The first portion of the trip was spent covering familiar ground for me. The route included a straight shot South until I hit the Maumee river South West of Toledo. There is a great road that follows the southern bank almost all the way to Indiana. It drops on a South Westerly trace over lush green rolling farm country. The topography stays the same all the way into Missouri.My first stop the first day was the grave of the original rebel Jimmy Dean in Fairmount Indiana. Over the years I have stopped by to say hello and his grave site seems different each time. There is a seemingly ever changing array of personal effects left by admirers. From pocket change to unlit Marlboro's. Flowers and private messages left in envelopes to perfect lipstick traces placed with desperate care on his headstone. The first lizard king left a powerful Wu that still has not lost it's pull over all these years.
I discovered Route 66 in Illinois and ended up following it for 5 states. It was a happy accident as I had not planned a route for this wander. A lot has been said about old 66 and I won't get into it in detail here but I will say this: It's a road of ghosts. As you travel along it's remains (rarely could you travel it more than 20 miles before it just dead ended into a hay field) you discover tons of pre-WWII era Americana. From old abandoned kitch motels to ancient filling stations, decaying homes, juke joints and good old road side tourist traps with giant neon signs still trying to entice tired travelers.
In this first installment or three, you'll find images of some of this stuff along with shots of one of the best sheet metal bone yards I have ever stumbled across - I found it during magic hour as the warm July sun dipped deep into the Western hills, washing all the chrome and rust in a golden glow. There are also a couple pics of the first section of 66 to get four lanes. The cut through the Ozarks made by the depression era road crew was the deepest of it's kind in existence at that time.
Enjoy Part 1
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