Ag Policy Blog

Route 66: The End of the Trail

Chris Clayton
By  Chris Clayton , DTN Ag Policy Editor
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I spent a couple of years mulling the idea of touring Route 66 and visiting with farmers and ranchers along the way. My dreams of an extended road trip were delayed because of the trials and tribulations of getting Congress to pass a farm bill.

One of the first areas of interest that jumped out about Route 66 was the comments about all of the foreign travelers on the highway. A coffee-shop owner in Carthage, Mo., talked about an invasion of a busload of French tourists on the first day she opened her shop. A small shop owner in Illinois noted all the Japanese tourists who had visited.

Much like the diversity and changing scenery across every state, farmers had mixed views on the relationship between tourism and agriculture along the fabled ribbon of concrete and asphalt. Some farmers had no contact or interest in either the tourism or the history of Route 66 while others were fairly engaged.

Dale Artho, past chairman of the U.S. Grains Council, was in high school in Texas when Interstate 40 was built just about seven miles from his house. He farms on both sides of the interstate and Route 66, which runs parallel to it, west of Amarillo.

"This is the prime season when the motorcycle guys want to ride the old route," Dale said in July. "There will be about 50 of them. They get to Vega and it's like a flock."

A lot of riders, particularly the Europeans, are fascinated with large American farm machinery. Sometimes Artho even gives them rides to show what it is like.

"We get to promote agriculture. They stop and take a lot of pictures," Dale said.

Dale made a great point, one that comes across in subtle ways throughout Route 66. The Mother Road is a 2,400-mile promotion not just of wide-open spaces, but also American agriculture. That point probably isn't noted as much as it should. That's the case whether people are stopping to check out the grain elevator museum in Atlanta, Ill., or shooting photos of old barns, cattle or horses along the highway.

Europeans became enamored with Route 66 following the airing of the "Route 66" TV show replayed in various European countries throughout the 1970s. The show was especially popular in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands. "The Germans are still the largest single group of tourists on Route 66," said Bob Blackburn, executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society. "The image of the great American west of getting into a convertible and getting away from all the cares of life, a sense of adventure, the American frontier, that appeals to the Germans."

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Blackburn added, "People still want to find those byways where you get off the main track, out of the herd and go look around and enjoy the quality of life."

The movie "Cars" helped reinvigorate some of that European interest in Route 66. The movie also helped children relate to the problems of keeping a small-town economy going when the interstate bypasses it. I brought my son with me on part of the highway tour, then took the whole family on the final segment of the route. My son and daughter could relate to the way the interstate took away the business from the small towns throughout Route 66.

You can see the transition of Route 66 from an agricultural highway and migrant lifeline in the 1930s and '40s to a travel road for leisure in the 1950s and '60s. No museum along the route is complete without a section dedicated to farmers, Okies, the Dust Bowl and the haunting photos of Dorthea Lange.

Then there are those quirky or kitsch tourism sites, such as the Blue Whale in Catoosa, Okla., the U-Drop Inn tower in Shamrock, Texas, and the Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo, "Standin' on a Corner" in Winslow, Ariz., and Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch in Oro Grande, Calif. --- just to name a few of the stops.

Blue Whale: http://bluewhaleroute66.com/…

U-Drop Inn: http://dld.bz/…

Cadillac Ranch: http://en.wikipedia.org/…

Standin' on the Corner Park. http://standinonthecorner.com/…

Elmer's Bottle Ranch: https://www.facebook.com/…

The Los Angeles Times had an article back in May suggesting tourism along Route 66 was declining because people who understood the significance of the old highway are getting older themselves. I would say the Times' reporter didn't drive far enough along the road to look at all of the communities that are promoting the route and events surrounding it.

Oklahoma, which already has a couple of the best museums dedicated to Route 66, is developing a pop-culture museum in Tulsa and Native American museum in Oklahoma City set to open in 2017. Both would effectively be near the route. Tulsa also is looking to revamp an area of town along the highway.

"So we are still developing product, and anticipating that the tourism will continue and people will still see Route 66 as a symbol of the American west," Blackburn said.

Springfield, Mo., dubs itself as the "birthplace of Route 66" because a meeting in the city led to naming of the highway. The city is putting more investment into the Mother Road with a new park, an emphasis on the road in the local visitor's center and annual festival.

Seligman, Ariz., calls itself the "the birthplace of historic Route 66" because the owner of a roadside hamburger joint, Angel Delgadillo, helped organize a historic association to promote tourism along the route as federal officials were decommissioning the highway in the 1980s.

Amarillo touts its "Historic 6th Street" along Route 66. Kingman, Ariz., calls itself the "heart of historic Route 66" and just last month hosted the 2014 International Route 66 Festival.

Then there is the Santa Monica Pier, which proudly touts itself as "The End of the Trail." At the very end of the pier is the "Last Stop Shop, the End of 2448 Miles."

Route 66 is America's Main Street.

Farming on the Mother Road: Ag in California pushed farther into the desert along Route 66.http://dld.bz/…

Follow me on Twitter @ChrisClaytonDTN

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CHRIS CLAYTON
9/12/2014 | 10:03 AM CDT
Vince, There were a couple of guys who recalled how crowded the highway had become in the 1970s before the four-lane went in. A rancher in Arizona also had been a deputy in his earlier career and talked about all the criminals he came across along the highway as well.
Vince Moye
9/12/2014 | 7:19 AM CDT
I drove the highway from Arizona to California in summer of 1974. The locals called it 'Bloody 66' since it was so crowded and dangerous at night, being only a 2 lane road at the time.