Route 66

I spent most of the day Saturday driving the Mother Road. It was fun, but telling. So many of the communities on the road are withering on the vine. Huge stretches of the road lie decommissioned and abandoned. The interstate, and even the reroutes of the route have sucked the life out of so many small towns which were formerly great, or at worst, someone's home.

But to me the road should still be celebrated. Not because of wonderment and days gone by, but because we chose to stake our fate on the automobile. For fortune or folly, we celebrated the car. Drive-ins, diners and the two-pump gas station abounded. Now it seems part of our history we want to forget. And not for something better. Strangely the roads and way that we drive now is not something we embrace. We want to forget the present as we drive. Forgettable superhighways, forgettable stops for fast food and gas. All in the name of the convenience in time and direction. Well, convenience isn't all I thought it would be.