Though sometimes the 'Golden Years' seem more like tarnished brass, they are not the end of adventure. I invite you to follow me as I enjoy my days as a full-time life observer. I'll cover life, travel, food, gardening, whatever crosses my path.
I bought my first car in 1969. I purchased a Dodge Charger. I remember that gas was somewhere in the neighborhood of 19.9 cents a gallon.
Things would change dramatically in 1973 with the OPEC oil embargo. Because of the gas shortage, my husband and I car-pooled to work, with me dropping him off at Ford Motor and then heading to my job at the hospital.
I don't remember what gas cost at the time, but I am pretty sure it was not 19.9 cents. Today I filled up the tank for $4.16 a gallon. Those of us in the Midwest are paying higher prices due to refinery problems. As a matter of fact, gas was even higher in Chicago last month when I was there; $4.25 a gallon at the station near the hotel.
I heard a woman on the radio this week saying she was going to organize her friends and picket the stations. Folks were yelling that they were being gouged. But it seems to me from my travels in Europe, that gas has been much higher there for a very long time.
Anyway, this is all just a lead in to my last few photos of my Route 66 trip. Pictures of gas stations. Really. No supercenters here. Just gas.
First, the Standard Oil Station in Odell, Illinois.
And then further down the road in Dwight, a Texaco station.
When last we met on this trip, I was leaving Funk's Grove, where I purchased maple sirip, to head to Pontiac. What an absolutely delightful little town. There is a lot to see and unfortunately my schedule only allowed me a brief stay. I came to enjoy the murals on the buildings and enjoy them I did. Here in pictures is my limited time in Pontiac.
The Courthouse: The Lincoln Statue. Abe used to go to Pontiac as an attorney.
When I was doing the A to Z Challenge last month, my letter 'R' was for 'Route 66'. I mentioned that I had driven it in 1975 from San Bernardino, CA to St. Louis, MO. Well, on my trip last week I drove it from Springfield, Illinois to Joliet. Over the next few Saturdays, I will post pictures from various cities on the Route, letting them tell their own story. First up is Atlanta, Illinois.
Bunyon's Statue
Click photo to read.
One of many murals on buildings along the Route. More about these next week.
Inside the Palm's Grill Cafe
Inside Gunnar Mast's Trading Post
Atlanta Park
Heading to Funk's Grove in Shirley to buy maple sirip. And no, I did not misspell it.
Oh, look, it does exist. Sorta. This is a photo of the last original stretch of Route 66. This section of the roadway was bypassed in 1984. By June 27, 1985, the road had disappeared from U.S. road maps.
U.S. Route 66 was established November 11, 1926. It traversed for 2,448 miles from Chicago, Illinois to San Bernardino, California. It was the road people took to get out west, although I took it to come back home.
The above picture was taken in Williams, Arizona in June, 2010. It is an actual tourist attraction with folks posing under the sign. Well, older folks to be sure. Those of us who remember the TV program 'Route 66' and the corvette they drove. And the song as sung by Nat King Cole.
I drove old Route 66 in the mid-1970's (in my Mercury Cougar), when you could still find it in your Rand-McNally Road Atlas. Now you have to go online to get your directions.
I only drove from Los Angeles to St. Louis, with a detour. We had headed across the northern states to Oregon, drove the coast highway down to San Diego, and then went back toward Los Angeles to pick up Route 66.
For what sounded like a good idea at the time, we detoured to Nevada to see the Hoover Dam and spend a day in Las Vegas. Then we headed back south to pick up Route 66 in Kingman, Arizona. Because we had spent the time in Vegas, we had to skip going to the Grand Canyon, which I had always considered just a 'big hole in the ground', right up until the day I actually laid eyes on it. WOW.
So, right through Flagstaff, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico, which I only vaguely remember. Well, I do remember. Miles and miles of road. Lots of beautiful open spaces. Lots of passing big semi trucks going up a hill, only to have them race by you going downhill and then doing it all over again.
In Amarillo, Texas we stopped and ate at a chuck wagon style restaurant. They still have Historic Route 66 on their maps, running parallel to I-40.
Then it was on to Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma and then St. Louis, Missouri. At that point we'd been gone nearly three weeks on our trip and taking a more direct line home to Detroit from St. Louis looked pretty good to us. Besides, my husband was raised in Chicago and we had visited there many times.
The last time I was in Chicago I happened to notice a travel brochure about driving old Route 66 from Chicago to St. Louis. I don't know that I will ever do it. I have driven many miles of the old Route 12 from Detroit to Chicago. (That roadway was replaced by I-94.) It is very slow going and even though I am retired, I do not want to spend a lot of my time just 'moseying' along the roadways.
But I still have fond memories of just driving through open country in the mid-1970's and singing that iconic song. Here is the Nat King Cole version of 'Route 66'.
