Posted on by Kathi Waligora

Get Your Kicks . . . Route 66 (Chapter 1)

“If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the highway that’s the best
Get your kicks on Route 66″

You’ve heard it. Even if it was before your time, which it probably was.

Bobby Troup and his second wife, Julie London. Both starred in ER in the early 70’s.

Bobby Troup wanted to try his hand as a Hollywood songwriter, so he and his first wife, Cynthia, packed up their 1941 Buick and headed west. The trip began on US 40 and continued along US 66 to the California coast. Troup wanted to write about US 40, but Cynthia suggested the title “Get Your Kicks on Route 66”. Who knew it would take off so! But it did! Nat King Cole first recorded it in 1946 and re-recorded it in 1956. That’s the recording many of us are most familiar with. Click it on and listen! (Mute the music on the page first!)

[Verse 1]
“If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the highway that’s the best
Get your kicks on Route 66″
 

[Verse 2]
“It winds from Chicago to L.A
More than two thousand miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66

[Bridge]
Now you go through St. Louis
Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty
You’ll see Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona
Don’t forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino

[Verse 3]
Won’t you get hip to this timely tip?
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66.”

 
Ever since this song was recorded, people have been getting “hip to this timely tip” . . . to get their “kicks on Route 66.”
 
Ron and I decided to join the throngs and get our kicks on Route 66! 
It started on our way west, actually. On our recent West / Southwest trip, we pulled our travel trailer southwest from Michigan, stopping the first night at a nice rest area on Route 66 (I 55) in Illinois. It was a fun start to our trip, viewing the vintage paraphenalia displayed inside the rest area building – signs, model cars, and maps. Always maps showing the full route. Each time we encountered a Route 66 map along the trip, we pointed to our location.
 
Then we left Route 66 for the time, traveling west along the Oregon/California Emigrant Trail. (That’s another story in itself!) Later – weeks later – we caught the route again, this time from the west. So from Barstow, California, we traveled Route 66 (I 40) on through Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and to St. Louis, Missouri,  before leaving the Mother Road.
 
Yes, we “got hip to this timely tip,” and got our “kicks on Route 66.”
 We had left Yosemite, staying near Sequoia National Park, and edging the Sierra Nevada Mountains along the way. The landscape changed when we caught Route 66 near Barstow, California. We entered the Mojave Desert. And yes, it was hot. It reached 112 degrees. There weren’t many towns along this section of the Mother Road, but we found a small town, and pulled in a church parking lot to eat our lunch in the pickup with the AC running.
 
I rejoiced in seeing churches throughout this long trip. It was refreshing to know that in our country, as vile as it is becoming, the church is alive and well. We met many believers as we traveled. And the desert area was no different. We encountered nothing vile along this desert area or any part of Route 66. Instead, we discovered common, everyday Americans.
 

God gave me a sweet little blessing on this desolate, dry, hot stretch of the Mother Road. I had hoped we might visit Joshua Tree National Park in southern California – a distance south of I-40, Route 66. But it simply seemed out of our way, so we didn’t plan it. But on this day, driving through the desert, I saw Joshua Trees!

The name Joshua means “God is deliverance.” The Mormons are credited with naming  this Yucca plant a Joshua Tree nearly 200 years ago because the tree reminded them of Joshua in the Bible with outstretched hands.

My heart rejoiced. I got to see Joshua Trees! God cares about the little things! He wants to give us the desires of our hearts!

 
As we drove, the landscape looked much the same for miles upon end. As far as the eye could see – creosote bushes and Mojave yucca – and an occasional Joshua Tree. There was a breeze, and the dry air didn’t feel like any 111 degrees we had experienced in the Midwest or Northwest when we pulled into a KOA in Needles, California just as the sun was setting. 

Morning brought the true beauty to this desert town. I stepped outside to take it all in. It was around 80 degrees but felt somewhat balmy. The sunrise casted pink rays upon the trailer. Pink desert rose spoke to me. I hoped to never forget its story, so sweet, a testament to those who had lived here centuries in the past and to those who would yet come here. It spoke of the beauty of the desert morning – the very reason I knew people must choose to live here.  

 

 

We moved on. Another beastly hot day had broken, and we had more desert to travel along Route 66. 

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3 Replies to “Get Your Kicks . . . Route 66 (Chapter 1)”

  1. Thanks again for sharing your trip. Glad you saw some Joshua trees. There is an excellent large, free, preserve of them south west of Zion that you can drive through. Not as impressive as Joshua tree NPS but, very nice.

    Reply

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