Wednesday, April 3, 2024 Entry #78
One of the “subplots” of my road trip from St. Louis to see two Bruce Springsteen concerts in Los Angeles is that my drive out followed the same trajectory of old Route 66. U.S. Highway 66, as it was officially known, was one of the original interstate roadways, established way back in 1926. Route 66 originated in Chicago, and then wound through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending in Los Angeles County, covering a total of 2,448 miles. Those are, excepting Illinois, the same exact states I cruised over, and that I have been detailing in these last few blog entries, as I made my way to California.
However, driving great distances on the current Interstate Highway System which was instituted in 1956, is quite different from the way Route 66 was experienced by long haul travelers back in the day. The interstates allow for speedier travel because access to them is controlled through exits and entrances, allowing drivers to basically bypass daily life. Driving on Route 66 took travelers directly through towns, businesses and communities as they made their way to various destinations. Iconoclastic and colorful motels, gas stations, and souvenir shops designed to lure vacationers along the way became legendary. Author John Steinbeck called US 66 the “Mother Road,” and the famous highway was the subject of a hit song (“Get Your Kicks on Route 66”) and the star of its own eponymous TV show. All of this created a great mythology, romanticism and sense of adventure around cross-country highway travel that I obviously embraced wholeheartedly.
My mom used to tell me wonderful stories about a trip she took as a young girl with her parents and sister on Route 66 from Chicago where they lived to California where many of their relatives had settled. It wasn’t sanitized smooth sailing like much of today’s highway travel. My mom remembered her father navigating mountainous areas so harrowing that she needed to ride out the roughness of the road lying on the floor of the automobile. My grandmother and aunt decided that one way like that was enough and they opted to take the train for the return rip. At the same time, my mom also recalls encountering some interesting and wonderful folks along the route, people she would not have met without the intimate way in which the Mother Road connected travelers to normal existence. Given that my mom passed away so recently, I spent significant time on this recent journey west imagining her experiences moving along Route 66 all those years ago
Route 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System some time ago. But, drivers can still access portions of its roadway, some of which have been incorporated into state road networks, and now are designated as “National Scenic Byways.” Even more so than on this drive, I faithfully followed the “Historic Route 66” signs on a different trip I took a number of years ago to camp out in the Havasu Canyon in Arizona. Completely off the interstates for long stretches, I lodged in hotels and shopped at stores and gas stations which displayed the iconic “66” logo prominently on their signage. Many of these places were like living time capsules, utterly authentic, and just as quirky as they were in their heyday.
It probably won’t come as a shock that Bruce Springsteen paid attention to the Americana lore that surrounds Route 66. Springsteen refers to the old highway in a caption on one of his photo of the two thousand mile motorcycle excursion he took through the American southwest in the late 1980’s. Unlike Springsteen’s first ever road tip (see Entry #77) which he took near the beginning of his remarkable music career, this one occurred when Springsteen was already a superstar. He has said that the experience of truly getting away in such a fashion was highly impactful. Springsteen, ever the chronicler of the American experience, its blessings and its brokenness, is in his sweet spot when writing about life on the road.
It appears that on this trip, Springsteen and friends ran faithful to the Route 66 ethos:
“We rode through California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, up through the Navajo and Hopi reservations, to the Four Corners area and Monument Valley. ….We stayed on the state roads. In the Southwest, off the interstates, remnants of the 1940’s and 50’s America still remain. Filling stations, motor courts, roadside attractions and fewer corporate franchises bring the taste of the country that was (and, despite the Internet, for many, still is) back in your mouth.” -Bruce Springsteen
With the keenly observed details that fill the best of Springsteen’s fictional character-driven songs, attempting to inhabit their skin, Springsteen describes in his memoir some of the real people he met along the way. Traveling on “blue highways” that run directly through towns and business districts, especially via an exposed vehicle like a motorcycle, truly allows for spontaneous encounters and interactions. Springsteen recalls, ”Old, dark-skinned grandmas huddled beneath rickety wooden highway stands, shawls protecting them from the harsh rays of the desert sun.”
He writes about meeting a 13-year-old Navajo boy who took Springsteen and his friends on a tour of the area dinosaur tracks. Another teen they came across at a Hopi reservation wearing a Judas Priest t-shirt recognized Springsteen as a rock star. This youngster shared with Springsteen that he was preparing for a tribal coming of age ritual:
“As we said our good-byes, he wanted his picture taken with us but told us it was forbidden in the community…The village seemed empty, completely still and silent. We couldn’t see a soul. He then said “Fuck ‘em,” busted out his point-and-shoot box camera, snapped a quick one and we were off. As we fired the engines on our bikes, he shouted, “Look for me (at Springsteen’s upcoming concert) in Phoenix. I’ll be in the front row…stoned!”-Bruce Springsteen
Spend enough time on these kinds of journeys and you can truly relate to Springsteen’s road trip vignettes. Imagine being part of the following scene!
“We eventually made our way back around to Prescott, where I laid down an afternoon jam with some locals in a little western bar…There, at midnight, with the after-burn of the day’s heat comfortably smothering you, you could sit outside your little motel road, beatbox at a low hum, drinking beer, exhausted well beyond the reach of your anxieties, finally and blessedly present.”-Bruce Springsteen
By the way, Bruce Springsteen isn’t the only one of the two of us who has taken to the road on a motorcycle. And, once again, I had my experiences in that area before I knew it was also one of the Boss’ passions. But, it sure is a nice coincidence!
The next posts (finally!) will actually focus on the reason for my epic trip-two Bruce Springsteen concerts at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum.
Day 3