Pay it forward … over and over

Stephen Box of CityWatchLA tells the story about a Spaniard couple, their Route 66 trip, and the aftermath when Rich Henry at Henry’s Rabbit Ranch in Stanton, Ill., inadvertently shortchanged them $10.

He told the Route 66 yahoogroup about his mistake:

Rich put out the word to his network and urged everybody on Route 66 to keep on the lookout for “a young Spanish couple in a white vehicle” and then he pleaded “please give them a $10 bill and I will reimburse you ASAP for it.” […]

Passing through Afton, Oklahoma, population 1073, they met Laura Kane of the Route 66 Afton Station who reports “They couldn’t understand why everywhere they went, people were offering them $10. They indicated that the folks on Route 66 must be the nicest and most honest people in the world.”

The folks in Phelan, California kept on the lookout in anticipation of their Spanish guests, this time with a microphone in hand instead of a $10 bill. In the words of James M Conkle, editor of the Route 66 Pulse, “This story is really what Route 66 is all about.”

At least three other people gave the couple $10, probably more.

This saga proves that Route 66 is essentially a 2,200-mile-long small town.

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