my son and i watched the movie "cars" and i thought this seemed like an accurate depiction of the west. my wife looked up this movie and found this
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i was amazed at how many things i've seen first hand on this page just because i've made the decision to  take the 2 lane highways instead of the interstate across deserts, plains, and mountains. even though your on a 2 lane road you still make great time and you get the chance to take in some american  highway history and western culture that you won't find on the interstate.

there are so many little towns that thrived on highway travelers that are now ghost towns. lots of old boarded up gas stations with old tankers and tow trucks from the 40s and 50s sitting there preserved in the dry dessert atmosphere that are as dead as the tumbleweeds that blow across the sandy rocky ground.  

cell phone pic roswell new mexico
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this sign vould be seen from 10 miles away

I think I stayed there a couple of years ago.  The sign sure looks familiar.

Jerry

-johnny- wrote on Mar 28^th, 2009 at 4:22pm:

there are so many little towns that thrived on highway travelers that are now ghost towns. lots of old boarded up gas stations with old tankers and tow trucks from the 40s and 50s sitting there preserved in the dry dessert atmosphere that are as dead as the tumbleweeds that blow across the sandy rocky ground.

Wow, pure poetry, Johnny.


Route 66 goes right through the town I live in, it's 2 blocks north of me as it comes though town (at 30 MPH). Nothing like traveling the 2 lanes, or the back roads. I used to do that when I was younger, and I loved it. The country is so beautiful!

purpleydog wrote on Mar 29^th, 2009 at 1:20pm:

-johnny- wrote on Mar 28th, 2009 at 4:22pm: there are so many little towns that thrived on highway travelers that are now ghost towns. lots of old boarded up gas stations with old tankers and tow trucks from the 40s and 50s sitting there preserved in the dry dessert atmosphere that are as dead as the tumbleweeds that blow across the sandy rocky ground.   Wow, pure poetry, Johnny. Route 66 goes right through the town I live in, it's 2 blocks north of me as it comes though town (at 30 MPH). Nothing like traveling the 2 lanes, or the back roads. I used to do that when I was younger, and I loved it. The country is so beautiful!

gee thanks chris. i never really thought of myself as a poet. it's just something that rolls through my mind when i'm driving down the road. i suppose it's from spending all that time alone. rt.66 is hard to find on a map but it does trickle on out west. what a fascinating piece of american history.

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We cruise old highway 80 now and then...interstate 8 replaced it..old communities, Boulevard, Jacumba, Campo...all the old communities that turned into ghost towns! Cool post Johnny!

Joe

thanks for the links Bill.  Johnny is right.  Once you get off of the super-slab it is a whole new world out there.  Definitely worth your time to travel a bit of it.  America is made up of a lot more than you see on TV or from the big highways.

Jerry