Get your kicks...........

Welcome fellow (virtual) travelers. I say "fellow" because I hope you will keep coming back as I take you with us on our trek across the country-- from San Jose, CA to Nashville, TN.

What precipitated this crazy notion to pick up everything we own and transplant ourselves to Tennessee?

Well, after 10 years including a messy, emotional divorce for each of us, Roy getting sober after some out of control time, crazy, silicon valley treadmill jobs for me and a crashed economy putting a damper on Roy's job prospects add to that my family randomly relocating one by one out to Tennessee and Roy's mom passing away... it's just time to get off the merry-go-round and find a slower lifestyle and get a fresh new start.

The way this trip has unfolded has been interesting.

At first we were just going to have the movers load up our stuff and we'd hop on a plane and bing, bang boom be in Nashville.

Then we decided it would be fun to make it a family vacation and drive out there which then folded into the ultimate revelation that precipitated this plan in the first place.

Get off the treadmill.

Slow down.

Smell th roses.

Stop being in a hurry to GET somewhere and enjoy the trip getting there. We've all gotten into this big god damned hurry and just hop on a plane and end up at our destination....or take the fast, straight-a-way interstate that doesn't take you through any interesting spots...it just gets you to the destination, journey-be-damed.

One night, before bed time, Andrew wanted to watch "Cars" for the eleventy-millionth time. Not a bad idea. Keeping him enthralled for a little bit meant I could catch up on some pleasure reading and Roy could finish working on building a model tank.

Suddenly, though, allmost as if it was at the same time, the underlying theme of the movie strikes us.

It takes place in a almost dying town along Route 66 but the Cars (people) of the town trying to keep their town alive and keeping romance of the open road alive. The story talked about how the interstates just get you from point A to point B as quickly as possible. That the interstates move THROUGH the land, where as old roads like R66 move WITH the land....taking you through funky little towns. The lead character, Lighting McQueen, is a race car used to moving fast. He ends up in this funky little town and learns to slow down.

So this is a good time to interject and tell you that my whole life I've always wanted to travel down Route 66. Today, large part of the road has fallen to ruin, but part of it still exist and still other parts are being brought back to life.

Our trip was already mapped out. We're pretty much travelling along interstate 40 the whole way out. I40 was one of the interstates that bypassed R66 and it travels nearly parallel to R66 much of the way.

As I usually do when I'm about to embark on a journey, I buy a bunch of books to learn about the area. So this was no different. I purchased a small stack of books. My favorite and most thurough is "Route 66 - The Mother Road" by Michael Wallis. He's THE leading R66 historian. The book describes the journey starting in Chicago, IL where the road begins and ends at the Santa Monica Pier in California.

Between reading the books and both of us watching a series of DVDs Wallis put out about R66, the new journey was solidified: we'd be pullin off the "superslab" (I40) alot and heading through "Main Street, USA" (R66.)

A dream come true.

Making the JOURNEY as wonderful as the DESTINATION. As they said in the movie Cars:

People didn't travel Route 66 to MAKE good time.
They travelled Route 66 to HAVE a good time.

Unfortunately, many of the towns that were bypassed by the interstate died completely and there isn't much left....but renewed interest in the historical nature of Route 66 has brought back many towns and we'll be sure to stop off in them, stay in the hotels and eat in the restaurants. I'm defintely not going on a road trip only to eat in some lame-assed Applebees.

I think this is going to be one interesting travel blog. Oh....it may not be that exciting between now and when we leave, but I promise to take lots of notes and lots of pictures on the road.

Travel with me, won't you? On "the Mother Road" the road Steinbeck's Joad family (along with thousands of real life families) took to escape the dust bowl of the midwest to find new lives in the West, and travel the way we used to travel, through AMERICA.

Rock on!