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Day 5 – Our Honeymoon on Route 66 – June 18, 2002: Tucumcari to Gallup, New Mexico
On Tuesday morning we began the day with a stop at Tee Pee Curios, located near the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari. Before leaving town, we followed directions given to us by Mike Callens to visit the cemetery where Lillian Redman is buried. We wanted to stop and pay our respects before continuing west along Route 66. The Cuervo Cutoff Adventure The highlight of the day came when we decided to attempt the Cuervo Cutoff, one of the more adventurous historic Route 66 alignments. Using Jim and Jerry’s “Bones” map, we headed southwest along this fascinating stretch of old highway. Unfortunately, after about 2.5 miles we reached a section…
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Day 4 – Our Honeymoon on Route 66 – June 17, 2002: Amarillo, Texas to Tucumcari, New Mexico
Monday morning we said goodbye to the Big Texan after meeting Becky for breakfast before hitting the road again. Cadillac Ranch Our first stop was just west of Amarillo at one of Route 66’s most famous roadside attractions: Cadillac Ranch. After walking a couple hundred yards into the field, we found the famous row of Cadillacs buried nose-first in the ground. Of course we couldn’t resist adding our own touch — we signed our names on one of the cars before continuing west across the flat Texas Panhandle. Vega and Dot’s Mini-Museum Our next stop was Vega, Texas, where we met another Route 66 e-group member, Linda Drake, who works…
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Day 3 – Our Honeymoon on Route 66 – June 16, 2002: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Amarillo, Texas
We started our day in Oklahoma City by meeting up with Ken and Melissa, their kids Alicia and Jericho, Ken’s friend Mark, and Nicole for breakfast at Jimmy’s Egg. Several other Route 66 e-group members joined us as well, including Jim Ross, Laurel Kane, Sue Preston, and Mark Potter. Jimmy’s Egg is similar to a Denny’s or Perkins, and they serve a great classic breakfast — plenty of bacon and eggs to fuel a long day on the road. After breakfast with the group (thanks again, Ken!), we headed west at a very relaxed pace, intentionally staying off the Interstate whenever possible. Yukon and El Reno Our first stops took…
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Day 2 – Our Honeymoon on Route 66 – June 15, 2002: Fenton, Missouri to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Saturday, June 15 brought a long stretch of driving on our honeymoon journey along Route 66. Unfortunately, much of the day required traveling on Interstate 44 through Missouri so we could reach Oklahoma at a reasonable time. Both of us had already driven Route 66 through Missouri—individually and together during our April 2001 trip—but it still pained us to be on the Interstate. We really didn’t like “shunning” the Mother Road! Whenever we could, we jumped back onto Route 66. Breakfast in Pacific, Missouri Our first stop of the morning was Pacific, Missouri, where we exited at I-44 Exit 261 to visit Monroe’s Route 66 Diner. The diner is housed…
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Day 1 – Our Honeymoon on Route 66 – June 14, 2002
Speedway, Indiana to Fenton, Missouri Our honeymoon road trip actually began three months before our wedding. We weren’t married until September 14, 2002, but Jennifer had just moved to Speedway from the Chicagoland area and wouldn’t have any vacation time at her new job by the time the wedding arrived. So we decided to take our honeymoon early. Since we’re both road warriors at heart—and our shared fascination with the lore of Route 66 is actually how we met—it felt only natural to plan our honeymoon along America’s most famous highway. As luck would have it, Indipala SS, an Impala SS club in Indianapolis that Pat belonged to, was planning…
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July 2001: Oklahoma Route 66 Cruise
Pat and I decided to attend the Oklahoma Route 66 Association’s annual cruise this year, held on July 13 – 14, 2001. Cruisers have the option of travelling eastbound or westbound, with festivities centrally planned in Yukon. I had just moved to the Chicagoland area back in January and Pat lives in Indianapolis, so we thought about the most efficient way we could get together, to start our drive to Oklahoma. I was able to get a very inexpensive flight from Midway Airport to Indianapolis, so Pat picked me up there and we headed out to Oklahoma. Since we were coming from Indiana and didn’t have alot of time, we obviously cruised west,…
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Michael Wallis Booksigning at Hit the Road Travel Store
On June 21, 2001, I had the pleasure of attending a reading and booksigning by Michael Wallis of the updated version of his wonderful book, Route 66: The Mother Road. The updated version was done for the 75th Anniversary of Route 66 (and the entire U.S. Highway System, for that matter). The booksigning was held at a very cool travel store called Hit the Road. Unfortunately, it closed several years ago. I shopped there alot to try to support the efforts of the two owners, Annice Tatken and Maureen Geoghegan. I had the pleasure of meeting again (or for the first time) many roadies whom I would see often over the…
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June 2001: Illinois Motor Tour
This was my first time (but not my last) attending the Illinois Motor Tour, an event organized by the Route 66 Association of Illinois each year. Slideshow of All Photos For more details about a particular photo, click on it in the slideshow and it will open in my Flickr site. [flickrslideshow acct_name=”roadtripmemories” id=”72157609128414342″ width=”500″]
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April 2001: Restoration of Meramec Caverns Barn (Day 2)
We met up with members of the Illinois Route 66 Association in the lobby of the motel, and everybody was really nice and friendly! We all headed over to the barn, and it was such a great day! It was a wonderful experience to help in restoring a Route 66 landmark like this. There were plenty of people there to help, so there wasn’t always something to do, even though we wanted to help more. But when there was something to be done, we pitched right in and helped. We even managed to climb the scaffold and paint some letters, way at the top of the barn! I guess I…
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April 2001: Restoration of Meramec Caverns Barn (Day 1)
After a little late start this morning, Amber and I were on our way. We’ve been on various sections of 66 from Chicago to Romeoville several times since moving here, but this would be Amber’s first trip on Route 66 south since our first trip on vacation in August 2000. We had with us an excellent book, written by John Weiss – The New, Historic Route 66 in Illinois. It’s an excellent resource, not only for Route 66, but side trips too. We were heading to southern Illinois to Hamel, where there is an old barn with a Meramec Caverns ad painted on it. I read a post on the…