Posted on 05/21/2007 6:53:47 AM PDT by libertarianPA
I agree, government planning will not improve anything.
In any event Route 66 will still be there if the old motels die. If there is a good economic reason for new motels, the free market will move in.
Some of them are cool buildings and its a real shame to see them disappear and get replaced with identical chain motels. A piece of America vanishing. Just like so many downtowns have been killed by Interstates which bring a boring sameness to travel. The same few restaurants. The same couple chain stores. The same few hotels. Identical looking gas stations. I remember when travel used to be a lot more interesting than it is in todays more plain vanilla and standardized America.
As I tell my kids, we can’t keep everything.
Same Sh+t, different town. Diversity my eye. With the advent of TV, even accents in speech are disappearing.
ping
“Same Sh+t, different town. Diversity my eye. With the advent of TV, even accents in speech are disappearing.”
Indeed and its really boring to have a giant country with an increasingly universal culture and the same handful of stores everywhere. I drove east to west a couple years ago on the interstate helping my kid move and it was dull as dirt. You couldn’t tell whether you were in Kansas, California, or North Carolina. Every exit felt about the same. I did the same trip before the interstate spanned the whole way and it was substantially more interesting. We are becoming a more boring and generically antiseptic place to live.
I miss those Stucky’s peacan candy and gasoline stops. An entire industry outsourced to China...
There is a great Rt. 66 restaurant in Tulsa.
http://grouper.com/video/MediaDetails.aspx?id=1833548&ml=t%3d1%26fx%3d
Nat King Cole-Route 66
ping
Some of my favorites
Bus I-85 from Greensboro NC to Lexington NC is the old highway. Lots of old motels
360 from Roanoke Va to Richmond Va. Classic old highway.
US 29 from Greensboro north
US 17 along the NC coast
“US 17 along the NC coast”
17 is nice further south too. The ol’ Atlantic Coast Highway
In Pennsylvania, Rte. 30 is the "Old Pennsylvania Pike," and essentially grew from the first horse trails between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Whereas the "New" PA Turnpike (I76) goes through the mountain, Rte. 30 goes up, over and around the mountains, with many an inn, tavern or hotel along the way. I use to drive it frequently, but it's been a few years since I've been back that way...hope it is spared the same fate as Rte 66....
If you get the opportunity to drive US 27 from Tallahassee (I-10) south to Tampa, I say do it. This is an old part of Florida that most people have no clue exists — even many that live in Florida.
That would be cool to do. We are doing US360 this week to take the kids to Williamsburg
The quirky, Mom and Pop establishments with local flavor and culture are still there, you just have to look harder for them; they’re not on the Interstate, but the local roads in each community.
I live in Maine, and while we have no shortage of McDonald’s, Burger Kings, Pizza Huts, Kentucky Fried Chickens, Starbucks and WalMarts, we also have Mom and Pop restaurants with giant, fake lobsters outside the front door, Jaspers Restaurant and Motel in Ellsworth, Maine with lobster 19 ways; quirky ice cream stands who sell blueberry cheesecake ice cream AND fried clams, along with scores of other items; lobster rolls; seaside eateries in coastal lobstering towns that have changed little in a hundred years, etc.
The same is true about the rest of the country.....you just have to look harder for these quirky establishments of local flavor.....look beyond the interstates and their national chains.
PS: In Bar Harbor, Maine, there is a restaurant called the Route 66 Cafe. It’s quite a distance from where Route 66 begins, on Michigan Avenue in Chicago!
How about US 301 from Delaware to FL. Used this road many times B4 I 95 and I77.
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