It was depressing to read Peter Kenter’s story, “Highway of Broken Dreams,” in the National Post of Canada about a trip he took on Route 66.
He tells about how “hope gave way to despair.” Finally …
… Flagstaff, Arizona …
… Don’t forget Winona…
As a matter of fact, we did forget Winona. And Flagstaff, too, turning north to Santa Fe (mighty pretty), then heading back to the airport, fantasies of Route 66 largely replaced by objective reality.
A big part of the problem is that Kenter’s trip was in 1991. This was before Michael Wallis’ best-selling book “Route 66: The Mother Road” ignited the renaissance of Route 66. This was before towns began to take pride in their stretch of the Mother Road. This was before people and places like POPS, White Dog Hill, Bottletree Man, Harley and Annabelle Russell, and countless others added new vitality to the Main Street of America.
So it’s a bit infuriating to read the photo caption with the story that says: “Abandoned gas stations and cracked roads are all that are left on the once-iconic Route 66.” That’s an out-of-date viewpoint.
To be sure, Route 66 in the early 1990s appeared to be a forlorn and dying road. But since Kenter’s memories are now 17 years old, it seems that at least some follow-up is in order.