route 66
Posts Tagged ‘road’
21
Aug
on the road route 66
Sounds great and there’s no reason why your dreams shouldn’t come to fruition, but there’s a little voice inside your head that won’t be silenced: “What if something happens? What if someone needs me? What if I need someone else?” There’s no need to silence the warrior within; you CAN have your adventure, just make sure you set some communications strategies in place to keep you covered in an emergency like these ones…
Bitten by a Cactus
Ok, so you’re out there on Route 66 giving it some on the highway and suddenly you hear the undeniable call of Nature. You pull over and duck behind the nearest cactus plant to protect your dignity from passing cowboys, but just as you’re readjusting your denims you catch a tender part of your anatomy on a massive spine. Ouch! Those things bite and it’s quite common to get an infection so you can’t take any chances. Luckily, you thought to program your next-door neighbour the nurse’s number into your phone as one of your medical back-up communications strategies. So it’s phone a friend time and she advises you to buy some household glue at your next roadhouse stop as this will prevent the most common infection from cactus spine – cactus dermatitis. Who knew!
Gone With the Wind
You’re about three days into your epic road journey and things are going great (even your cactus bite is healing nicely). You decide to pull into a nice motel and treat yourself to a soft bed and a large steak. As you sign the register and the clerk asks for your credit card, your stomach sinks as the realisation hits that the last time you remember seeing it was when you were using it to flick a giant scorpion off the back seat of the car – and that was three states and 400 windows-wound-down miles back. Just as well you’d set communications strategies in place between your Mum and your bank account and all it takes is one quick call (well ok, it’s your mother; not so quick) and your card is cancelled and there’s $500 wired to the Fedex down the road.
I Do, I Do
You finally made it to Vegas and you’re living it up on the money your Mum wired when, suddenly, in the blink of an eye you glance across the room and fall in love! After a few hours using some of your best-practiced communications strategies for romance, you and the object of your affection are pledging undying love and heading to the Little Chapel of Love for a quickie wedding ceremony overseen by Elvis. Ain’t love grand?
The Honeymoon is Over
Fast-forward three years and two kids later and your little Nevada Rose is definitely beginning to exhibit some thorns. There’s never any time for the two of you and you’re wondering if some of the magic is beginning to fade. But in truth, yours is destined to be a happily-ever-after road trip story and you know it’s worth putting up a fight to save your marriage. So you head off to therapy and as the two of you pour out your hearts, the kindly therapist tells that you really just need to talk and suggests that you put in place some simple communications strategies….
Interstate 15 Road – Las Vegas to Salt Lake City (January 2nd, 2008) Interstate 15 cuts through the northwest corner of Arizona (Mohave County), separated from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon. It passes through the Virgin River Canyon, one of the engineering marvels of the Interstate Highway System.
If your are looking for a great holiday full of fun, that won’t cost a fortune then get some mates together and head off on a road trip. Now there are many famous road trips across the world, such as route 66 in America and the great coast road in Australia, but if you want to avoid paying for costly air fares, there are lots of great trips you can make throughout Ireland. A little bit of research and a couple of maps should find you planning an exciting adventure, taking in the sights and sounds that the country has to offer. But before you go, there are a few essentials you are going to need to consider before hitting the road. The first is the car; if you have one you need to make sure that it is ready for to be taken on the trip. Check things like your oil levels and your tyre pressure, and if possible have a service before you go to make sure the car is in tip top condition. If you don’t have a car don’t despair you could always hire one to travel around in. This will add an additional expense onto your trip but should ensure that you have a good car to travel around in. The second thing to consider is car insurance. If you want to share the driving between you and your mates you need to make sure that you are all insured. Some car insurance policies will let you drive other cars if you have your own fully comprehensive policy. But be careful, as not all policies will let you do this and if they do you will probably find that you will only be covered at the third party level and there may be some restrictions about when it applies. It could be that it works out cheaper for a friend to become a named driver on your policy but again you need to be careful that it is still you that is doing the majority of the driving and you should check the terms and conditions in connection. The best thing to do is to talk to your car insurance provider, who should be able to advise you on the best way to meet your motor insurance needs. The third thing is make sure that you travel prepared for any eventuality. Buy breakdown cover before you go as if you need to purchase on the road you could end up paying more. Check to make sure that your boot contains all the things you need for an emergency, like a first aid kit and a high visibility vest. The final thing to do then is to plan your route, fill up with petrol and set off on your own little adventure.
5
Jun
Road Trip In France
Planning any Road Trip can be so exciting, but instead of the much loved infamous American route 66 road trip, why not try something a bit closer to home. France is such a beautiful country, so why stick To just one Hotel , B&B or Campsite!
The first thing to do is to plan your route. This said, the whole point of a road trip is that you can change your mind about a place and move on rather than stay somewhere you don´t like. So when I say Plan, I mean a rough idea of where you would like to visit and for how long.
Not having a timescale would be everyone’s dream if you are planning a road trip; however most of us normally have a week or two, maybe three weeks for a holiday.
I remember one Road trip we went on and ended up staying the whole week in the same Hotel in the same town as we just fell in love with it and didn´t want to risk moving on to something not as nice. Which is half the fun really, but once you have been on quite a few, you will soon learn the quality you begin to expect from certain areas.
Cost will also play a huge part in which area you will stay, as a general rule, French Hotels and B&B´s tend to get more expensive the Further South you go. So if you are planning two weeks around St.Tropez and Monaco, you could be in for costly holiday.
Choosing your transport also has to be considered. You may use your own Car and caravan. However you may decide to Fly and Hire. Low cost airlines now have cheap flights from most UK airports to most airports in France, and hiring a camper or car is getting easier now you can book everything online when booking your flight.
Booking Cheap Hotels online before you go is by far the cheapest option, (for those of you who are organised), you will pick up great deals, but this will mean you will have less flexibility on moving on if you dislike a place. However this is what road trips are all about, the good, the bad, the really bad and the brilliant, but believe me, you won´t have another holiday like it.
A medley, 3 songs from The RoadMusical: Calling You, Get your kicks on Route 66, Born to be wild, Easy Rider
22
May
Road Movies of Note
The Road Movie, we’ve all seen at least one either knowingly or not and it serves as a good tool for the writer and or director to show a change in the protagonist over the course of a journey. It gives a blank canvas against which characters can be revealed as separate from their environment in ways that films shot in specific locations don’t always offer.
Road movies tend to follow a set structure – there is a challenge to be met along the journey, new knowledge and allies are gained – and traditionally end with the protagonist(s) reaching their destination changed for the experience or deciding to keep on with their journey.
There are literally hundreds of examples of road movies but decidedly few of a high quality, some well known, others not. Road movies blossomed after World War 2 with America’s post-war boom and the growing automobility of the youth culture. With their roots back in spoken and written tales of journeys such as Homer’s Odyssey, the Road Movie really took off as a genre in the 1960s with the release of the much loved Easy Rider.
Released in 1969, Easy Rider was a road film that roared at the establishment and documented the rise and fall of the hippie movement. The counterculture film explored the American social landscape of the end of the sixties. Two bikers, Wyatt and Billy – played by Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper – have smuggled drugs from Mexico to Los Angeles and decide to head to New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras, with the proceeds of the drugs sale stuffed into the fuel tank of Wyatt’s chopper.
On their journey across America, Wyatt and Billy encounter a hitch-hiker heading home to the commune he lives in, get thrown in jail only to be freed with the help of drunken lawyer George (played by Jack Nicholson), the death of a friend when George is beaten to death when the trio are attacked in the night and a whorehouse in New Orleans.
With it’s look at counterculture America, use of music and imagery, Easy Rider was heralded as a masterpiece and helped to start off the New Hollywood phase and was later added to the United States Film Registry, deeming it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Following two years after Easy Rider, Two-Lane Blacktop took the use of music in the Road Movie a little further by starring James Taylor and Dennis Wilson alongside Warren Oates and Laurie Bird. The film revolves around two drag racers who live in their 1955 Chevy making a living from challenging local residents as they drift from town to town along Route 66.
Though not a commercial success, Two-Lane Blacktop was a hit with critics and has since become a cult classic – especially among fans of Route 66 as the film depicts the iconic road before it was converted into an Interstate. Moreover, the film was also one of the inspirations for Brock Yates to create the Cannonball Run.
Adding a new edge to the Road Movie genre, and announcing Mel Gibson to the world, Mad Max showed the highways of the not-so-distand future as a violent place when it was released in 1979. A story of social breakdown, murder and vengeance, Mad Max thrusts Mel Gibson’s police officer Max Rockatansky into a battle with Toecutter, leader of a murderous biker gang, who burns Max’ partner and murders his wife and son.
Becoming the Road Warrior, Max takes the law into his own hands, hunting down and killing the gang members one by one. Though initially a slow burner upon release, Mad Max gained success around the world garnering over 100 million dollars, spawning two sequels – with talks for a third in progress – and mad a star of Mel Gibson. For his part, Gibson gives one of his best performances in this superbly directed film which turned the Road Movie into something dark, sinister, and even ominous with its predictions of a fuel deprived future.
Thankfully, the future of the road movie wasn’t bleak or half as dark as predicted by Mad Max when the next big hit of the genre arrived in 1987. Far from it. Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a comedic classic that also happens to be a classic road movie. The film starts simply enough, all Neal Page (played by Steve Martin) wants to do is get home to his family for Thanksgiving but is hampered by a cancelled flight. Deciding on an alternative means of transport Page is hampered by presence of Del Griffith (John Candy).
What follows is a hilarious three day wild goose chase filled with some of comedy’s classic scenes; there’s the scene where the two drive down the wrong side of the road and Martin imagines Candy morphing into the devil, the infamous “those aren’t pillows!” revelation, Steve Martin’s foul-mouthed tirade at the car rental agent and countless scenes where Neal blames Del for every single miss-hap.
While it would be easy to dismiss Planes, Trains and Automobiles as a comedic Road Movie, it is also one with great heart. After all of their arguments a bond forms between the two and they pull together and finally reach home (yes it’s cliched but it was the 80′s). Then there’s the final revelation; that Del’s wife – of whom a picture is placed on every motel nightstand and Del frequently speaks – has been dead for 8 years and Del has been alone ever since which leads Neal to inviting him into his home for the holidays.
Greeted with critical acclaim upon release, the film has gone on to be considered a classic. All the more noteworthy given that Martin and Candy were still considered as low-brow comedians, the director – John Huhges – was known for his teen angst films, and had produced one of the most highly regarded films of the decade.
Of a less comedic nature but equally as touching, Rain Man was released in 1988 and follows two brothers as they travel across America. Sounds simple enough but Raymond Babbit, portrayed by an Oscar winning Dustin Hoffman, is an autistic savant and his brother Charlie, in one of Tom Cruise’s finest performances, has taken him without permission.
Finding out that his father has left all of his multimillion-dollar estate to a brother, whose existence he new nothing of, Charlie Babbit takes his brother from the care home in an attempt to ransom him for the money he feels he’s owed. The problem is that Raymond won’t fly and so Charlie is forced to drive cross country, as Raymond is also averse to highways, to Los Angeles in his father’s classic car. What follows is a touching story that sees the initially selfish and monetary driven Charlie Babbit developing a relationship with his brother that’s built on something other than greed and even becomes protective of his brother.
Rain Man manages to tick all the boxes of what’s needed to create a great Road Movie. The characters need to start their journey at the same place with a set destination in mind, face and overcome numerous challenges on the way and arrive at their destination changed for them. In this instance Charlie is no longer driven by money and self gratification but has learnt to deal with the needs of those he loves be it his brother or his previously neglected girlfriend.
There’s no point in putting your characters in a car, on a motorcyle or even on a train if they don’t go anyway both physically and personally.
The road and travelling upon it has become a metaphor in many ways and long may it continue to be represented accordingly in films.
30
Apr
The Road Trip
It the 1950s, when car travel was pretty much the norm, a real mystic developed about taking car trips for vacation. It was during that time, when the interstate highway systems were being developed in America, that the famous “Route 66″ came into being. Before too long “route 66″ became a metaphor for getting out and seeing America. That is really when the idea of sight seeing and trying to take in the really great things this country has to offer became possible.That popular mythology of getting out there and discovering the world of America surfaced in a lot of popular ways. The book “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, while about more than just travel and sightseeing, spoke to an exploding need and desire in all Americans to know their country better face to face. A little later that urge to travel that was bubbling to the surface in all kinds of ways became more popularized by a TV show “Route 66″.That part of being American which comes out as the urge to travel and see everything there is to see is part of our patriotism. But it is also a big part of the American spirit of adventure that is what brought our ancestors over here from the home country. The courage and desire to explore is just part of what makes Americans tick and it is one of the many reasons we love to get out there and see everything we can see.That desire to get out there “on the road” is just as much part of how you and I as Americans tick today as it was when travel was new. Even though we have ample travel options especially by air, there is something irreplaceable about driving across the country, discovering its amazing sights from the front seat of an automobile.So if you think we are suggesting you actually plan a cross country car safari for nothing more than the sheer joy of being “on the road again”, you are exactly right! When we talk about the great sightseeing high spots in America, it’s easy to talk about the big ones such as the Washington Monument or Niagara Falls. But there are hundreds of tucked away sights that are a sheer delight to “discover” when you just come across them in your cross country car trip. Small towns and out of the way highways and byways have some unique and unforgettable sights of their own. Think of how you will wow your friends when you come back from your road trip adventure with pictures of…- The strange but oddly beautiful Cadillac Ranch of song fame. As you drive along the badlands of Texas, don’t drive off the road when you look out and see a field full of Cadillacs buried upside down in the Texas soil back ends sticking up like some bizarre experiment in farming. - An off the road spot where you can actually mine for gold in the black hills of South Dakota.- A desert in the middle of Oklahoma with sand dunes suitable for dune buggy rides.- A massive replica of the pyramids of Egypt. And you don’t need a turban to see it. Just take a few minutes off from the Grand Ol’ Opry and visit this sight in the heart of Nashville Tennessee.The fun sights you can see on the road in a car trip across the majestic expanse of America will be sights that will stand out in your mind as much as the great and very well known sights that everybody enjoys. And don’t be surprised if you see a look of envy in your friend’s eyes when they realize you were the one who had the guts to get out there and put your tires to the road and discover America all over again.
Going on a Cross Country Road Trip excites most Road Trip Planners because there’s something about the open road that beckons, promising freedom, or at least a taste of it. Finding the balance between hitting as many states as possible and “enjoying the ride” can be somewhat relative, to be sure, but even with a cross country objective, quality still trumps quantity… best to see less at a leisurely pace than to see more in a blur from the highway.
How much time you set aside for this trip greatly impacts the total mileage you’ll put on the odometer, as does the number of people in your car. Couples can drive further than families because children just get too antsy to sit still for long periods of time (DVDs & iPods notwithstanding). A group of friends can probably cover the most distance because they can drive through the night and switch drivers every four hours while others sleep (& save on hotel costs to boot).
Okay…now to the TOP 5 CROSS COUNTRY ROAD TRIPS that every Road Trip Planner should try, David Letterman style:
#5 – THE GREAT RIVER ROAD (10 states – 2300 miles): American travelers do so love nostalgia and meandering alongside the great Mississippi River from bow to stern in a manner reminiscent of Mark Twain’s riverboat days gets many road trip planners excited about all the possibilities. What’s fun is skirting along the edges of two states to follow the river. The Mississippi River is much more romanticized than the Missouri River, which is actually the longest river in the U.S. Your route could be considerably shorter (1500 miles) if you took the more direct route between the headwaters and the mouth…you decide just how closely you want to follow the river. Just make sure you don’t miss experiencing the Mississippi River from a riverboat.
#4 – SOUTHERN COMFORTS (8 states – 3000 miles): This cross country road trip allows road trip planners to blend in variety and spice to their trip! Here’s where you’ll experience the good ol’ southern hospitality in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, the Cajun flavors of Louisiana, get a taste of the Texas BBQ, the southwestern spices found in New Mexico, Arizona and the laid back atmosphere of southern California. US-80 will take you through the bulk of this trip which offers more varied cultural experiences than you’re likely to get in any other U.S. cross country trip. And the variety is not limited to the cultural differences from town to town but the surrounding landscape which rolls from one type of terrain into another. You start (or end) at the vast stretches of beach at San Diego, travel past a cacti strewn southwestern desert, cruise through seemingly endless plains and into the Deep South cotton lands and plantations. While some travelers are drawn to the green and serene found in a Northern cross-country road trip, many others revel in the South’s variegated russet-colored landscapes and straight highways stretching before them like the backbone of America disappearing into the horizon in a purple haze.
#3 – THE OREGON TRAIL (11 states – 3200 miles): This road trip is for road trip planners who want to go the distance while traveling a goodly portion along a historic route. You start (or end) out from the wild Oregon coastline, travel through increasingly diverse terrain, to – and through – dense urban populations and finish by the serene waters of Cape Cod. The Oregon Trail is known best as the migration trail pioneers embarked upon when America was young. Of course, you’re not traveling by wagon train so you don’t need to set aside four to six months just to traverse the 2,000 mile section they followed (Missouri-Kansas-Nebraska-Wyoming-Idaho-Oregon). In fact, you could comfortably do this road trip in less than 3 weeks (if you rent a car & fly back). The main route you’ll follow here is US-20 where you get to hit some truly gorgeous places like Niagara Falls and Yellowstone Park.
#2 – THE PACIFIC COAST ROAD TRIP (3 states – 1500 miles): Even though you’re traveling through only three states, you’ll be cruising the length of the West Coast from Olympia, Washington in the North, through Oregon and to San Ysidro, California, right near the Mexican Border on the South. Check out Things To Do Along The California Coastline for tips from a long-time Californian (California comprises the bulk of this Road Trip). A good Road Trip Planner can create a kaleidoscope of experiences along this route as it takes you from primitive forests, secluded hideaways, historic towns to major cities with the latest innovations, always flanked by a stunning coastline holding beaches and beach-lovers of every shape and size. Called Star Route 1, more known as Highway 1, with the California stretch called the Pacific Coast Highway, it is mesmerizing.
And the #1 CROSS COUNTRY ROAD TRIP OF ALL TIME? (8 states – 2500 miles): The mother of all highways, the most romanticized, most sung about, most appearances in a movie highway…drum roll please…ROUTE 66! It’s so popular that a Google Search for “Route 66″ yields more than 6 ½ million results! Covering eight states from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, it is the #1 recognized Road Trip and well worth any road tripper’s attention.
So what are you waiting for? Grab your Road Trip Planner and start your engine! The open road awaits!
- Iron-On or Sew to Any Garment
- Patch is 3-inches tall x 3-inches wide
- Top Quality, Detailed Embroidery
- Ironed-on Patches Will Not Come Off
- Perfect for Jeans, Jackets, Vests, Hats, Gear Bags, Scrapbooking and more!
Product Description
This brand new embroidered patch depicts a parody of the famous Route 66 highway road sign — except this evil version says Route 666! Heat-seal backing allows buyer to iron this patch onto virtually any fabric.
Route 666 Embroidered Patch Iron-On Evil Highway Road Sign Parody 66 Biker Emblem