Post #42285 by thejab on Wed, Jul 9, 2003 3:51 PM

On 2003-07-09 11:00, tikibars wrote:
Did I mention that my latest road-trip travelogue (which includes Mondo Tiki and photographing every roadside America stop between Illinois and California) is up at http://www.tydirium.net

...and that's not shameless self-promotion, because I am not selling anything! :)

Geez James, you ought to break that travelog up into seperate web pages! (one per day perhaps?). I spent the better part of the day at work reading the damn thing! But I really enjoyed it and it got me more excited for my upcoming road trip from Chicago to California.

Loved your comments on retro diners and their decor. It's real sad when fake 50s joints do good business while the real ones close and get demolished. I wonder sometimes if most Americans would rather see imitation diners than original ones.

In my bit of traveling I've noticed a few sad trends. Old roadside places (motels, cafes, attractions, etc.) seem to have a harder time surviving when located nearby the Interstate that replaced them. Route 66 is the best example. Newer chain motels and restaurants proliferate along the interstate and outcompete the older non-chain establishments located nearby and causing them to close due to lack of business. Coral Court (which closed in 1995 but is still an icon of US66) is a good example http://www.coralcourt.com/. Many people who "do 66" (present company excepted) would still rather stay in a chain motel where it's possibly cleaner and they can watch cable TV and eat in fake 50s diners. This is obvious by the proliferation of these types of places along 66.

On the other hand, there are still several old US highways that are almost completely intact from the West Coast to the East Coast, or from Mexico to Canada. US 50 (which JT took across Nevada), US 20, the Lincoln Highway - US 30, US 95, US 89, and others. These highways were the principal routes of travel until the 60s and are often quite a ways from any Interstate, so they still act as important routes for those that live in rural communities. For that reason many of the old motels and eaterys that exist along these routes still do a good business and are less likely to turn into cutesy teddy bear filled Inns or ugly 'retro' diners.

For evidence of this pick up a AAA tour book and look at the motel listings for any town along an Interstate. Usually the listings are mostly chain inns or lodges (why is motel a dirty word these days?). Then look at a fair sized town that's way off the Interstate and located on an old US highway. More old motels and fewer chains - and usually cheaper prices.

I still think Route 66 is totally worthwhile to tour at least once (Tucumcari, NM is a neon lover's paradise). But I sometimes think other routes with as good, or better, places to visit often get overlooked.

For an excellent guide to old US highways get the book "Road Trip USA" by Jamie Jensen (Moon Handbooks).