There’s one vital thing that Route 66 aficionados need to know about Marilyn Andersen Brown’s family memoir, “Route 66 to Mojave” (iUniverse, 278 pages, $20.95).
Very little of the book takes place on Route 66.
Mojave is a town that’s not even on the Mother Road, about 70 miles west of Barstow, Calif. The chapter about the family’s trip on Route 66 from their native Oklahoma to the California desert takes up only four pages. Those looking for historical meat about America’s Main Street will be left wanting.
The first 50 pages — background on the Ed and Lillie Brown family before they moved west — proves to be a sluggish read. “Route 66 to Mojave” also could have used a good editor to tighten the text and eliminate errors.
Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed “Route 66 to Mojave.” The story of Ed and Lillie Brown, ravaged by the Depression and tuberculosis, springs to life once they settle in Mojave. By then, the book is mostly seen through the eyes of the Ed and Lillie’s son, Charles, and his friends.
We read about Charles and his pals getting into one adventure (and misadventure) after another on their desert playground. They survive being in the middle of a mustang stampede. They carry unexploded bombs away from Air Force practice ranges and stash them under their houses. They explore the yawning, dangerous pits of abandoned mines. They roll naked down the sides of sand dunes. They dodge poisonous sidewinders, rattlesnakes and Gila monsters.
Although this was an era before video games, television and the Internet, the kids seemed to be having a blast coming up with mischief. Their peril was considerable, but so was the fun. That sense of fun and wonder comes across in “Route 66 to Mojave’s” pages.