Aaron Spoolstra
Inspiration
I grew up two blocks from one of the original alignments of Route 66 in Illinois. In my youth riding my bike to the swimming pool included a section of Route 66. As I grew older I was allowed to ride my bike to the next larger town often taking the most direct path of Route 66. After I received my drivers license my first out of town job and my BMX racing had me driving sections of Route 66. When I when to college in a suburb of Chicago I would often drive Route 66 back to my parents house, foregoing the faster interstate. I've always daydreamed about riding a bicycle the length of Route 66 and in my early thirties I rode a section of it from Chicago to my parents house. Still, I would talk about driving or cycling the whole length. After hearing me say something for the umpteenth time, my wife Jayme told me to just do it.
Cycling the length would take minimum of three weeks covering over 100 miles a day with a fully loaded touring bike, quite a bit more than I'm currently ready for. Add in the many old alignments that might be hard to find and cycling didn't appear to be the best for my first trip down the length of Route 66. As a result I chose to drive thinking of it as pre-running for a future cycling trip. Now to choose which vehicle to do it in. Green, my 1999 2WD Astro with it's rebuilt transmission and 189k miles? Nah, too easy. Grumpy, my 1997 AWD Astro with 326k miles on the original engine and trans. What could possibly go wrong?
Preparation
Grumpy had a couple previously existing issues that I wanted to resolve. No heat, due to the heater core being bypassed in order to continue on another road trip to New York and New Orleans the past summer. This trip taking place in mid-November and crossing the Rockies and the high plains needed heat. No overdrive, 1-2 shift solenoid inoperative. My quick calculations called for over 4200 miles, not having overdrive would really add to the fuel budget.
About a month before the trip I drove Grumpy to my brother's to pull the heater core out of my parts van, upon returning home I discovered that the axle shaft seals on the front diff were leaking badly. Not wanting to break the diff, I parked the van till I could get around to making the repair. Two weeks before the trip I start the after work/weekend wrench fest. Ended up spending much more time in the driveway than I'd like, which included taking a day off work. The result was the day before the trip the van was finally finished being repaired enough for me not to worry much about it on the trip.
I had taken a week off work which would give me nine full days to complete the trip. My plan was to spent two days taking the quickest route to Santa Monica, CA, then spent the next seven days on Route 66 doing about 350 miles a day. To save money I would be sleeping in the back of the van and mostly eating out of a cooler.
Chicago to Santa Monica - Day 1 - Friday Nov 12, 2010
With the van loaded up, I had dinner with my wife on Friday night, then set out on the road making as many miles as I could before my body demanded sleep. I ended up at the first rest area west of Iowa City, IA just before midnight. Not bad considering that my day started at 4 AM.
Chicago to Santa Monica - Day 2 - Saturday Nov 13, 2010
Saturday had me up and on the road just before 7 AM. First night in the van was rather comfortable. In Western Iowa there was snow on the ground and many disabled cars in the ditches. The snow must have hit overnight as the roads were good as I passed through. Shortly after entering Nebraska the snow disappeared. While filling the tank in Wiggins, CO I discovered that the right rear tire was low and when I went to fill it I could hear the air leaking out. Turns out that I plug I had put in it wasn't holding anymore. Luckily I had brought along a full size spare and was quickly back on the road. About a half hour out of Wiggins, snow started falling, although it never really came down hard enough to effect driving much. After the first set of peaks past Denver, CO, while still not coming down hard, snow had accumulated on the road and I spent most of this downhill part with the van in 2nd gear engine braking down the road. I was passing through the area that my wife's Jeep destroyed it's idler pulley, then overheated taking out the radiator in the summer of 2009 on the way home from Moab, UT. It got me thinking, how much further is Moab past my original planned stopping point for the second night, Grand Junction, CO. After the road had cleared again, I checked my maps and seeing as I still felt pretty good decided to go for it. Pulled into Moab after 1:30 AM local time, parked the van under a tree that I remembered near the Kokopelli Inn, and went to sleep.
Chicago to Santa Monica - Day 3 - Sunday Nov 14, 2010
Sunday morning I was woken by a pair of ravens in the tree above me. I took drove around town taking pics and had coffee at a local owned shop then headed towards the interstate to continue on my way. After stopping for a pic at the Moab sign North of town, I looked at my maps and decided to drive on a couple of the roads that followed the main road towards the interstate. Once on those I came to a sign for Seven Mile Rim with a 3 1/2 difficulty rating. I sat there for a moment, looked at my maps to see that they showed it, then decided to give it a try, willing to turn around if things got to difficult. Luckily the van was able to run the trail and aside from having a spotter at one decent I found it fairly easy. At the end of the trail there were local maps showing that I could take the major unpaved roads to the next interstate ramp west and continue on the interstate from there, unfortunately some of the unmarked roads got me turned around and I ended up asking a local for the quickest way to paved roads after I thought my fuel supplies were getting a little low. Ended up making Santa Monica, CA and parking to sleep under a tree at a CVS around 2:30 AM local time.
Route 66 - Day 1 - Monday Nov 15, 2010
First day of Route 66, up at 7:30. Checked out the Route 66 plaque in Palisades Park, took pics of two different Route 66 end points then started East. One hour in and my East to West turn by turn directions that I was reading backwards had me confused trying to figure out which way I should be going on Broadway from Sunset in LA. Directions, traffic and a side trip to a tire store had this day take longer than expected, by a quarter till 6 PM I was wishing I had flood lights on Grumpy's roof. Around 8 PM I came across a sign for a road leading to Goffs, CA that stated, "ROAD NOT MAINTAINED by San Bernardino County." I was expecting things like this since I was taking the oldest alignments that I could. Continuing on this section of road I found that it had many parts of it washed away leaving only one lane of road passable. I continued on into Needles and stopped at a local bar, but found it boring so I continued to the East side of town where I pulled over to sleep near a radiator repair shop just after 9:30 PM.
Route 66 - Day 2 - Tuesday Nov 16, 2010
Watched the sun rise in the van, then back tracked through Needles to use the free wi-fi at some big national chain restaurant. Leaving Needles I missed my turn and ended up driving 15 miles the wrong way before seeing a sign to clue me in.
My directions called for a bit of abandoned road that includes driving in a sandy wash West of Park Moabi Rd, but I wasn't able easily able to find the west end of it to take it East. I ended up driving it Westbound per my directions. This was a fun bit of road. After entering the wash and crossing under the interstate there is a prominent ledge on the West side. Getting out to investigate I found the ledge to be about waist high and under about an inch of earth a layer of asphalt. It's my guess that this might be part of the 1926-47 alignment through the area. Continuing on the trail in the wash eventually raised up to a higher road bed that my maps say was the 1947-66 alignment. Turning East there is about a half mile of road that ends at a washout and overlooks the interstate. Returning West I passed where I came out of the wash and drove on road thats being covered or washed away. It was fun to see the old painted lines pass under the dirt. After a bit I came to a place where the road was completely washed away and I had to drive around it in the dessert to continue on the road. When I finally returned to maintained road I discovered that I had passed this section of road earlier and just thought it was another dirt road heading off into the dessert.
In Oatman, AZ I was greeted by wild burros in the road, descendants of burros left behind by miners after the goal mines shut down. Oatman looks like the old west towns they depict in the movies and Route 66 is the main road through town. I spent a good amount of time taking Oatman in and was able to witness a bus full of English tourist get "robbed" and then a "gun fight" both raising money Shriners Hospitals for Children. Ended up having lunch at the Oatman Motel listening to live cowboy music. The road East of Oatman was twisty good fun, even more so after the slow car in front of me pulled over to let me by.
In Peach Springs, AZ my direction suggested a side trip on a dirt road down into the Grand Canyon. The Diamond Creek Rd is the only road that goes to the Colorado River within the canyon, it is on the Hualapai (WALL-uh-pie) Native American Reservation and a permit per person is needed for use. The first 19 miles are wide graded dirt as it descends into the canyon. At the end of the graded dirt is a pavilion and Diamond Creek with Diamond Creek mostly becoming the road for the next mile to the Colorado River. Confusion with a permit sign at the pavilion caused me to err with caution and not continue all the way to the Colorado, bummer on my part as I found out that my permit was good past the sign.
Seligman, AZ was one of my planned stops as the historic Route 66 movement started there and the Snow Cap Drive In restaurant is among favorite memories from a trip taken with my family in my youth. Unfortunately I arrived in town late in the day and found most things closed including the Snow Cap.
My original goal for the day was to reach Flagstaff, AZ and I was looking good to make it, but as I was accelerating up the interstate ramp East of Ash Fork, AZ I heard and felt a banging from below me. I pulled off to the side then backed down the ramp. Heading back to Ash Fork the van didn't do anything weird. I pulled into a gas station and checked all the fluids, including the differentials and the transfer case, and found nothing wrong. Wanting to see if I could duplicate the problem I drove through town and hammered the throttle after a stop light, same banging below me. Seeing that the banging happened only during acceleration I surmised that the viscous clutch in the transfer case was binding and decided to remove the front drive shaft. Removal of the shaft took a bit of time thanks to the E-Torx bolts that GM decided to use, despite the fact that I had the proper wrench to remove them. With the shaft removed the van drove normally again and I continued on.
Looking for my next section of old alignment had me driving around in circles in the dark at a rather empty Monte Carlo Truck Stop. Not finding my road and being late I parked the van on the outer edge of the lot and went to sleep.
Route 66 - Day 3 - Wednesday Nov 17, 2010
Woke around 6, coldest night yet, but plenty warm under my blankets. Found the road, it was behind a chained gate. No road closed or no trespassing signs, just a sign that asked to please keep the gate shut. I passed through the gate, closing it behind me and continued on the forest road. Stayed on this section long enough for it to end as a dirt road overlooking the interstate, my direction say this was part of the 1926-32 alignment.
Stopped for coffee at the American Flyer Coffee Co in Williams, AZ. While in Williams I also checked out the steam engine for the Grand Canyon Railway.
Once I hit Flagstaff, AZ I began my bumper acquisition detour to Sedona, AZ. Guess I missed a sign somewhere cause instead of cruising AZ-89A into Sedona I enjoyed my drive on I-17 until I got the feeling I should have been in Sedona already. Turned out that I had overshot Sedona by about 20 miles. Correcting myself and calling for directions, I arrive at Chris's house. The bumper is quite large, but being made of aluminum fairly light. I had planned all along to mount the bumper and carry the stock bumper home under the back seats. After removing Grumpy's stock bumper we held the new bumper up and discovered clearance issues that were preventing mounting. Chris mentioned that it fit perfectly on his van and knowing that the body didn't change any between our model years, I knew something was wrong with Grumpy. Grumpy's radiator core support has quite a bit of rust and as a result the front of sub-frame has pushed up into the body about an inch on the driver's side and about three quarters of an inch on the passenger side. I had to find a way to at least temporarily raise the body back up to fit the bumper. Improvising with an upside down jack stand and a scissor jack under the core support I was able to raise the body away from the sub-frame one side at time to mount the bumper. Lowering the body back down resulted in the turn indicators resting on the bumper and had me wondering if the contact would eventually cause them to break. The stock bumper didn't fit lengthwise under the seats the way I originally thought it would, but I was able to fit widthwise between the back seats.
Managed to drive the proper way back to Flagstaff on AZ-89A and enjoyed the scenery. In Flagstaff I headed downtown to meet Holly at her gallery. I used to watch her kids back in my early teen years and hadn't seen her in over 15 years. We spent time in her gallery catching up and she contacted two of her kids that live in town. Holly had told me that chain stores are not allowed to open in downtown Flagstaff, and I took a brief walk around and found the town to feel very personal and homey. Returning to the gallery, Danny and Hailey showed up and we all talked about what's been happening since last seeing each other. Unfortunately Hailey had things she needed to attend to and had to leave shortly after Holly closed her gallery for day. Holly, Danny and I then headed over to Charly's Pub and Grill inside the Hotel Weatherford, one of Flagstaff's oldest buildings, and had an excellent dinner. It was decided that I would join the other couch surfers at Danny's for the night and we headed to his place. He already had a girl from Australia and I guy from Germany staying there, but still had room for me on another futon. We all watched the movie Sideways, then Dan and I stayed up late introducing each other to new music and talking about his upcoming recording session in Los Angeles. It was after midnight before I finally got to sleep.
Route 66 - Day 4 - Thursday Nov 18, 2010
Woke up early enough and thought I would spend some time mapping on my netbook hoping that it would save me some time later in the trip as I had fallen a day behind. I ended up spending way to long mapping only to find that I had pushed the limits of my mapping software and caused it to crash. Nuts. Guess I should have just been out on the road.
Since "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" says don't forget Winona I made sure to pass through it.
One of the recommended side trips East of Flagstaff is to Meteor Crater, the best preserved large meteor impact site on earth. I was impressed by the shear size of the crater despite an estimated 50,000 of wear. I should have asked why it hasn't filled with water, seems that there isn't drainage.
Winslow, AZ is featured in the Eagles song "Take it Easy" and the corner mentioned in the song has a statue of a guy "Standing on the Corner", a mural featuring "The girl in the flat bed Ford" and a flat bed Ford park on the street.
In Holbrook, AZ I came across the Wigwam Motel that is most likely the one that inspired the Cozy Cone in Pixar's movie "Cars". Each individual teepee has a classic car parked next to it enhancing the historic feel of the place. While there I meet a couple girl travelling across the US with a group in a van raising funds by selling sun catchers along the way. Despite having been on 66 for a couple days, they knew next to nothing about the road. I asked if they had seen "Cars". They replied, "Yes." "Remember the Cozy Cone?" "Yes" "Look around", I told them. The look on there faces when they realized the connection. I then went on to tell them about the songs, TV show and other things relating to the road.
I took an old dirt alignment South of I-40 between Sanders, AZ and Allentown, AZ. A wrong turn had me dead ending in someone's driveway, before I had a chance to back out the van was surrounded by dogs and shortly thereafter I was greeted by a pleasant older lady that was very helpful with getting me back on the right track.
Night had fallen after I had entered New Mexico. After taking a graded gravel section between Mesita, AZ and Correo, AZ, I had confused my directions and was getting tired. Incorrectly backtracking on AZ-6, which had well marked speed warning signs for the curves, I crossed over I-40 doing 60 mph to find that there was tight left turn with no speed warning signs. Starting the turn at roughly double the speed I would have liked, the tires howled loudly as I braked hard and turned trying to keep the van on the road and upright. Luckily the shoulder was paved much wider than normal and I was able to keep the van on pavement as I came to a complete stop. I took a minute to compose myself, went over my directions again, then turned around.
I continued on hoping to put myself in Albuquerque for the night, but came short of that goal parking the van in a church parking lot in Pajarito, NM.
Route 66 - Day 5 - Friday Nov 19, 2010
Slept almost twelve hours, another cold night out but comfortable under the blankets.
Not long after passing through downtown Albuquerque while I was sitting at a light I had a police officer step out into the street in front of me and direct me off the road. Not knowing why, I was informed the I was doing 30 in a 15 mph school zone. I was a little surprised to find that out as at that time I was just keeping up with traffic and frankly didn't notice any school zone signs. Although time consuming, the officer was quite nice and after discussing my trip and route a bit was sent on my way with an $85 ticket and a hawk's eye for future school zones.
Santa Fe's one way streets and my E-to-W direction confused me a bit, but as a result I was able to drive by
the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assis a rather neat looking old church.
Southwest of Santa Fe while pulled off to check my directions I noticed a restaurant called Real Food Nation the signs promoted natural food and eco-consciousness and while being a while before noon I decided to treat myself to my first real meal while solo on the trip and give them a try. I had the Green Chile Chicken Enchilada and found it to be quite good. I highly recommend visitor to Santa Fe check them out.
Just after 5 PM I pull the van over at The Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, TX, which is halfway between Chicago and Santa Monica. Almost five days on the road and I was just then hitting the mid point. Originally I had planned on eating dinner here, but I found out that they are only open till 4 PM.
With dusk setting in I took the quick side trip to the Cadillac Ranch, 10 Cadillacs partially buried nose down in a pasture, just west of Amarillo, TX, then not to far away in Conway, TX I stopped at a similar attraction call the Bug Farm.
Shortly after passing through Erick, OK I got to meet my second law enforcement officer of the day. This time a warning was issued due to the license plate light bulb being out. Bulb was replaced at the next truck in Sayre, OK.
South of Clinton, OK just after 1 AM, I met my third LEO of the day after I pulled of into a business parking lot to check my direction. Aside from driving a little slow and pulling into the parking lot of a closed business, I didn't do anything wrong this time. Just a general check and ended up getting help with my directions. Quite tired at this point.
Continued driving till the next town and pulled the van into an abandoned gas station in Weatherford, OK for the night.
Route 66 - Day 6 - Saturday Nov 20, 2010
Up around 7:30 AM, with two days left to cover over 850 miles. The day's mission was miles, luckily for most of the day Oklahoma didn't have as much for me to stop and inspect closer.
I had been updating Twitter and Facebook via my phone the whole trip and when I sent out that I was in Tulsa, OK Tim a friend from The BABE Rally replied with a restaurant suggestion. I originally thought that I was way past it, but when one of the cross streets given for it's location was in front of me I turned to make the side trip. My destination was Elmer's BBQ and I was to try a BADwich (rib, chopped beef, smoked bologna, and smoked sausage on a bun). The BADwich was good and quite filling and the restaurant had a good bluesy feel to it.
The highlight of Route 66 in Oklahoma is the sidewalk highways between Afton, Narcissa and Miami. Here are sections of two way highway that the paved road was only 8 foot wide wide.
Route 66 only passes through a small corner of Kansas. In Galena is I made the first of two deviations from my directions due to a road being closed, in this case a viaduct that the old alignment goes over was closed.
Crossing into Missouri I found the Route 66 routing signs to be the best on the trip thus far. It seemed that all alignments were well marked. It was nice not having to look at my directions that much.
I was pleasantly surprised by the roads twists, turns, rises and falls of Route 66 Northeast of Springfield, definitely a driver's road.
Shortly after midnight pulled the van next to an abandoned bar for the night.
Route 66 - Day 7 - Sunday Nov 21, 2010
Putting in over 480 miles the day before, I was rolling before 7 AM with roughly 370 miles to go.
I was in the mood to stop at a locally owned coffee shop, but was only finding huge corporate coffee from Seattle for the longest time. Eventually I was able to find a shop called Foundation Grounds in Maplewood, MO. Had a mocha and a breakfast burrito while I posted some updates on Facebook.
Had a bit of a detour in St. Louis as 13th St had a big section torn up.
Shortly after crossing the Mississippi I began hearing the squealing of what I determined to be alternator bearings, mostly noticeable when accelerating from stops.
Illinois brought a pleasant surprise, town squares with parks instead of court houses. I'd seen them in movies, usually in southern towns, but I didn't know of any in Illinois till this trip. These were found in both Carlinville and Virden. Wish I would have had the time to walk around them.
North of Auburn, IL I turned onto another bit of old road, two lane brick. Just a bit over a mile long and quite well maintained.
About midway between Springfield and Chicago, I stopped at my parents house. Despite the fact they were following me on Facebook and Twitter I still surprised them a little with the time I showed up.
As I was leaving Pontiac, I goosed the throttle a bit at a stop sign and heard a noise that sounded a bit like someone missing a shift on a manual transmission. Didn't do it when I was easy on the gas at the next stop. Easy throttle here on out. North of Joliet, IL the alternator's squealing switched to grumbling, so much so that I pulled over to verify it was still just the alternator. It was, but in true Grumpy form it kept running, so I pushed on.
Upon arriving in Chicago I stopped for a couple pics. Being it was Sunday evening, I was able to find a free spot to park and started searching for a plague that was supposed to be located at the corner of Adams St and Michigan Ave. Even employing a street local for a buck to help me find it, I wasn't able to. Guess the Route 66 road sign will have to do.
I ran back to the van and drove it to the Original Billy Goat Tavern on lower Michigan, where I was met by my wife. We both enjoyed a Doublecheez and then I drove us home.