashion. Most road sections were dead straight. We elected to stay one night just outside of NYC, so we would be fresh for the experience that awaited us. A suburb of sorts, called Pine Brook in New Jersey was selected, as a cheap motel, part of the Knights Inn chain was available. Little wonder it was cheap. Possibly, no, definitely the worse accommodation we had on the whole trip, but at $35 for a night, I told the whingers to keep quiet.

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The following is a review (which I read afterwards) on tripadvisor.com by a traveller who also had the misfortune to stay at Knights Inn Pine Brook:

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"horrible management....room service doesn't clean the room...bed sheets are not changed after a border leaves...you will find all sorts of problem dealing if you want to complaint..."

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On that, it was time for bed, a big day ahead of us tomorrow....

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MISSOURI - ILLINOIS

The journey through Missouri and Illinois was more of the same, although Route 66 did not seem so desolate anymore. It follows the course of the Interstate (now I-44, we had left the I-40 at Oklahoma City) for much of the journey, so many of the towns along the way did not seem to be so affected by the bypassing.

We stayed one night at a town called Joplin - and I use the term 'town' pretty loosely here. It's actually the biggest truckstop in the World - or at least it seemed that way. There was a bit of a town, and then a long road leading from the town to the Interstate. This road was crammed on both sides with motels, fast food chains, a variety of other eating establishments and petrol stations - and of course large parking areas.

Just up the road was Carthage, which had yet another diner dedicated to the memory of Route 66, although this one is more recently established. The owner was quite impressed that a carful of Aussies (ok - almost a carful), had decided to have breakfast at his establishment. The food was excellent and didn't cost an arm and a leg like some other places, and he had some great memoribilia in the place:

Carthage also has a fabulous Drive-In Theatre, not only still operational but recently refurbished

Further along Route 66 we came upon a small town called Paris Springs, which according to the guide books had the "Gay Parita Service Station". With a name like that, it needed a closer look.

A guy (not a gay) called Gary has restored the old gas station to its former glory, although it no longer operates, other than as a tourist attraction, with one major exception, there's no entry fee!

Gary was mowing his lawn when we stopped, and he called out to us, stopped his mower and came over to give us a guided tour, and some local knowledge. One of those crusty old country people you sometimes meet up, he was one of the friendliest characters we met on the entire route.

My only regret was that we didn't have too much time on our hands, as I'm sure we could have settled down over a few drinks and had a great day. He told of us the legendary "Red Oak", a town on Route 66 which has been completely relocated to the middle of a corn field.

Apparently a local landowner donated a paddock or two to have the town buildings moved to this new location after the demise following the Route 66 bypassing. Gary gave us explicit directions on how to get there, as apparently there are no signposts.

We ventured forth, fearing more of the Blessed Mary syndrome - a town in the middle of a cornfield with no signposts! With banjos playing in my head, I felt we HAD to go take a look.

What we found was a very pleasant, albeit it strange, community exactly as described. No signposts, and in the middle of the cornfield. There were no tourist buses, and I think we were the only visitors, other than a group of housemovers who were in the process of dropping off another old building.

When Karen asked one older gentleman if there were any toilets, he invited her to use the one in his house, and she did say she was pleasantly surprised by the interior, which had been decorated and furnished beautifully in an old style.

He explained to her that there were actually only two couples who live on the place. What I couldn't understand is why they were not charging the earth for admission, as the village has been beautifully recreated, with some restored and some not-restored vehicles adding more character to the place

Resuming our trip, another great motel sign at Springfield

and at Lebanon (that's Missouri, not Middle East!)



By the time we reached Lebanon, where we decided to stay overnight, Karen and I had re-appraised the Route 66 plan. The girls had been getting restless with a number of days on the road, and try as you can, when you're doing Route 66 even over a couple of weeks, there's many hours sitting on your bum in the truck. After the highlights of San Francisco, LA, Hollywood, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, town after town of virtual nothingness was wearing them out.

Also, we knew of the impending bad weather (read tornados) which were cutting across the mid-west all around us. The weather forecast for the last stretch up to Chicago was not good, so we decided we would bail out at St Louis, and leave the last bit of Route 66, some 300 miles for another time.

Tornado clouds gathering over Missouri

On arrival in St Louis, we got lost trying to find the old Route 66 bridge across the Mississippi River and ended up in the almost derelict and crime-ridden riverside areas of the city

Finally, we crossed over the Mississippi into Illinois, which marked the end of our Route 66 adventure, and although we still had several days before we were expected in New York City, from hereon it would be much easier going on the Interstate.

OKLAHOMA

It was pleasant to discover that Oklahoma has some rich Route 66 memorabilia, and that the residents, various local authorities and private businesses have provided funding to preserve many of these.

Route 66 follows the interstate for most of the journey through Oklahoma, which makes the tracking of it quite easy. Frequently it switches from side to side of the interstate, but often it just ends, and it is necessary to travel along the interstate to meet up with the next section of 66, so this became a familiar sight:

In some instances, where 66 did veer away from the present course of the interstate, many sections had already been duplicated into two carriageways, but as with single lane sections, these are also now desolate and seldom-used:



We stopped at Erick, a tidy little town, which like Winslow, Arizona, hangs on to some insignificant piece of history to establish its claim to fame. In the case of Erick, unfortunately its biggest tourist puller is the fact that Roger Miller grew up here (Roger who? - I know what you mean). There's even a Roger Miller museum in the middle of town.




Erick did have a classic motel, the West Winds, which in its day was a popular Route 66 stopover, and it survived for many years after the by-pass, but eventually like most others, went to the graveyard.


This West Winds customer must be waiting for his wake-up call

After passing through numerous other towns we reached the relatively big town of Clinton, which is home to the official Route 66 Museum, and it is a classic, being a 'must-do' for all Route 66 travellers.

The Route 66 Museum with the 'truck' out the front

Just got to love this cigarette ad!! Don't think it would get through today's politically correct auditors

And another truck parked out the front. Somehow it seemed to have more character than the Toyota

From Clinton, the next stop was another 66 icon, Lucille's gas station at Hydro. This establishment, ran by Lucille Hamon for 59 years from 1941 until the day she died in 2000, is mentioned in most if not all books written about Route 66. Lucille became known as "The Mother of the Mother Road" and was very proud of the heritage of the road. The station has been restored, but sadly no longer operates.

Oklahoma is the home of some classic 66 bridge structures.




Just west of Oklahoma City we passed through a small town called Yukon. The kids were quite excited as apparently it's where Garth Brooks spent his childhood. Garth Brooks registers just above Roger Miller on my radar so unfortunately my adrenalin didn't pump quite so hard, although when we crossed Garth Brooks Boulevard I did feel a small amount of froth developing around the corners of my mouth.

As with most cities, Route 66 passes through the older areas, which these days are usually quite run-down and the residents are similarly so. The Oklahoma City we saw persuaded me to ensure the truck doors were all locked and to quietly ask for forgiveness of all my sins to ensure all the traffic lights stayed on green. Sadly, its biggest claim to fame is the 1995 bombing of the Murrah building.

Route 66 was famous for thousands of neon signs advertising various businesses along its entire route. Most of these have disappeared, although there are some classic survivors, the Skyliner Motel at Stroud in Oklahoma being one.

Next stop was at Depew, which has become another mainly ghost town, although through the efforts of locals, significantly Linda Spangler, owner of Spangler's Grocery Store, the town has been tidied up and doesn't have the derelict feel of many others. The town 'boasts' that the Route 66 alignment dates from the 1920's and that the concrete is the original road and has never been overlaid (sounds a bit like some sections of the Pacific Highway north of Grafton in NSW)

At Sapulpa we stopped at the Tee-Pee Drive-In Theatre, another casualty of the interstate.


We had lunch in Tulsa, as we discovered another great diner, Tally's Good Food Cafe.


The Blue Whale at Catoosa, just east of Tulsa was a favourite stop-off point for 66 travellers in years gone by. Once part of a park containing a swimming hole, zoo, picnic area etc, it closed in the late 1980's and fell into disrepair, but has been restored in recent years.

Chanelle discovering The Blue Whale

At Vinita, we visited what is claimed to be the largest McDonalds in the world. Although in floor space, this may be the case, inside much of the building is occupied by other businesses, and the actual serving area looked no bigger than the Coolangatta store.



At Afton, some more well-preserved Route 66 buildings, this time a genuine Packard dealership,




and so on to Missouri......