Many people may approach the number 666 with a bit of trepidation. Some may feel it has an evil connotation. Why would we embark on a journey to discover the meaning of 666? If you look closely at the title, you will see a small comma between the first and second 6. No, we are not trying to track down the devil. We are on a bucket list journey across America. It started in Bishop, California at the terminus of US Route 6, the longest road in America that stretches from the Atlantic Coast in Maine and runs for over 3,000 miles to end in California. Several years ago, I was introduced to On the Road by Jack Kerouac and learned a bit about the history of Route 6. I sometimes feel that I discovered Kerouac to late in life. I’ve wanted to spend some time on Route 6 and see if I can find remnants of that old Americana vibe he wrote about. We traveled east as far as Chicago where we intercepted Route 66, the great mother road of America. We started yesterday on Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago, and we will spend the next four weeks making our way towards Santa Monica, California. We hope to find plenty of odd and quirky artifacts, dated motels and service stations, endless miles of farmland and desert, and visit some national park properties along the way. I brought my camera with me, and I’ll be including photos of the trip. Hope you enjoy it.
Sinclair station at the south end of Utah Lake
We’ve found that Route 6 doesn’t have the same tourist attraction of Route 66. You have to know what you are looking for, and much of the time, the attraction is simply the view outside the window. I love the Eastern Sierras, the Owens Valley, and that long lonely road across Nevada. We bought a guidebook to learn more about the regions we were passing through. We were disappointed that the author, (who is from the east coast), describes this desert area as an endless wasteland. I love the solitude and the rugged beauty.
The creepy Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada
We crossed the Rockies on Loveland Pass, the highest mountain pass in Colorado at nearly 12,000 feet in elevation. It was a long hard slog to pull our little trailer up that grade. It was a different season up there, still full-on winter. Then we descended the eastern slope and drove across the farmlands of Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.
Laws Railroad Museum in Bishop, California
We camped at Rifle Falls, Colorado on our way to Chicago
Loveland Pass, Colorado
Pioneer cemetery at Winter Quarters and temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Herbert Hoover National Historic Park. The home he was born in. West Branch, Iowa