Loco-Colors

I was excited to ‘Arrive’ at my hotel in New Mexico’s largest city - Albuquerque. I was there to both reconnect with a long lost childhood friend, and to experience a piece of America’s quintessential road-tripping culture . . . Route 66 - aka The Mother Road. I’m happy to say I experienced Route 66 in its heyday, before it was decommissioned as a highway by the Federal Government in 1985. Yes, in 1976 my family and I took a 6 week road trip ‘Out West’ as the often say. Leaving in our red camper van from our home in Warren, MI (metro-Detroit), we hooked up with Route 66 about 4 hours later just south of Chicago and continued on it much of the way, all the way to California! It was the year of our nation’s sesquicentennial and a vacation to remember - of course what I can remember of it, I was only 6 at the time, but I do remember parts of it and I do remember loving it!! and I often think it was our family road trips, and specifically that one, that sparked my love of road trips and the West. Thanks Mom and Dad for always taking Mike and I on such cool trips and making them so fun and great! So I was excited to ‘Arrive’ at my hotel on Route 66 aptly named ‘Arrive’. I picked this hotel purposely because it had seen Route 66 in its time (not to mention my love of all things 1960-70’s retro) when it still hosted the endless parade of vacationers on their sojourns Out West. The Arrive is a 6 story, long, retro-looking hotel that had obviously been renovated. The doors to the rooms were on the outside, and therefore you could see the outer safety railings and hallways of each floor. The color pattern of the large protective railings was alternating squares of light turquoise and burnt orange. I assume the burnt orange was picked to match the native American and Hispanic Zia sun symbol which represents New Mexico - the symbol displayed on their state flag; and that turquoise was picked because it is the state’s gemstone. I found the hotel featured in more than a few travel articles / blogs that featured old school Route 66 hotels that had been beautifully renovated in such a way that stylishly blended both modern and retro. So after checking in I went back to the front desk to ask the all important question: Which road exactly is Route 66? I wasn’t sure because the hotel sat at a few intersecting roads and a turn-about, in the heart of downtown. I approached the maybe 25-30 year old heavy set Mexican looking girl at the front desk who had checked me in, “Can you please tell me which road is the historic Route 66?” I asked. She paused with kind of a funny look on her face, “Welllll . . . 66 is a bus route, 66 is a bus route that goes through town.” Of course I knew better and didn’t want to be rude, so I casually hesitated to try and reword my question, although I knew by her answer no amount of re-wording was going to help, but I tried anyway, probably because her job here at this specific hotel in some way is basically because of Route 66, and I found it unfathomable that she didn’t seem to know what I was talking about, so I continued anyway, “Well there is actually a well known old road called Route 66 that I think is in this area somewhere.” She further stuck to her original response that no, there was no such road (my words) and that “it’s a bus route”, which the other young female front desk agent seemed to agree with. Let me add there was actually a little more banter with regard to my question than I am recounting here, but all of it was met with complete ignorance of any knowledge of a road called Route 66. At this point I was thinking 2 things, one, that I thought I booked a hotel on Route 66 (and I’m going to be a little irritated if I didn’t), and two, that she lives and works here and doesn’t know Route 66???? What???? I actually thought that was part of the schtick of the hotel, that it was a retro, yet renovated hotel that was part of the history and culture ‘That Still Lives On, On Route 66’. I was incredulous, although I made sure not to show it, I maintained complete respect and just said ‘oh, okay, thanks.’ I then headed outside to explore. When I exited the front doors the 18-23 year-oldish Mexican looking bellman was at his bell stand. I hesitantly decided to ask him if he knew, “Excuse me, do you know which road is Route 66?” He got kind of a strained look on his face like he really wanted to help me, but he just didn’t know, “noooo . . . I don’t”. It turns out Route 66 is right next to the hotel (like I had thought ). . . It’s the largest main road that runs right past it on its short side. And making the whole story a bit more humorous, right next to the very large retro sign that spells ‘Downtown’ vertically followed by the name of my hotel ‘Arrive’ is actually a somewhat large lamp-post adornment that celebrates that this road is indeed the Historic Route 66 (see cover photo above) - there is actually many of these adornments running all along 66, and what I learned is better known as Central Avenue. Let me finish this story by saying I definitely grew to like both the front desk agent and the bellman, both friendly and helpful. And not long after our interaction I was passing by the front desk again when she made some mention to me of “yes Route 66 is close by”, which I took as her having looked it up on the internet and trying to correct what she realized was a huge oversight on her part.

Route 66 became part of the US Highway System in 1926. Starting in Chicago it stretched through 8 states - Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and reached it’s final destination - the Pacific Ocean - at the Santa Monica Pier in Southern California! You can still travel much of the original road today, however, you’ll have to cut over to various side roads or freeways to fill in the gaps where the road no longer exists. And many road trippers still do this today - take a trip to experience America’s Mother Road, where the trip is experiencing The Road itself - to see the historic sites, hotels with their old neon signs, and eat at some of the original restaurants still in existence today just as they were back then, mostly for nostalgias sake and to cater to those adventurers who are seeking the experience of traveling on Route 66! How interesting that the first travel story I’m writing for my new road tripping blog is about America’s most famous road tripping road.

Route 66 . . . The Mother Road . . .

Even John Steinbeck referred to 66 in his classic novel on the Great Depression, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ - where he referred to 66 as The Mother Road that thousands of migrants took to in seeking a better way of life . . . as their means of escaping the barren wind ravaged ‘Dust Bowl’ of Oklahoma. Even the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro aka the Royal Road of the Interior as it was called by the Spanish - shares some of its historic pathways with Route 66. The El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (not to be confused with The El Camino Real which connects the 18th century Spanish missions of California) stems back to 1598 when it connected Mexico City to Santa Fe. Want to experience some of the original Route 66? You will find the longest urban stretch of the original route still intact today running through the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and my hotel is on that 18 mile stretch in the heart of downtown, but don’t expect the younger generations to know that, haha. And this year the famous road will celebrate its 100th anniversary! 1926 - 2026.