It had been fifty years since I'd left New Hampshire back in June of 1968 to do the one thing many long haired hippies had only talked about doing...hitch-hiking to California by way of the MOTHER ROAD Route 66, and that journey I wrote about in my novel BETWEEN THE WHITE LINE AND THE FENCE POST.
So when two high school friends made contact and invited me on a trip they were planning which was to drive Route 66 to California to experience what they hadn't back in 1968, I jumped up and down with excitement.
Along with places I wanted to re-visit, there were ones I hadn't seen back when I hitched across the country, and was looking forward to seeing them, and writing about them.
As fifty years takes a toll on our bodies, so has it taken its toll on Route 66. Much has been re-placed by Route 40 with very little of the old route there to drive over. Gas stations, and other businesses I worked at to buy my beloved burger and fries are no longer there, or are now skeletons of buildings.
For me this trip would answer a lot of questions I've had, and it would also take me down the dark paths of my past that were:
BETTER LEFT AS MEMORIES