Here's a Guy Who Isn't So Impressed with Route 66

I came across an article in the Motorcycle Cruiser site by Art Friedman, who is not one of those to wax-poetic about all that Route 66 has to offer. He calls himself a "Route 66 Baby" after having spent a lot of time shuttling back and forth on it between Chicago and Santa Fe, and later Los Angeles after his parents divorced.

"To me it was a series of speed traps, tourist traps, fly traps, greasy spoons, and feeling ready-to-heave-nauseous in the back of a series of family wagons crawling across a mostly boring, flat landscape. When the arrival of interstate highways turned Route 66 into a two-day trip (Santa Fe to Chicago) and disconnected the drive from the little towns that did everything they could to divert you to spend money, I viewed the change as a great leap forward."

Most of his article was about all the great attributes of cruising California's US-395 which runs north and south through the Pacific Coast states. He was first introduced to it in the early 1950s. His account and accompanying pictures make me want to take that drive the next time I'm out that way. Art said you could do a big part of it in 3-4 days.

I did e-mail him and suggest that he give old Route 66 another chance. I'm kinda fond of it.

Not Everyone Likes Route 66. --RoadDog