Route 66

In December 1998, a friend and I drove from Kansas City, Mo to Ellensburg.  Well to Wapato because that's where her car gave up the ghost.  From Springfield,  Mo to Flagstaff, Az we paralleled the Mother Road.  Like Mr. Steinbeck's family, we had most of my friend's worldly belongings in her car.  Unlike Steinbeck's family we were not destined for peach orchards in central California, but home in Washington state.  Also unlike Steinbeck's family,  we spent very little time on old US 66.  Our adventure across America was a plastic one, full of nights at the Motel 6 and meals at Dennys.  This was partially do to the death of Route 66 and the car culture.  No longer is getting there half the fun, that shift and the controled access highway killed the roadside attraction and the unique quality of each American highway.  We feel into the get there sooner mindset and missed out on several things.  We drove late into the night, so many sights were obscured by darkness, two were in Arizona, Two Guns and Twin Arrows.  We laughed at the names and wondered if Couple Cannons was next.  What we missed in the darkness was the dead heart of America, ghostly ruins of a time that we where adventureous, a time that the curio was worth investigating and when we were not ruled by the comparison to the plastic America.  That is to say, that different was to preferred, almost revered (at least on the road), that safe and predictable was to be avoided, or at leasted wasn't considered necessary.  Today I had a chance to return to Twin Arrows, to consider what has been lost and then drive a few miles of the Mother Road.  I can say I was a bit disappointed when the relics of the glory days gave way to Home Depot and Best Buy.  It just proves that the past is behind us.