Saturday, September 05, 2009

Route 66

My niece Jennifer graduated from the University of Chicago this spring, and we talked at length about things we might do together to celebrate. You may recall that Jennifer joined me for a couple of excellent stints in Paris and Vienna while I was on the first Voyage, so I was quite keen to work up something fun to do with her.

She called a few weeks ago, saying that she'd just gotten a job in Los Angeles and asking if I'd be willing to drive her and her belongings from Chicago to L.A. on Route 66. I said yes immediately, of course, hooked a trailer onto the back of my rig, drove to Chicago, packed her up and off we went.


I don't really have much to report, because we had such a great time on the road together that I didn't make time to take many photos. I can share that we remained pretty "loyal" to the old Route 66, but it's been decommissioned and replaced by interstates in so many places that we sometimes skipped the odd, short segment of the old road in favor of speed on the modern road.

We ate at all the finest places, usually spending our lunchtimes poring over info books and maps to figure out where we were going and what we might stop to see along the way. We did stop at many attractions, but we also skipped a bunch of them. Sometimes enough is enough!


We also made a little side-trip to Las Vegas, where we immersed ourselves in the lights, sights and shows. Jennifer insisted that I teach her how to play cards, and she picked it all up very, very fast and did very, very well. As we were at the cage cashing out for the last time, Jennifer declared that purple -- as in purple chips -- is her new favorite color!

You rock, Jennifer! Thanks for a great road trip!

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