Williams, Arizona, is on 'The Loop,' which is the most original portion of storied Route 66.
Motoring along The Loop is like driving back into the 1940s, says OJOA's Ross Hamilton.


  Drivin' the Main Street of America  

By Jeff Booth
The Ontario Jaguar - OnLine

WHO needs to escape to the Caribbean ... or Mexico in February?

Who needs to be herded like so many cattle onto loaded jetliners, just to be herded five hours later onto tourist buses and then herded into straining hotels?

Do it differently.

Take a journey into motoring history, into music, into literature -- even into television -- and into popular culture.

Why not Get Your Kicks On Route 66?

THAT was the exact question posed late last year by Ken Hamilton, to his father, Ross.   A chance to take the ultimate road trip. To have a really special experience, together ... to share all of it.

It was back last November when Ken started talking to his dad about  one of those surprising things, that adult children can raise, you know .... about birthdays ... about  the passing of time.  There was something about Ken's 30th birthday. And something too, about someone else's 60th.

And then, as Ross recalls it, "He said, ' What do you say we go on a road trip?  I want to see the Hoover Dam ... and the Grand Canyon.

'We can just take Route 66 all the way to the coast.'" 

Now, if you don't know Ross Hamilton, know this one thing: He loves motoring. He loves moving.  He loves cars.

He also loves his son and he doesn't mind admitting that he got a bit "mushy" at this point when Ken suggested a trip -- together -- along Route 66, one of the most famous roads in the world.

Route 66 is also arguably the most famous highway in the United States: It's also known as the Main Street of America, the Mother Road and the Will Rogers Highway.  It was born in 1926 — decades before the interstate highway system — and began in the Chicago, Illinois — the third-largest city in the U.S., and motored on through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and then California, before terminating in Los Angeles -- the second-largest city in the U.S.

Ken wanted to take in as many of the famous sites as possible on this historic route, not just the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.  And so did Ross, pictured at right. 

One of the many, many unusual sights they wanted to motor by was the Cadillac Ranch, at left, where a row of Cadillacs are half buried, nose- first into the ground, at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza, in Egypt.

If you're interesting in visiting this ranch, which specialized in Cadillacs from the 1949 to 1633 model years, you'll have to go to Amarillo, Texas.

                Click for more on: CADILLAC RANCH

 And so, Ken and Ross did take their journey together, over the first two weeks of February and over 10,000 kilometres (well, actualy, 9,927 km)..  and we saw most of everything they wanted to see -- "and we also discovered that there are many in the middle of nowheres" in America, notes Ross.

Apart from spending time with his son, the top three highlights of the trip for Ross was topped off with Muir Woods, near San Francisco, where redwood trees are up to 2,000 years old and tower 400 feet high.  Named after famed conserationist John Muir, this is the place is a National Monument and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The Woods was officially dedicated 100 years ago, this year, by President Theodore Roosevelt.

                                                                                                Click for more on:  MUIR WOODS

"The Loop" is also high on Ross' list of highlights. It the most original section of Route 66. The Loop runs through Arizona -- and its not only the roadway itself that's original. 

Ross says travelling The Loop is very much a trip back into time.  When you're passing through the towns "it's like going back into the 1940s".

                                                                                                Click for more on:   THE LOOP

Also on Ross' list of top favourites is Colorado's most overwhelming feature, the Grand Canyon.  This mile-deep geologic feature is up to 18 miles wide and which is painted with its own palette of unique hues and defined by breathtaking erosional forms.

"Words can't describe this ... except WOW!" says Ross.   Here's a Hamilton tip for how to get a great view: Take the helicopter ride. (There is a video clip from their helicopter ride on their Photo Album, which can be accessed from the links on this page).

                                                                                                Click for more on: GRAND CANYON 

Along the way, Ken and his dad also discovered that Route 66 was the major path of thousands of migrants who went west.  Their journies in search of better lives for their families — especially in the Dirty '30s — gave life to the countless communities that dot the fabled route.   Then later, after the creation in 1956 of the nation-wide interstate highway system, these communities struggled to stay alive as the motoring public just bypassed them on the interstate.

Eventually, in 1985, Route 66 was "decommisioned" and was officially taken off the roster of the U.S. highway system. Some portions of Route 66 have been designated a national Scenic Byway.     These show up on some maps as "Historic Route 66" and a number of Route 66 revival associations have been founded.

As mentioned earlier, Ross and Ken saw most of what was on their list of must-see attractions, with two exceptions. They couldn't go up to Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming, to see Old Faithful Geyser, due to snow conditions.  Mount Rushmore, in South Dakota was to be on the same, looping return home, that was dropped from the itinerary.

However, that's not to say Ross and his wife, Faye, won't be motoring on down there in the next year or two......

Now that he's back home, Ross has a pile of marvelous photos, among other things.  " We completed a trip of memories ... of a lifetime and beyond ... with each other. I'm still lost for words to explain what it's like to spend time on a trip with my son Ken .... I still have to pinch myself."

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Philisophers have opined through the ages that life is just a journey of many journeys.

For at least one father and son, Route 66 provided the opportunity to steer their own, ever-more-divergent lives back together again.  To travel ... with each other, sharing a  journey, one more time.

Ken has now returned to teaching, in Korea.

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 n  To view Ross and Ken's photo album, click: