A00178 - The Magical Wonder of Route 66


I was born in Oklahoma City and consider Victorville, California, to be my childhood hometown.  In addition to being points on my personal timeline, both Oklahoma City and Victorville happen to be posts on what is today known as Historic Route 66.



While Route 66 was immortalized in a famous Nat King Cole song



Alas, Route 66 is not the complete highway it once was.  Instead, it has been replaced mostly by Interstate 40.  


Last week, I took a journey of imagination by driving Interstate 40 from Oklahoma City to Barstow, California.  The journey brought back memories of having traveled the original Route 66 when I left Ardmore, Oklahoma, for Victorville, California in 1957. Back in 1957, the journey was one filled with the prospect of golden opportunities while traveling through so many small dusty towns. Fast forward to 2023, and the journey taken last week with my sister, was more filled now with golden memories rather than golden prospects.

I do not have the time to fully convey the magical wonder of recalling all the golden memories while driving on the road west.  However, I do want to commend the sunsets that I experienced over the three-day drive.  Each day's sunset was spectacular. The one on Monday was 70 miles east of Amarillo, Texas, and looked like a classic Western landscape painting. The sunset Tuesday was just west of Gallup, New Mexico.  It was full of dark foreboding as the rainclouds in the distance put on an "awesome" lightning display.  And then the one on Wednesday, was magical with a hole appearing in the cloud cover to let a ray of light shine through just as we were nearing the California border.  

Route 66 may no longer exist, but it was evident that the magical wonder associated with the trail it blazed still does.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Fairfield, California
August 14, 2023

 

 

 

 

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