And Oklahoma, in the heart of the U.S., where the sun punishes the existence, a businessman named Cyrus Avery dreamed of a network of interstate highways. That idea went to the American Association of State Highway. Thus born in 1926 Route 66. And it is the artery that crosses the United States, the first road link between the two ends of the country (actually the route begins in Chicago, not on the east coast), which exudes a whole mythology about the hope. First, hope for progress. The highway was conceived in a context of economic expansion of the empire of the new world to connect isolated populations and promote economic development; secondly, people's faith in freedom, qualified it as the historical stages.
Chicago. The Harley Davidson roars as if about to choke, but immediately takes air. This is when one is aware of what to expect: more than 3.600 route miles, without adding the deviations, eight states. It's hot. Moisture overwhelms even though the sun still does not cover the entire sky, but the first blows air on the back of the bike will alleviate that feeling.
The Harley Davidson roars as if about to choke, but immediately takes air. This is when one is aware of what to expect
Predictably, our stage completed in Springfield, the state capital of Illinois, Earth Lincoln, as inscribed on license plates. Precisely the American hero was linked to this state in the fields of soybeans and corn seem endless carpet. They are the first kilometers, the first few miles of the journey, mythological and charm begins to appear. Gas, illuminated signs, farms and trucks. Hundreds of trucks crossing a vast country.
The Route 66 is, more than reality, a symbol, since there is as it was known during his lifetime. Emerged as a national road that was Discontinued in 1985. The truth buried the historic route in many places, replacing it with modern highways whose seed is in the signing of the Interstate Highway Act by President Eisenhower in 1956. Even so, Today the original layout remains largely the entire route, though common discourse parallel to interstate highways 55, 44, 40 and 15 to lead, a few thousand miles away, in Santa Monica, Los Angeles.
A road, a universe
They happen to attractions throughout the state, LF straight lines that blend into the setting sun on a horizon achievable until we got to Springfield. Here is the hotel Route 66, accommodation-museum that breathes tradition. Cars, motorcycles and collectibles hang on the walls of the hall of the establishment.
Motels are an icon in the American imaginary. While the former was busy road, the business prospered linked to services. It is estimated that today there 3.000 abandoned motels on both sides of the old road. Old halls cracked boards, without hose stations, broken pavement and silence interrupted by the motorcycles: this is the route 66 original, which went into decline when progress posted to the long and narrow straight to the story.
So, interspersed with ancient paths and modern highways full of tires gnawed, avanzamos by Missouri, left behind St. Louis and the landscape becomes progressively more burnt. Towns like Joplin, night where we do, were destroyed by a tornado that left a bill of over 100 killed in May.
Besides deepening in the Midwest, Missouri is the land of St. Louis, this city located at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. But, also, is the land of Jesse James, the outlaw with more universal Billy the Kid, where you can visit the wax museum and the famous caves.
More: www.alestedeleden.blogspot.com
