History Route 66: what was it really like?

Hi Mo.Washington Mo is where my Father was born.He predated both the Lincoln Hiway and Rt 66.He was born 11-11-1896.Drove both of them doing chauffer work after the war.WW1 that is.All he said about them was"Those were some interesting trips".
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

My granddad could have been born in Hannibal but he was born on the Oregon Trail instead. Like your dad he probably considered Route 66 to be a superhighway at one time.

 

I lived about four or five miles from the Diamonds on highway 100. Worked in Washington.

 

This is where a full tank and an Air-Guide comp*** on the windshield is great. They are great for keeping in the correct direction. So long as ya aren't in a hurry, just point generally where ya wanna go, and drive. Have had the absolute best experiences this way, better diners, better people, just amazing scenery and history. It actually makes my heart ache sometimes when I see what once was, and what is happening. Oh well.

 

Wow. Thanks for all the replies. I was afraid Rt 66 might be a tired subject because it has gotten so much hype. I'm glad to see from the responses that the road still means a lot to folks.

I asked because I had just been to Galena, KS to buy this old sign from some residents there who found it in the barn on their property. Galena appears to fully embrace its history on Rt 66 and as a mining boom town. As I drove home, I contemplated what could have been on the missing panel. I wondered whether a sign from 1950 would have called out Route 66 as a business address. As I followed I-44 for 130 miles toward home, and noticed all the modern day advertising related to Rt 66, I wondered how that compares to what it was really like back when.


The stories shared above reminded me that I have a Rt 66 story even though I didn't live it directly. My grandparents met during WWII. The Navy sent grandpa to the University of Missouri for diesel school. There, he met my grandmother. They corresponded by letter when he was in the Pacific. They eloped when he came home for leave. They honeymooned on the West Cost for the duration of the war. This Willys was their first car. That's my Dad pictured as an infant in 1944.


They upgraded from the Willys to this '34 Oldsmobile for the trip home after the war. They only made it as far as Needles, CA when the Olds started giving them problems. They traveled at night to avoid the heat of the desert, but that wasn't enough to keep the Olds from overheating. They stopped at a roadside motel with little cottages and a garage next door. They flushed the radiator. Grandpa threatened to sell the car and buy bus tickets, but they didn't have any luggage. Everything they owned was packed loosely in the Oldsmobile. So,they pushed on. At some point grandpa had to repair the points by taping them together with a matchstick.

Rt 66 got them home. That's how my Dad came to Missouri for the first time. Grandma's diary is filled with entries saying "Don worked on the car again today." Fixing broken vehicles was a way of life no matter what highway they were on.

 

We went through Galena back in 1995 and they had a great Museum which was housed in an old railway station building. We were taken through by the most incredible guide with a great knowledge of Galena. He was over 90 at that time and has died since. On our 2009 trip we came through again and of course on the east side of town is the cafe called "4 Women on the Route" It has now been changed to "Cars on the Route". this part of town is famous for its depiction in the CARS movie and Tow Mater tow trucks. We had lunch there with the original ladies running the place but I think they are gone now. The section of Route 66 was the shortest stretch through a State and was discontinued when they changed Route 66 and Galena was byp***ed.
Galena, is located on the short, 13 mile long, Kansas alignment of Route66. It is a town with mining roots which led to a Boom during the early 1900s, originating its now famous Historic District which was entered in the National Registry of Historic Places and the Kan-O-Tex gasoline station, of "Cars" movie fame.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/14681

 

I grew up a couple of miles from 66, small town of Worden, Il. It was just another road to get somewhere. As a teenager, I pumped gas at a Mobil garage at the exit of Rt 4. We also had a towing service and were constantly hooking wrecks from 66. Friend of mine has property frontage on newer 66. At one point the original 66 ran behind his house. When they moved a portion of it to widen it, they broke up the concrete in about 20" pieces and dumped all of it in a low spot behind his house. Later in life as the road gained more recognition I carted some of the old road pieces home with me and put them in the wife's flower bed.

 

Here are some crude photos I took in Galena last week.