The Diamonds of Route 66

How I found riches along America’s Mother Road

It’s been nearly six years since I last drove along Route 66. In a red rental Mustang with a 25 year-old young man beside me. A fun trip in so many ways.

Not my first trip, and not (I hope) my last.

I love America’s Main Street.

The Interstates are great for speeding from A to Z, but they are divorced from the land. Set your cruise control, motor down an endless ribbon tarmac beside an unending chain of semi-trailers, and the only connection with the country are the signboards at the exits listing the fuel, food, and accommodation options. Each reduced to a brand name on a bland list. Each one exactly the same as all the others.

In contrast, Route 66 is the country. The road curves and rises with the fields and forests. The old highway becomes the main street of town after town, each one with its courthouse squares, grand buildings, welcoming inns, and quaint diners that would die before they became a chain.

Roadside attractions, history markers, cutesy hotels, fields and farms and narrow bridges. Who knows what lies around the next bend?

Today the long-decommissioned highway has volunteer caretakers, official heritage boards, uniform signage, maps, books, guides, and even music to give the auto traveller that genuine experience. Route 66 is Americana all the way, and it is a delight from start to finish.

Driving Route 66 is a more illuminating experience than I-44 beside it, riding a motorcycle is like seeing the world with your own eyes rather than on TV, and cycling or walking is the real deal. There is no barrier of metal or glass or speed. You are the experience.

Be the road

I’ve rarely had the time to get out of my car to examine random bits of roadside. Every now and then there would be an interesting sign or a shield painted on the road surface, or a great outlook. There are photographs of me draped over the bonnet of our rental, but I won’t bore you with such self-indulgence.

Beside the road, out in the open air, the colours are brighter, the sun is warmer, the smells of the road are right there in your nostrils.

And time instantly changes from a few figures displayed on the dashboard to something you can feel in your bones. Every tick of the clock is a pulse in your blood, your hair riffling in the breeze, the rumble of a farm tractor vibrating through the ground into your sole.

I treasure these moments. Bank them up in my memory and make a withdrawal when I’m feeling blah.

I’ve been lucky

I stumbled across the story of a man walking the old road from end to end. Not just a random guy hiking the highway, but a man of wisdom and poetry, someone with eyes to see the world and a heart to feel it, and a gift for connecting with the people along the way.

When you slow down just a bit, life gives you much to be joyful. When we forget this basic knowledge, Mother Nature has a way of forcing us to slow down and remember. — Rasheed Hooda

Rasheed Hooda slowed down, made the long walk from Chicago to Santa Monica, took photographs along the way, and — joy of joys! — is sharing it here on Medium.

Day by day, step by step, breath by breath, each precious moment is presented for we readers to love.

A skilled photographer, Rasheed has captured moments like butterflies to shed light on his words. And along the way, he poses with people. One moment near the start of his journey stands out for me. He went into a town hall to check on regulations about pushing his cart along the road.

They weren’t much help on the issue. However, they were kind enough to use my warm-by-now water to quench the thirst of their office plants and filled up my bottles with icy-cold water from their refrigerator. — Rasheed Hooda

The workers then shut up the building and posed for a photograph with Rasheed, to be printed as a story in their next town bulletin.

I’m enjoying the trip so far, and Rasheed has barely left Chicago. The width of America lies ahead. Won’t you join me as we swing along with Rasheed, flitting from moment to moment, the light of the Mother Road sparkling off each slice of time and treasure?

Find those butterfly moments, and experience the love and the joy as Rasheed carefully sets each one free again.

Britni