I’m sure all of you took to the road on Route 66 at some point in your life before it was shut down with the completion of I-40.

My memories are of family vacations traveling from California back to Missouri to visit family and friends during the late 1940s to early 1950s.

Then again in the summer of 1962 after I graduated from boarding school in Arizona. After school I hit the road going first to Missouri then Chicago where I hung out for awhile until one of my dorm mates from school arrived from El Paso, TX. We partied for about a week in Chicago with a bunch of class mates who lived there. Around 3 a.m. one morning (drunker then skunks after partying hard) we decided to go to Florida. Eight of us piled into a VW Bus and hit the road heading south. After stops in Louisville (for horse racing), Nashville, Memphis and Atlanta we rolled into the panhandle of Florida in mid-July.

We headed straight for the beaches. We got to the beach around 2 in the afternoon, stopped at a store to stock up on beer and food. By the time we drove down to the beach to party it was so HOT we were all getting sick from the heat. But worse there were no babe’s on the beach … The guy at the store said it was the hottest summer anyone could remember. It was about 120 degrees. So, we ditched Florida for cooler parts making a beeline for the Georgia mountains. Got up in the mountains about mid night. Found a road side park. Built a fire and cook the food we’d bought for the beach.

The next day we headed back north for Chicago, by the round about route, arriving about 3 weeks later.

A couple days later Patrick (my dorm mate from school) and I decided to do Route 66 to California and visit class mates and check out the *California Girls*.

We bought a VW Bug and hit the open road on Route 66 out of Chicago heading west.

When we’d get low on cash, we’d stop and work for a week or so then hit the road again. And, Boy Oh Boy, do I have some stories about our travels on Route 66. But, I’ll save them for another time — LOL — 🙂

Turn me loose and set me free …

Grab some pop corn, kick back and journey through the memories in the back pages of your mind along Route 66 …

What are your memories of traveling Route 66?