Get your kicks on Route 66
28 December 2024
Heartfelt appreciation for hot coffee this morning. We may be in high dessert, but it is cold out there. We pack up the “Prius mule team” and head east into the Mojave Desert.
The railroad tracks across from our hotel acted as the final destination for the 20-mule teams traveling some 165 miles from the Death Valley borax mines to our north. Our drive will be considerably more comfortable and speedier.
We do little stopping as today represents a long drive of over 400 miles – destination Flagstaff, Arizona. We motor along Interstate-40 through the exciting cities of Barstow, Needles, and Kingman. For those who know the song, one cannot drive this route without humming “Route 66.” The interstate replaced the old route in the mid-1970’s but the song lives on.
“Now you go through St. Louis
Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty
You’ll see Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona
Don’t forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino”
Yes, get your kicks on Route 66 but make your time on I-40.
Desert and More Desert
The landscape is flat, barren, and arid. I recall driving Route 66 when I moved to California in 1968. I felt empathy for the rabbits and occasional roadrunner who lived and died in this land. Of course, back then I drove this forsaken desert in August! I bless my college history teacher who convinced me not to take a job at Edwards AFB where “there is just sand and scorpions and nothing to do unless you marry an officer.”
Guess Bakersfield was better. Though I met a scorpion in my yard, never in my house or shoes!
Interstate 40 is excellent, gas stations appear at irregular intervals, and the air is clear and crisp. We share stories, histories, and commensuration over election complaints. So much so, I passed the exit to Flagstaff.
Arriving around 5 pm, we both look forward to a bottle of wine and dinner.
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