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America's Biggest Road Trip! |
Route 66
Caravan Road Log:
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America's Biggest Road Trip! |
Route 66
Caravan Road Log:
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Santa Monica 66 Caravan Kick-Off |
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Western End of Route 66 |
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| Welcome to the exciting Route 66 Caravan! Jim Conkle and Guy Randall invite you to join them on one of America's Biggest Road Trips in a celebration of our great heritage. | ||||
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We'll start in Santa Monica, the western end of Route 66 and journey to Chicago, its eastern end. Come with us as we meet some of the terrific people along the Mother Road... |
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| Seventy-five years ago this spring an improbable event occurred on the then new east-west highway called Route 66. It was the time when our nation’s love affair with the automobile and the open road was just starting. Our modern highway system was in its infancy and the romantic west beckoned to a people just discovering a new found mobility; a wanderlust that would spawn a new road revolution. America was on the move! Into this wonderful mix of exciting events Lon Scott, the promotion man for the new Route 66 Association, came up with the outlandish idea of a transcontinental footrace to promote Route 66. With the help of C.C. Pyle, a sports promoter, a cross-country footrace from the shores of the Pacific all the way to New York was planned. The race route would follow the new highway, Route 66, to Chicago then on to New York. Dubious news reporters laughed at the idea and mocked Pyle. They dubbed the 3,422-mile transcontinental footrace the Bunion Derby. That name, meant as a joke, caught on and became the Bunion Derby from that day on. | ||||
The Birth of a Legend |
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Route 66 exemplifies who we
are as a people; it represents the best of us,
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| Almost three hundred runners signed up for the race. The $25,000 prize money was too enticing. Of the 275 runners that started from the western end of Route 66 only 55 would cross the finish line in New York 87 days later. A young, part Cherokee farmer from Oklahoma, Andy Payne, was the first to cross the line hours ahead of the other runners. He became a hero in his home state of Oklahoma and Route 66 was well on its way to capturing a nation’s attention. Stories have been told and songs sung about this narrow ribbon of pavement over the years. Route 66 sliced across the heart of a nation and became her main street. Though Route 66 was officially decertified as a U.S Highway, it has become a highway the nation couldn't forget. The legends of Route 66 live on, not just in America but the whole world. | ||||
Route 66 is About the People... |
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| Route 66 is our story. Route 66 is not the cracked and crumbling pavement, but it is a vigorous testimony to the people who passed this way before us; our parents, grandparents and their grandparents. It is the story of the people who live and work along her corridor today. Route 66 cannot be separated from the people who left their mark and are still leaving their mark on this great highway. Route 66 is their story, which really is our story after all. Rediscover a part of America that has been forgotten in these stressful times we live in. Come home again to the small mom and pop businesses and laugh with some of the wonderful road wanderers we’ll meet along this legendary highway. | ||||
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Thanks to our generous sponsors, HamptonÒ Hotels, AAAÒ, and TAÒ Travel America we will be celebrating this great land of ours and recognizing the contributions of others in their quest to preserve a piece of Americana for generations to come. |
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| We will be putting up Route 66 Roadside Attraction signs at some (by no means all the deserving locations) of these historical establishments and helping to refurbish others in an effort, like the Bunion Derby, to bring a much needed exposure to this great national treasure. When historic preservation wins we all win. So travel down the Mother Road with Jim Conkle and me, Guy Randall, in celebration of the American Spirit with the Route 66 Caravan. I will update this web site from the road with our daily adventures (misadventures?). | ||
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back often and share with us the adventure of discovery as we go in search of America. |
Road Log pages read like a book:Follow the Route 66 Caravan
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Contact the Route 66 Caravan |
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66 Caravan Web Site Written, Photographed & Designed by Guy Randall |
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© 2003 Design and Updates by 
GRandall Web Design
