Home
Route 66 Still Kicks
Route 66 Still Kicks is an exhilarating, heartbreaking drive down a forgotten road through unknown America. Author Rick Antonson and his travel nemesis, the inscrutable Peter, journey 2,400 miles (3,900 kilometres), over twelve days in a red Mustang convertible from Chicago to Los Angeles through eight states, seeking - and finding - all the old parts that remain of Route 66.
The author argues that this iconic route has an uncommon presence on the world stage that keeps it relevant - it is the highway of highways. North America's Alaska Highway, the Baja Highway, and even the Trans-Canada highway are "Icon-light."; Route 66's peers are on other continents - the Asian Highway from Singapore to Bangkok, the Road of Emperors from Prague to Budapest, or the Golden Road from Baghdad to Sam-Kar-And.
This travelogue blends surprising vignettes with obscure stories about Route 66-related personalities, among them Al Capone, the Harvey Girls, Salvador DalÃ, Mickey Mantle, 1930s photojournalist Dorothea Lange, Cyrus Avery (the Father of Route 66), and songster Bobby Troup "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66."; Even Cornelius Van Horne, president of the Canadian National Railway in 1888, makes an appearance!
Antonson's fresh perspective on the route's harsh history, its ebb and flow of popularity and viability along with America's economic and social upheavals underpaints a canvas of stories about the road's rise to fame, its segmenting by superhighways, and its fall from grace with the gazetteers - and Route 66's entrenchment in legend.
In five trips over the past dozen years, Rick and his sons have circumnavigated the northern hemisphere by train, beginning and ending in London, England, including Beijing, China, by train to Pyong-yang, North Korea (a country visited by fewer than 300 Westerners each year). Recently Rick joined an expedition team to the 5,167-metre summit of Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey, followed by travels in Iraq and to Iran. Rick and his wife Janice make their homes in Vancouver, Canada, and in Edinburgh, Scotland. Rick Antonson is the president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver and a former ambassador for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The author argues that this iconic route has an uncommon presence on the world stage that keeps it relevant - it is the highway of highways. North America's Alaska Highway, the Baja Highway, and even the Trans-Canada highway are "Icon-light."; Route 66's peers are on other continents - the Asian Highway from Singapore to Bangkok, the Road of Emperors from Prague to Budapest, or the Golden Road from Baghdad to Sam-Kar-And.
This travelogue blends surprising vignettes with obscure stories about Route 66-related personalities, among them Al Capone, the Harvey Girls, Salvador DalÃ, Mickey Mantle, 1930s photojournalist Dorothea Lange, Cyrus Avery (the Father of Route 66), and songster Bobby Troup "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66."; Even Cornelius Van Horne, president of the Canadian National Railway in 1888, makes an appearance!
Antonson's fresh perspective on the route's harsh history, its ebb and flow of popularity and viability along with America's economic and social upheavals underpaints a canvas of stories about the road's rise to fame, its segmenting by superhighways, and its fall from grace with the gazetteers - and Route 66's entrenchment in legend.
In five trips over the past dozen years, Rick and his sons have circumnavigated the northern hemisphere by train, beginning and ending in London, England, including Beijing, China, by train to Pyong-yang, North Korea (a country visited by fewer than 300 Westerners each year). Recently Rick joined an expedition team to the 5,167-metre summit of Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey, followed by travels in Iraq and to Iran. Rick and his wife Janice make their homes in Vancouver, Canada, and in Edinburgh, Scotland. Rick Antonson is the president and CEO of Tourism Vancouver and a former ambassador for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Submitted on June 19, 2012 in By David.
