Tomorrow, July 26, I start down Historic Route 66 for the third time. The reason, or excuse, for this trip is to attend the 2012 International Route 66 Festival in Victorville, California. For the first two trips, in 1999 and 2003, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as an International Route 66 Festival but since then I’ve attended six. The journal for the drive and the festival will be here. It will include the drive home which I expect to be largely on US-70 and US-80.
As I prepped the website for the trip, I added an FAQ page which might help in understanding the site. That page is here.
This blog entry is here to handle comments and questions regarding the trip.
When is the Festival??? I thought I had missed it!!
Went and looked up the date. Have a great trip—might get to meet you this time thru—j
Hope so. I’ll be in Victorville from Thursday afternoon through Sunday morning. Aug 9-12.
Woohoo! Have fun, and know I’m jealous.
I think I can manage that fun thing. At least I’ll try.
I found your link to this from the Yahoo Route 66 group. I’ll be following this and the journal every day. Have a great trip!
Thanks for stopping by and especially for following along. This should be a good one.
Hey Denny, Hope you will come by the new Lile Art Gallery @ 2719 W. 6th Street when you get to Amarillo. Phone 806-664-3089
Croc
I intend to do just that. Probably sometime on Aug 2nd.
I will start my 7th trip down old Route 66 on September 1st this year. I lead mostly motorcycles (cars, trucks, jeeps, etc are ok) to raise money to help find a CURE for Cancer. Last year we raised over $30,000. I invite you to join us anyway you can, in person or just by leaving a message in my “Guest Book” for the Riders giving them encouragement. If you want to be a Sponsor that would be great too. Here is wishing you a great trip. Who am I kidding, down Route 66 is always great.
I’ve heard nothing but good things about your trips and your help to the cause. Thanks for the comment and I look forward to the day our paths cross.
Just finished reading the first 3 days worth. The only stretch of 66 I’ve driven thus far is Dwight to Springfield. So many of those sites seem familiar. Thanks for sharing, and for the look back at how some of these places appeared in 1999. Nice improvements up at Dwight and Odell since then.
Hope to add Springfield to St. Louis to my list this week.
How long did your walking tour in Chicago take?
I have no doubt you’ll enjoy your drive to St Louis. It’s a nice stretch.
I believe David basically plans on two hours for that particular tour but reality can very a bit. We spent about 2:15 plus the walk back to Lou Mitchell’s.
Thanks Denny. We’ll have to keep that walking tour in mind when the time comes.
Ted Drewes! We were there yesterday ourselves. Stopped in for a custard (my daughter was excited to get a sundae in a small Cardinals helmet) after we left the City Museum.
The Blue Swallow! I don’t know how many classic roadside motels we’ll stay in, but I do want to stay there, and in a wigwam.
“Into California”. This isn’t exactly the cheeriest part of the trip, is it? Lots of abandoned places in this stretch.
Looked up this thread on Ron’s Route 66 News site about the El Garces. There are some more recent updates n the comments.
http://route66news.com/2009/08/29/whats-happening-with-el-garces/
Interesting. It’s nice to hear that some progress may have been made but there is no externally visible change since 2005 and the URL on the sign (www.elgarceshotel.com/) comes up empty.
Congrats on your 3rd successful navigation of Route 66! Enjoy the festival.
Thank you. It was a lot of fun and quite different from the first two. I actually have already enjoyed the festival. My goal is to post each day’s journal by the following morning but it seems I’ve been at least a day behind from the start on this trip. Right now I’m about two days behind having just posted Thursday on Sunday morning when I’m getting ready to leave Victorville.
From your August 9 page, that Rose Bowl Motel looks like a nice place. Does it seem as nice in person as it appears in that photo? Have you ever stayed there?
I’ve never stayed there and neither has Scott but we thought it looked pretty good. I’d probably check out a room before signing anything but I’d definitely give it a shot.