Yes we made it home. But even better on June 8th at 9:45 pm we made it to the official end California end of Old Route 66 at Lincoln and Olympia in Santa Monica, which is the beginning point of HWY 1 and 2. Since there in nothing there to commemorate our moment, we went to the unofficial site at Santa Monica Blvd and Ocean where there is a Will Rodgers Plaque. This is right near the Santa Monica Pier, we walked to the top of the walk way and took pictures, it was after all after 10 pm and we had been on the road for just over 12 hours. BUT we did complete all 2278 (+ or -) miles of the route.
We stopped for the night in Labec, just over the grapevine, I think I am glad this was driven at night. And arrived home at 4 pm Sunday afternoon. It is great to be back home. It has been a glorious adventure and one I can say with satisfaction I am really glad to have made with my special man. We are still talking to each other 
and did have a great time, seeing new places, sharing all kinds of wonderful sites and stories, spending some time in each others home town and with family, then the great adventure to drive Route 66 and we have done that on many different surfaces and through 8 states.
There will I promise be pictures showing up soon, at last count we have over 1700 to go through and get organized. So please be patient and you will be rewarded.
Thanks to all who commented and read this funny narration of our travels. This is not the last thing to be posted, I am sure Bob will want to have a chance to make his feelings and thoughts know.
Deb
Ok, I know You must be wondering what happened to us well we have been following the “Mother road”!!!! It has taken us 7 full days of driving and today this afternoon we will reach the end of our goal, Santa Monica.
It has been 7 days of driving and seeing the sights and there have been lots of those a cross this country. We have been staying true, as we can, to the original route of the 1950’s. We have had some side trips to the 1920’s and 30’s road, but there is not much of that which is drivable. We have drive on gravel roads, and honestly some of the original cement road surfaces. Of course some of it has been resurfaced and repaired over the many years, but we have both been surprised that some of the old cement, curbed hyway still exist, so many old bridges of all different types. The one constant company of this travel has been the railroad which Route 66 followed. We have spent a little time of the main interstate that took over as the old route. The only state we spent a good deal of time on the interstate was Arizona, the old route has not been preserved but in the main towns across the state we saw the celebration of Route 66.
All in all it has been such a cool experience that really we decided you need to spend maybe 2 weeks taking your time, there have been many times we would have liked to stop and spend time here and there but could not, either too late at night or the time constraint. If you ever can drive this special roadway you should, if you have but not for many years you should again.
I have enjoyed my time, lots of driving and going but would not change on miunte of the time we have spent together and enjoys the many sights. Oh one more thing the people have been so nice on this trip it has been a joys.
Well you all keep trying back over the next week I think here or on the main page you will start seeing so many pictures we have so many that I am not even sure the number.
Deb
We left Huntington, Ind yesterday morning and heading to Chicago and the start of Route 66.
We have had a great time visiting both of our families. In the case of Bob retouching with family he has not seen in some time, but we are determined to see them more often than ever 20 years :). Actually it was very nice to meet his family for me, special to see him interact with his brother PJ and his sons, they are really super nice people. I enjoyed my second leg of the trip just visiting and having nice time with all our family.
Sunday Morning driving to Chicago, you know being away for so many years you kind of forget the toll system, but they sure nickle and dime you every time they can! We got to DOWNTOWN Chicago and found the actual spot which is both the end and beginning of Route 66, yes we took pics and then it began. We have a great guide book, with directions that ate readable and pretty easy to follow, also the state of Illinois had been great and the route is well marked and most towns had something special to commemorate the ‘All American hyway”. We have taken lots and lots of pics just on our first day. I know that when Bob can hopefully tonight we will get some of those posted. Do promise all that we will get those posted on the main sight so you can see all the wonderful sights we have shared on this trip.
Once we got out of the Chicago area, that was fun, not really, but once we traversed that we had a nice drive much of the old route is still there or the later bypass, so you would be driving and off to the side would be the Interstate, at places you could see part of the route that is not in use but still there, as unused roadway. In a couple towns they have reclaimed the unused roadway cleaned it us add trees and use it as a walkway or in some cases hold special days there to reminisce those days.
We followed the route to Springfield, there we had to take a side trip to Jacksonville to visit Nicky and her children. Nicky is Bob’s stepdaughter. We had dinner and a nice visit before we needed to find a place for the night.
So here I sit and we are getting up and going to begin Day 2 of Route 66 which will take us through St Louis and most of Missouri.
See you all later
Deb
I know I left you all in a lurch but here I am again to finish this part of our visiting.
First off apology to Chuck’s wife who is Ruth not Robin that’s my uncle Micks wife. Honestly sorry Ruth.
As I had said we arrived at 12:30am Sunday morning and after hugs andgetting a quick show around mostly for Bob we were off to bed. Kathy and my Mom had early morning plans, when they got home and Bob and I were up and ready for breakfast at Kathy’s favorite place, they have good down home food, I had buttermilk pancakes yummy. We got back and then checked to make sure we had all the stuff for dinner, I was making meatloaf, Bob was fixing scalloped potatoes, Mom did salad, and Kathy dessert. Also a family get together was planned for Monday, and there was potato and cucumber salads that need to be made. We all chatted for a while Bob went off letting the ‘girls’ banter on by themselves. Kathy and I went off to the store and when we got back, Bob was on the computer in her back deck and Mom was saying it was too quiet and she woke up from her nap.
We had a lovely dinner all turned out delicious. Kathy’s dessert was a real treat bread pudding. We got to bed a little early since it was up at 7am and get to Crystal Lake and breakfast with Penny. We got to have breakfast with not only Penny, Ben and her son Jeremy! Then off to Brian and Lori’s (Penny daughter and son-in-law) who had so graciously opened their home for the family get-together. It was a beautiful day. Got to see Lori’s son Silas who was nearly a year old and such a little sweetie. They have a lovely home and what a treat they had planned a deck outside the kitchen, when I was there last year and wow it turned out just wonderful, Brian admitted he was glad since our visit meant he could get it done earlier. He was the chef for the day with his new BBQ. So here is the list of all who attended: My mom, her brother Charles and his wife Jean, my sisters Kathy and Penny, Penny son Jeremy and his girl friend Jen their daughters, Juliana and Jamie, and Jens friend Sarah, of course our gracious host and hostess and son. It was such a nice time together, we talked and got to spend time with just everyone. Everyone brought something and there was plenty to go around. This was an engagement party for Bob and I, it was also a good reason to spend time with family which brought me great joy. Lori the little sneaky gal had a photographer come, who took great pics with all the kids little and big, generations too. I can not wait to see those. Of course camera’s flashed all that day. Will have pics on this site when Bob had a little more time. he is right now helping his brother PJ get on the internet and they are having a blast with that. So Monday was a great day of family times.
So much happened the days we visited I just cant put it all down but I am really glad we took our trip and got to see everyone.
On Tuesday after a good breakfast of Oatmeal, Bob and I were off, we had one more stop in Illinois and that was to take a visit to my hometown Lake Zurich. This was not an easy visit for me since I know there were many changes taking place, but it was still much the same as last year, they are having growing pains though, it is quite different from my younger years, much growth, homes and business and for me a great loss of the small town I knew. Gone are farms and orchards, here to stay are malls and lots of new housing. Even the lake which was so picturesque and uncluttered as I grew up is now getting full of boats docks and lake front condos. For me this was sad, but life moves on too. I was able to share my 3 homes with Bob, they are all still there, the grade and high school I attended and show him some of the landmarks that have not been converted to housing. They say going home is hard, and it can been, but still I have good memories of my years there and those builders cant touch.
Ok time to move on to Huntington Ind and Bob’s brother, we had a good drive once we got through the Chicago toll systems. We arrived in Huntington, about 8:30 pm and yikes another time zone, we are now in eastern time. Met PJ at his favorite restaurant Bob Evan’s and had dinner, then the short drive to his home just outside of town. I knew from Bob that he had been building this home for 26 years, for 6 years he was away. I want to say that he build this by himself and I do mean that, he did have help on a couple of projects, like the basement floor, and heating units, and his son John made installed the cabinetry in the home. It is a lovely home and I know it will be hard to believe, they inside is just as lovely, he has the first floor, with exception the front hallway completed and the guest bedroom on the 2nd floor done, he hurried so we had a place to stay. I am amazed, what this one man with love anddedication has accomplished, he had a grand dream and he never lost sight of that.
We had the grand tour the next morning from basement to 3rd floor, which has only the wiring and plumbing done. Of I might have forgotten to say this PJ is now 73 years old, but he is still working on his home, he has only been living here since February. We had a BBQ at his son John’s and got to meet the whole family here is the list: PJ, his son John and wife Sandy, there children Adam and wife Cassie, who is due next week, Terra and her boyfriend Adam they daughter Mya, and daughter Taylor, Jim and his wife Michelle. We had a great dinner and lots of fun. Bob had not seen the boys for too many years, boy can you see the resemblances, all handsome of course.
Bob hoped to help PJ get on the Internet and PJ hoped he could get Bob’s help so that is what they have been up to Thurs and Fri. They are having fun and its wonderful to see. Me, I am relaxing and reading, mostly enjoying the time and watching the brothers, just being brothers.
So that pretty well catches us up. Tonight we are going out for dinner and hoping some of the family will join us. Tomorrow we are having breakfast with most of the PJ’s family including some of his stepkids.
Having fun, and looking forward to the final leg of our journey traveling old route 66. Pics will follow so no worries.
Deb
Here I am again, we have had a few busy days, so right now I am taking these minutes to let you all know what has been going on.
We left Rapid City, May 24th, stopping at the Badlands Nat’l Park on our way through Nebraska and to Winterset Iowa. We had a nice afternoon at Winterset, this is where Bob calls hometown, he spent the most accummulative time there. It is such a traditional small town midwest. I really enjoyed my time there, we had a late lunch at a little dinner that was still there, walked around the town square and went to the Fareway grocery store for fruit and a newspaper. We drove around and saw his early homes and his grandmothers house, the lilacs still there. They gave a really lovely city park which mixes developed area for picnicking and a part that has been left pretty much alone, woody and wild.
We left Winterset to visit Des Moines, Bob had spent some years, found a nice motel and in the morning off we went and found the grade school and jr high he attended, the golf course he caddied as a 13 yr old. Our next stop was Northwood the home of his mother, we saw a few of the families home still there. This town is very near the Minnesota border, but we still had on important place to see the birthplace of Bob, Charles City, Iowa. We found the hospital.
Now it was time to head north to Minnesota and clip is southeast corner heading to Nekoosa Wis. I want to mention that since we had been in been in South Dakota we had a number of thunderstorms, and these continued to follow us. Iowa and the area were hit by tornadoes within a day or so of our travels. Crossing the Mississippi River was quite a sight at Lacrosse, then about a hour later we found Nekoosa and my Uncle Ed and Aunt Dee’s place on the lake. What a nice visit and dinner we had, pot roast and for dessert strawberry rhubarb shortcake, like my gran use to make, all delicious. My cousin Chuck, his wife Robin and son Matt were there so nice little reunion. They have a lovely place on the lake which is good Uncle Ed loves his boat. They had only been home a short time returning from Fla. We still had one last leg of our busy day getting to Kaneville and my sister Kathy’s and we did about 12:30 am May 25th.
It was nice to be with family and know for a few days we would just be taking a pause from the travelling and get a good visit.
I had to stop and do my part for dinner. Now I can ramble a bit more while it cooks. Here’s some comparison pics for Badlands versus Craters of the Moon. First a couple of the Badlands:
Clearly not very inviting, but at least sort of normal uninviting. Now here’s some shots of the Craters:
I don’t know if the pictures really do it justice, but this is a landscape that is stranger than any I’ve ever seen (and that includes the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia). This place is just plain weird.
Well, as we left the Badlands and South Dakota we began to encounter some real weather. Thunder, lightning, even tornadoes in the area (but we didn’t see any). Very little of our trip has been on interstate highways. Except for the first leg across part of Nevada where we didn’t really have a choice it’s all been state and county roads and some US highways, all two lane blacktop and small towns. Some of the county roads have been a trip, all ruts and bumps, mostly gravel but some mud, and a kick to drive. The little towns are charming, the homes and yards (real yards with actual space and no fences between them!) all brought back memories of how I was raised and thought life should be. I’ve discovered it actually still is for a lot of folks. Kinda nice to know.
The ranches and rangeland of western Nebraska gradually became farm and cropland as we approached iowa, and as we approached Winterset things got more and more familiar. Winterset was the Madison County seat, but it was entirely agricultural - no industry at all - so it was never an economic powerhouse. Since that book and movie came out I was afraid things would have changed a lot and I wouldn’t be able to recognize anything, but it’s really been a good thing. They’ve embraced tourism as an industry in a small way and it’s been a boon, but the town itself has changed little. It’s been 45 years - it has changed some of course - but I was able to find most of the things I remembered from my childhood, the houses I lived in, the schools, the park, the town square, even the theater is still there (the new Indiana Jones flick was playing).
It was nice to see that some of those memories of the past can actually remain true. So often when you go back to see what was it just isn’t how you remember it. But this was a really positive visit - pretty much everything was as I recalled (but I did lose a hill - I coulda sworn it was right there at the corner of First Street and the highway . . . o’well).
Enough for now - later - Bob
Lot’s of memories the past two days. this was a coming home trip for me. It’s been over 40 years and I wasn’t sure how much I’d remember or how I’d feel, so it’s been kinda strange. Anyway, right now we’re at Deb’s sister Kathy’s home in Illinois. Now I have to do this -this morning we had thunder and lightning and pouring rain, and this afternoon as I write this here is the view from her back porch:
I know that’s kind of cruel for anyone living with California dead brown things, but oh, this is nice!
Anyway, onward. Some random thoughts. As we look at things like Rushmore and such it occurs to me that there is no substitute for going there in person. You can look at pictures or films and hear descriptions from folks like us, but the sheer magnitude of such places is lost until you are actually there. The scale and scope of some of the things we’ve seen is beyond description. We’ve discussed the need for another word for “Wow” as we go along (”Yowza?”, “Holy Mackerel?”), but then we go around another bend and it just bursts out together “WOW!” It seems to have a life of it’s own.
Deadwood was quite a treat. When I was a young’un, Roy Rogers was the contemporary good guy cowboy and I watched him faithfully whenever I had a chance. Even met him at the Iowa state fair once. But Wild Bill was the dangerous, not always so good hero for me. I practiced for hours so I could do the reverse pistol draw like Wild Bill faster than my friends could do the straight draw. And I gnashed my teeth at the thought of the mangy coward that shot him while he was holding those aces and eights in the saloon. So it was a treat to pay my respects at his grave and stand in the spot where he sat and walk the streets he walked. Deadwood legalized gambling a few years ago so most of the bars are small scale casinos now, but oddly enough, for me that didn’t detract at all. Deadwood was always a wild and edgy town and gambling fits right in. If that keeps the economy going and keeps the place alive, more power to ‘em.
The Badlands are another wonder to behold. They’ve been used often as an alien landscape in movies because it’s so barren, and I can see why. It IS barren, and desolate, and forbidding and must have been terrifying for the first settlers coming across the plains. There is a lot of color, red and gold, and brown, and yellow - all muted and in layers as the strata are exposed, but basically nothing grows there except rocks. It is beautiful if you’re not faced with having to drive a team and wagon across it for a couple of weeks, but without the luxury of our nice roads and air conditioned cars it would be a miserable place to be - very bad lands indeed.
That said, “bad” as there are, those hills and plains are clearly earthly. They are barren and desolate to be sure, but there is nothing really other-worldly about them, despite the movie-makers location choices. As I alluded to earlier, since I would see both the Badlands and the Craters of the Moon on this trip I would be able to compare, and I must say that the Craters seem to be truly alien - like 75 square miles from a different planet. The Badlands are just a very barren and unforgiving chunk of very earthly real estate.
Gonna post this part - more later Bob
Hello all, I have not been on for a couple been really busy. Yesterday I spent a couple hours doing laundry, while Bob worked on pictures and blogged.
This morning we are off to Iowa and Bob’s stomping grounds. But I wanted to add my thoughts about our last couple days, so up early am I to do just that. We left Cody after our tour of Yellowstone and still there is so much to say. The trip through Montana and Wyoming was some beautiful country. You know living in CA you are use to seeing homes everywhere with little free land, but on this drive there was land for miles with homes or ranches dotting the land, all the colors of green you could want. I drank it up well with my eyes, after growing in in Midwest USA coming back to it like this was like coming home and I am so thankful for the reminders, green growing land, brown fields waiting planing, hills and trees and so much water, rivers and riverlets. It was all so lovely to take in and that is what we did. We also kept finding road work, we had waits but not that it was bad, waiting pilots trucks to take us through the worse of it, unpaved roads under repair, for a time I thought we were finding all the road construction sights, but the people were nice and not a bad way to sit there chat and see the surrounding countryside. We arrived Rapid City, SD late the evening of the 21st. Planning to stay 2 nights give us a little break and it was so nice.
Got up not too early the next morning off to breakfast at Perkins Restaurant and Bakery, and what a very nice breakfast we had and picked up some muffins and cookies all fresh. Then it was time to travel to Mt Rushmore, again the sights the rocky outcroppings and trees and green so restful. Mt Rushmore what can I say not a natural wonder but a man-made one, that takes nothing away for its splendor. When you drive up you begin to see it and it hits you. Once parked you walk through and there IT is. I was able to find a postcard that showed the before and after, what a job that was, so many years. What they accomplished, it is beautiful. The heads look so real, we both commented on the eyes, like they can see out over the land. This is a must see if you are in the area.
We left Mt Rushmore and traveled to Deadwood, the place of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Bob really wanted to take this in and at first we thought about trying it the next day, but we pushed on and I am so glad we did. It is a mixture of old and new, the historic Main Street, still alive today, most of the old time building are now to me sadly front with solt machines, but it you look past that to the days gone by it still holds the nostalgia, we drove up and done and found Saloon #10 were Wild Bill was murdered, then drove up to Boot Hill the Moriah Cemetery were he is buried with Calamity right next to him, her dying wish. And when you hear that boot hill is on a hill in Deadwood they are not kidding, it was a goodly climb, glad for a car to the cemetery and then a walking climb to the grave sit. The cemetery is a quiet place, lots of trees, it is well kept we read many of the markers, many military, sadly lots of children. The lady at the entry told us there is a great outlook point with we walked a little father on so we did and no lie, the view of Deadwood and the hills surrounding it was worth the climb. We went back down to Main Street parked and walked to Saloon #10, it had sawdust on the floor and was still a working bar, lots of memorabilia and pictures, it was sure something to see. Then off to Diamond Lil’s for dinner, that was a treat too. Back to Rapid City and a good nights sleep which was really needed.
Thursday we got ready to leave once I got the washing done, and off to the Badlands, we had not planned on going through the main part of the park but once near we did and glad too. You just cant imagine the foreboding land. Rocky hills and nothing that grows well not much. It was very winding but the vistas and rock formation, with it colored layers was something to see. We did see deer and prairie dogs, but not big horn sheep, we took a shortened loop of the park. Time to head south and Nebraska. We drove on country roads and by this I mean unpaved gravel roads, the last one started out nicely graveled and ended up muddy this is because we had been traveling under thunderstorm warning, but we made it through, a little challenging but with Bob at the wheel and our car, who is named BlueBelle, they got us through and so glad to be on paved roads again. We got into Thedford, going through another time change about 9 pm, found a very motel, next door a good restaurant, had a wonderful dinner, Bob got to have Chicken fried steak with white gravy, no sausage, it was delicious. Bed time for a good nights rest and up its about 6:30. As can been seen I was up a little earlier and it is time for me to close and get ready to go. Today is Iowa!!!!!
Deb
Montana: This is a big place. An interesting combinatiion of mountains and flat lands. Once you get to the flats you understand the “big sky” moniker - you can see from horizon to horizon. The sky is so blue and almost everything else is some shade of green. What surprises me most is the amount of water. Rivers, creeks, brooks, lakes, ponds, whatever - water seems to be everywhere.
Saw an interesting sight near Billings - a train with 139 cars with what appears to be coal heading west, followed shortly by another. Pulled by BNSF (Deb says Burlington Northern Sante Fe) engines - don’t see those on SP tracks in Sacto. Then right after the second coal train was another equally long freight. Only one track and they couldn’t have been more than a mile apart - I just thought that was interesting.
We had some interesting treks with pilot cars around road construction areas (winter’s over and it’s time to fix the roads!), but mostly we came away with a sense of a quiet, laid back, and beautiful rural area. Bob
We’ve spent 2 days here, both seeing the sights and catching our breath. There’s just so much to see and it’s been a whirlwind tour. Pretty much every place we’ve been could use at least a couple of weeks to really absorb what’s available. We’ve decided we’re just going to consider this a sampler tour for future visits!
Anyway, some housekeeping. This blog is partly to keep friends and family apprised of where we are and what’s going on, but also as our remembrance of our journey - sort of our personal journal. As you have probably noted I tend to be a bit stiffer as I write and Deb’s kind of a stream of consciousness free form poster. It all works as long as we get our thoughts and feelings recorded somehow. The pictures we post are all very small so they don’t bog down bandwidth. We’re taking a ton of pics (about a thousand so far) so you’ve just seen the goofy little blog ones in here. All the pics we take are 1600×1200 so they are really quite large and have pretty good resolution, but they would be huge on a web page and really dog a slow connection. I’m going to post pages of pictures on the main site with thumbnails and captions in a few days and you’ll able to pick and choose what you want to really look at - I’ll try to post both medium and hi-res.
So now on to the trip:
Yellowstone: I think I finally figured out what so caught me about this place. It’s like planet earth not quite finished yet. Geysers shoot, mud boils, bacteria of the simplest form actually live in these hot boiling springs - that’s what gives them the georgous colors. This is what the earth was like as it cooled and was becoming what it is today - this is just the last little spot that’s going thru it’s final couple of hundred thousand year “finish-off” phase. And we puny humans are lucky enough to be around to see it.
The wildlife is wonderful of course. We saw tons of mule deer, bison (one a little closer than expected!), a swan, geese and other water fowl of all kinds. It’s their home and they really have little fear of humans. We even offered our picanic basket for Yogi, but he never showed. Alas. Given our bison adventure it’s probably just as well.
The rivers and falls were magnificent - rushing rapids and placid smooth expanses. Waterfowl everwhere. The lodgepole pine remants from the last fire are scattered like Lincoln Logs throughout, and the new growth is green and strong. On the east side it’s still covered in snow - I even got us stuck once and had to push! Yellowstone lake is still frozen except for the edges, and it’s huge.
Some pics below, and more later - Bob.
