What caused you to take this trip?

Last Updated: May 01, 2024

by Buzze A. Long

I’d like to blame Tod & Buz but there is more to it than that. I think Route 66, The Mother Road, America’s Main Street, is burned into our national psyche. I read The Grapes of Wrath. I lived The Grapes of Wrath as a kid, abeit on US 36 rather than The Mother Road. For almost 5 years I lived just a stone’s throw off one of the alignments of Route 66 in Flagstaff & drove it twice a day to/from the office. After that, I moved to Albuquerque, NM, another Route 66 town. Always running into those Route 66 shields, business names & signs. For my work, I traveled America’s Main Street from Cline’s Corners to Seligman & all points between, with an occasional jaunt to Amarillo. Let’s face it, if you’ve been to Flagstaff, Williams, Winslow, Seligman & Kingman you’re hooked already. Books, TV shows, documentaries. Finally, it got to be too much, I just had to drive the whole enchilada.

What’s the pronunciation of Seligman?

S’ LIG m’n

What’s the pronunciation of Iyanbito?

YAWN bi TOE, more emphasis on yawn than toe. Iyanbito is here.

Where is Iyanbito?

You’ll have to drive The Mother Road to find out.

 How did you plan your trip?

Seat of the pants. Rand McNally Road Atlas 2015, the Wally World Edition, available at Walmart and other fine stores. Eyeballs. Hearsay. Follow the sun westward, young man. If people were looking at a giant jackrabbit, I hit the binders and took pictures, just like they were doing.

Did you have a guidebook?

No.

Are you going to get a guidebook before traveling The Mother Road again?

Probably.

Are you going to write a guidebook?

Possibly – it depends on how much traction this blog gets. Read IDroveTheMotherRoadRoute66.com daily.

Where did you sleep overnight?

At a rest stop westbound, Portage, IN, on the Indiana Toll Road, the night before driving into Chicago. Here’s a tip – sleep in the trucker lot, not the car one.

Pontoon Beach, IL at Flying J, just off the ‘slab

Joplin, MO –  at the prefab building place near BabiesRUS – off the ‘slab

Elk City, OK – at the empty parking lot in front of a deserted store just west of McDonald’s near 20th St. There were some truckers there so I felt OK.

Sky City, NM – McDonald’s parking lot – there were some other itinerants there, so I felt at home

Flagstaff, AZ – at my former digs when I lived & worked here ( this location will remain undisclosed )

Barstow, CA – Sancho’s Cantina near Barstow Station

I-10 Eastbound Rest Area – 1st rest area eastbound, just west of Quartzsite when returning home from L.A.

This list will be updated when I’m On The Mother Road Again

How did you find Chicago on a Saturday morning?

I used the GPS.

That’s an old one…

Old ones are the best. That was adapted from George Burns in The Sunshine Boys. Actually, I found the eastern terminus of The Mother Road to be peaceful and quiet.

What did you sleep in?

See the answer to the next question.

What did you drive?

The Mystery Montana shown in various pics around this site. Also known as The Pontiac Palace or Buzzemobile.

Did you take any showers while driving cross country and sleeping in your car?

Who wants to know?

Buzze, I like your pictures. What camera did you use?

LG L34C & Panasonic FZ70. Mostly the L34C.

But the L34C is not a camera.

You’re right. Sometimes frustrating, especially when the memory is getting full. Otherwise, handy as pockets on a shirt for those drive-by pix.

Are there places you would NOT stop again?

That is the subject of a whole new page. This may be updated as the trip progresses.

What will you do differently next time, what did you forget this time?

That is the subject of a different whole new page.

Buzze, are ALL your stories TRUE?

Ever’ Blesset one of ’em

Buzze, what’s your real name?

Buzze A. Long

Buzze, are you on the lam?

Not yet.