Scenes From Route 66

Sadly, I am still attempting to post a batch of photos from a road trip taken roughly two months ago.  This series of images from the heart of Historic Route 66 is about the point in our 4,000 mile journey where we realized we had made a terrible mistake.  Our journey along Route 66 a federally decommissioned highway was steering us into a dissolving landscape of tumbleweeds and absentee consumerism. 

Here, an ordinary Cadillac has been elevated to new heights, transformed into an extra-ordinary symbol of Route 66's auto-culture. We appreciated the effort that went into structurally supporting an automobile three stories into the air, although concluded that a car-shaped cut out would have conveyed exactly the same message. 

The heritage industry strikes again. Consumers of nostalgia along Route 66 surely can't pass up this gem: a lovingly restored Conoco gas station from Route 66's heyday.  We especially enjoyed the juxtaposition of a pleasingly miniature one room building parasitically attached to an underwhelmingly simple warehouse. An admittedly bizarre and unexpected sight. 

A rather prestigious ice cream shack with strangely victorian overtones.

Here a crumbling facade of brick and faux-wood shingled roof were slowly giving way to a sun-faded metal clad warehouse.  Reminded us of BEST's Indeterminate Facade Building circa 1974.

Following official "Historic Route 66" signs led us to what could only be described as the end of the world. A disintegrating one-lane road traversing through lonely fields and abandoned farms.  The setting winter sun added to the mystique of our ill advised decision-making.  


Shortly after these photos were taken, we abandoned our initial plans of following Route 66 to California. A split-second decision had us heading south towards Mexico, in search of trouble and excitement.