You can’t drive a house…

For many years when I was much younger, I used to have a postcard on my refrigerator showing a beautiful, old, rusty pickup truck sitting in front of a farmhouse. It reminded me of my childhood, but that wasn’t why I bought it. I bought it because of the title on the back: “You can’t drive a house, but you can sleep in your car.”

Among the many beautiful and oh-so-very-American sights you see driving historic Route 66 are old cars and trucks. Some are rusty, some decorated in graffiti, some buried up to their wheel rims in sand, some pristine and shining. I love them all and am hard pressed not to take photos of every one.

Here’s just a small sampling, and I’m not even including anything here from Cadillac Ranch, which warranted its own photo essay the other day. Continue reading

Route 66: Oklahoma and Texas

It’s been a long day, and I’m exhausted. We started in Oklahoma City at theĀ Skeletons Museum of Osteology, then headed down Route 40 and Route 66 with stops in Canute and Elk City before getting back on the highway and driving into Texas for an afternoon of hiking at bee-you-tiful Palo Duro Canyon State Park. We’re overnighting in Amarillo (Tex-mex and margaritas, thank you very much) just minutes down the road from Cadillac Ranch, where we plan to start the day tomorrow.

Truth be told, I’m too spent to write. So it’s just pictures today. Enjoy.

Skeletons Museum

Continue reading

Americana: Kitch and commemoration

Road trip day 2—basic stats:

  • Start time: 9am
  • Distance covered: ~285 miles
  • States: Missouri, Oklahoma

For those who are keeping track, that’s about half the distance covered on day 1, and also about half of what my husband originally thought we’d cover. It’s about two-thirds the distance I initially planned on, but the day was worth the slowdown. Continue reading

These moments are precious

Driving across Missouri on the way from Chicago to California, I was struck by the lush, green, undulating landscape—small mountains and huge forests, gorges, rivers and creeks. The land was dotted with horse farms and lovely dilapidated barns, and decorated with billboards and fireworks superstores. Wednesday gave us the infamous fudge billboard; highlights Thursday included Ozarkland billboards tantalizing passersby with every imaginable kind of candy (plus moccasins!) and a series of ads for a Precious Moments complex I hadn’t known existed. Continue reading