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Road Trips (standard:non fiction, 845 words) | |||
Author: Slambang | Added: Oct 21 2007 | Views/Reads: 2999/2 | Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes) |
A tale of across country trip on Old Highway 66 | |||
ROAD TRIPS APRIL 7 2007 SLAMBANG Back in the late forties, it became a ritual to visit the folks back home. Every summer we would load up the car and make the 2000 mile trip. It was usually in August (the hottest month of the year in the Midwest) We thought the boys should get to know their Grand parents. Sometimes we even did it twice during the year. The second time would be at the Christmas Holiday season. I guess you could say we gave old Route 66 a good workout. The road at that time was much different than it is now. It was two lane nearly all the way and always seemed to go straight through small towns and big cities too. I can still remember seeing the sign advertising Jack Rabbit, Arizona. It was a big roadside jackrabbit and was posted all along Route 66. The sign would say Jackrabbit Arizona 437 miles ahead or something similar to that. After seeing all the signs for miles and miles we finally came to Jack Rabbit Arizona. If you blinked your eyes you would have been through it and missed it completely. There was always the games we would have to play to keep the kids occupied and not giving us the same old question “Are we there yet” or “how much farther is it“. The games we would play were finding numbers on the license plates of the passing cars and they had to be in sequence. Other times it would be finding cars with license plates from other states. I know that many people have experienced the arguing about who was taking most of the rear seat space and the cries “He's touching me” Also there were the Burma Shave signs. Like “he had the ring, he had the flat, she felt his face and that was that.” And “within the vale of toil and sin, your head grows bald but not your chin, Use Burma shave. and “Hardly a man is now alive who took this curve at 75 Use Burma Shave”. One in particular I remember was “here lies Elmer Blake. Stepped on the gas instead of the brake”, This went on for miles and even the “old Folks, (us) enjoyed that. Driving on route 66 was never dull on the two lane road and one place in particular was the road through “Oatman Pass,” Arizona. After one left Needles and started up to Kingman Arizona the road was narrow and after you got closer to Kingman the road was mountainous and winding and it seemed as if there was not even enough room for two cars to pass. I remember one time were climbing that winding narrow road and near the top of the mountain we met a big Semi truck right in the middle of the curve and it was taking up nearly all of the road. We had to stop and back up to a place where the road was a little wider so that he could pass. Now ,that road is a wide highway that goes directly from Laughlin to Kingman, but route 66 (now Interstate 44) bypasses that pass. Kingman had a good steak house. If I remember right it was Called “Rod's Steak House” We always tried to stop there for dinner. In 1956,I had just bought a brand new Chevy. It was a beauty. We stopped at Rod's for early dinner and then continued on to Holbrook, Arizona. As I have said ,the road was narrow and hilly and I got behind a semi. He could go like the dickens downhill ,but going uphill he could just barely make it. I was behind this snail for many miles and every time it seemed like it was safe to pass (going downhill he would speed up to about eighty or there was traffic in the opposite direction and I was not safe to pass. Finally as we were just outside of Holbrook there was a long hill and the road divided into four lanes. At last here was my chance. At the bottom of this hill was a bridge. I was going like sixty ,I passed one truck and was nearly around the other when we got to the bridge and he moved over the centerline and caused me to have to eat the bridge. My pretty new car was now a piece of junk. Our luggage, which had been on a car top carrier was scattered all over the scenery, but luckily no one was injured. We were stranded in Holbrook for the night. I had the car towed to a garage in Holbrook and the mechanic there was able to make temporary repairs so that we could continue on the trip, but that was one I will never forget. Shucks ! Instead of showing off my nice new red and white hardtop, I was driving a beat up thing that looked like it came from the wrecking yard. As my wife has often told me “life with Harold is never boring” Tweet
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