I imagine those who don’t live close to a stop along the famous Route 66 hear less about the topic than I do. I’m still impressed by those who actually do hear about it. Not so much the people who live in America, but the people who come from other countries every summer just to make the drive. Some join up with antique car tours and others simply rent a car to make the journey. Stretches of it seem to have “rallies” every year. Not races, just groups of people deciding to travel together.
This particular post was actually inspired by an article in the Paper which I read today. Yes it was an yet another article about someone taking a trip down old Route 66 but this one had an undiscovered story. It ended with a tiny blurb about how the couple took a small detour from one of the destinations to visit a military base where the husband had gotten his first military hair cut in 1959.
Most probably thought that ending a quaint little tidbit. When you are a writer you think about it a bit differently, especially with Veterans Day approaching on November 11. There is a select group of people which really should travel down old Route 66. Most people made life choices which in my view would exclude them from selection. Not putting them down, just that traveling Route 66 probably wouldn’t mean as much to them. Military people, migrant construction workers and perhaps truck drivers (though a driving vacation probably isn’t a vacation for them) would be the ones I would place in such a group.
You may have built something wonderful and passed it on to the next generation without leaving your home town, but to me, the ones who really should make the drive during their “sliver” years are the ones who moved around. Mentally they can travel back in time to see what they’ve built and what it has become. For those who are/were in the military you can see what others defended in the past and you are defending now.
It didn’t really hit me when I read the article about the UK soldiers who flew here during leave and rented a car to make the drive, but it did today. They don’t have a historic road with songs and great stories associated with it. No other country has a road called “The Mother Road”.
Now I understand. This is the thing which has been binding the country together since 1926. To some degree traveling it creates a bond with the past and the people which seems to be somewhat akin to the bond one sees among veterans. Next summer, find a higher purpose. Take the trip and see if you find the bond.
To those of you who have served, thank you for my freedom.
