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 I
have used
Route 66
most of my life and still do. I was born on one end of it and now
live on the other end of it. I've been on it several times a year
except when I was in the U.S. Navy and am still finding
interesting things on or close to the
Mother Road.
I remember ol' Chief Yellowhorse, I think it was, in
Arizona.
He had a stand by
Route 66
and we shared a fire water or two a couple of times on my trips.
He also had some great stories, like when he said the cavalry
never messed with his relatives in what he called their civil war.
I remember in the 60's, he had Burma Shave-like signs saying
things like, "Good Injun 250 feet up road" and after his stand,
"Go back missed good Indian by 500 ft." I hear when he died
several years ago, he had a big funeral, as a lot of 66'ers went
to see him off to the great father and his stand in the sky, or
happy hunting ground, or whatever, Yes I have some good memories
on the road and I really like sharing a brew or two with an oldie
and their stories of the good ol', but tough days. This ship is
Salyn Yo-Ho,Yo-Ho!
P.S. I'm dying shortly myself and still have
my 1960 T-Bird Cruiser. I am planning one more trip from pier to
pier, so if'n ya see a 60 silver gray T-bird on
Route 66,
say hello it's me on my last trip down our
Mother Road.
-- G. Thompson,
California,
October, 2008
~~~~~~~~~
I just had to write you after reading
your accounts of travels on
Highway
66. I literally grew up on
Highway
66. My father pastored a church on
Highway
66 in
Chelsea,
Oklahoma.
I worked at two service stations and a new car agency on
Highway
66 while attending high school. I wish I could have met with
you at
Chelsea and given you the grand tour. Of all the towns
along this great road, I think none is more typical of what it is
all about than this little northeastern
Oklahoma
town. To name a few of the interesting sites during my
growing up years, the George Goosman garage and bus station where
Mr. Goosman took the picture of every young man or woman who left
for service in WWII. He had all their pictures displayed on the
walls of the waiting room. This place was truly a slice of
Americana. On the 4th of July Mr. Goosman would don a tall stove
pipe hat and drive his vintage Diamond-T fire truck in the parade
playing his calyape made from dozens of automobile horns. Or, a
trip up the main street of
Chelsea paved with Coffeeville bricks almost to the high
school at the top of the hill. The most interesting and
reminiscent of what
Highway
66 is all about was the Gaino service station along side the
Pig-in-Pen diner. Talk about right out of a movie set, they were
both constructed of porcelinized steel in a white and red motif. The diner had its neon sign and trimmings while the service
station had the large flying red horse out front. It was a proud
day for me at fourteen years of age when they got tired of me
bootlegging work at the service station and made me get a social
security card and gave me a uniform and I went to work. I lived
the saga of
Highway
66 for the next 5 years when I left for the navy never to
return except for visits. That was 48 years ago next month. Alas,
all those sites are gone now, except for the little brick
"mission" my father and uncles built. I know many people have many
memories of
Highway
66 but I think I could write a book about mine just in
Chelsea alone. My fantasy is to acquire a 1957 T-Bird and
travel the length of 66 and end up in
Chelsea at my 50th class reunion. you guessed it I am of the
class of '57.
- Don Jones, December, 2005
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~~~~~~~~~
My Favorite Route 66 Story
By Laurie Eve Loftin
 My
family was traveling two-lane
Route 66 in
our 1968 Volkswagen bus, with my dad at the wheel. We were second in a
long line of cars—in front of us, a pickup truck hauling a full cattle
trailer, and behind us a very impatient man in a fancy convertible with
the top down.
This guy was weaving and
ducking, honking and gesturing, trying to either force us off the road or
pass both us and the trailer combo, but becoming increasingly frustrated
by all the no-passing zones on those wonderful scenic hills and curves.
Just as we could begin to
see a level, straight area where it would be easy to pass, my dad also had
a good view into the trailer ahead, and he could tell that one of the
animals was raising its tail, and about to let loose and relieve itself.
We weren't going to reach
the passing zone before the little incident would take place, so Dad
slowed down.
This further irked the
convertible driver, who didn't bother to check for a reason for the
slowdown, or wait for the legal passing zone, but promptly passed us,
sliding into our lane just in time to get the shower of his life.
Lesson? Is something
going too slowly for you? There might be a good reason.
Copyright
Laurie Eve Loftin, 2005
~~~~~~~~~
I lived in
Ashfork
[Arizona]
in the 50"s an again in the early 60 's with my parents. They, along
with my uncle, both had service stations there. My parents also built and
operated two diners, one of which, was located beside Theroux's Garage and
the second was at the end of town by the old highway garage. We had some overnight trailer hookups, and some very interesting people
stopped by for eats an rest, including Elvis, Red Foley, Alan Ladd, Audey
Murphy, etc. Back then, people were very friendly. When we were
about to open our station, our stock did not arrive on time so the other
owners in town brought enough for us to open on time. When we lived
there most all businesses were open an thriving -- movie theater, curio
stores, restaurants, the
Harvey House
was partially open, 66 Hotel, Zettler's Market, Judge Slamon's Variety
Store, etc. Saturday trips to Prescott or
Williams
were always looked forward to. Once a year we went to Phoenix. Trips to
Oak Creek Canyon to swim and picnic and go to Jerome to poke around.
Although most everyone we knew are gone some still live there, and I
am going to go back and visit. We are thinking of retiring to the area
someday Lots of fond memories remain. Anyone remembering Floyd or Hariette McElroy or Fred and Dorothy Fegely
would like to hear from you:
pmcelroy@columbus.rr.com - Phillip McElroy, Mt. Vernon, Ohio, September, 2005
~~~~~~~~~
When I ran across your site and began to
laugh. I was laughing because about 49 years ago my parents and I
travel from
Chicago to
Los Angeles
along Route 66. We kept seeing "Two
Guns" sign showing how far to go. When we reached the
destination our car kept on going thinking we must have missed the turnoff
or something. I looked in out the back window and saw the gas
station. My parents are long gone but we still remembered that day
and how we laughed. Thanks for the memory. - Kenneth L. Vadovsky,
July, 2005
~~~~~~~~~
Hi folks, in 1957 my father moved our
family from upstate New York to Prescott,
Arizona. We drove the entire length of
Route 66 we
saw every stop that you hear in the song "Route
66," there was an old prospector who had a little store and road side
zoo, I think it was in
New Mexico
. This old guy still had his donkey, his covered wagon, and some other
animals. There was a box next to his front door and it had a sign
painted on it, that said, baby rattlers. When we opened the lid
there were four plastic baby rattles laying in a bed of straw. This
old guy was colorful, happy, and funny. Every time we made the trip
back to New York, we would stop at his store and road side zoo, just to
say hi. Thanks for the memories, V. Myra Parrott, June, 2005
Editor's Note:
Anyone have an idea about where this place is
or was? Here are a couple of our ideas:
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