September 6, 1999

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5035.2 4600 Miles
to Bowling Green
5327 from home (0 straight line)

The journey has ended and, like every journey, included both highs and lows. It also included a range of visuals and experiences unequaled by many journeys. Route 66 is now a highway of the imagination. Of course, since it no longer officially exists , a little imagination is required to even travel a short segment. But, it is even more a highway of the imagination in the way it can offer guidance to imagining traveling salesmen looking for a place to spend the night, the Joad family coasting down a hill while the overheated Hudson cools just a little, or two TV heros ready to happen upon their next adventure in a 1959 Corvette convertible.

I've always had a fondness for rivers and have spent a goodly amount of time watching rivers go by. Traveling 66 is a little like being part of a river and watching the countryside go by. Some of it is really sad and some brings a smile or maybe even a laugh. Sadness comes from businesses and whole towns abandoned and empty because the road, the river, moved. Smiles come from things like a water tower leaning from the day it was built just so people passing by might stop and ask about it and maybe even spend a little money once they had stopped.

The Corvette caravan offered a pilgrimage like twist to the journey. An ever growing group of people brought together through ownership of a particular automobile. Among the contrasts of this trip was the west bound solo ride through Tucumcari compared to the police escorted parade of 350+ Corvettes eastward through the same town a week later.

I'm ready to go again. There is talk of a 10th anniversary caravan in '04 and I'm thinking that I'd like to tackle Route 66 again. The Corvette only made 7 of the 8 states and that failure is a ready made stimulus for the next trip.

This web-site will remain intact for awhile. I'm not sure how long but I know that eventually I'll need the space or retiring it will just seem right. Until then, browse away. This page changed several times as the trip progressed and all versions may be accessed by clicking "prev" or "next" beneath the spinning road sign. The date of each version appears above the sign. And, in answer to the number one question asked: the Goof.

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