Monday, March 28, 2016
This Stretch Of Route 66 Plays 'America The Beautiful' If You Go The Speed Limit
jalopnik.com: Even for the speed demons out there, it would be unpatriotic to go anything but the speed limit on a small stretch of Route 66 in New Mexico. That’s due to the fact that if drivers obey the signs, the road will treat them to its own rendition of the song “America the Beautiful.” That’s right. The road will belt it out.
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As a lover of the mystique of the open road and road trips, and the great American West, I love this article. This seriously makes me miss the weirdness and feeling of.. freedom I guess of living in the West. There's just open spaces and big skies, and the ability to do whatever you want. And the feeling of patriotism is never greater than out there, passing by mystical landmarks, spanning deserts and Grand Canyons. The point of Route 66, which became a super popular travel destination in a nationalistic Post-War America, was to guide people from the East and the Mid-West through the vast expanse of the West, and see all sorts of beautiful landscapes and buy a lot of kitschy things along the way. I think the addition of "America the Beautiful" is perfect for that patriotic road, evocative of a different time when looking west meant opportunity. To me, there is such a large difference in this country of East Coast and West Coast, not just in terms of the conflict Biggie and Tupac created. A lot of people in the East, especially New Yorkers, have never had the luxury (and sometimes pain) of living 100 miles away from the next town, or 1,000 miles from your family in Montana, or even just in a different area of Texas. But, with distance like that, comes the opportunity to travel, and to gaze out your car window at fields upon fields of open plains, and really understand why people settled here. In the West, it really feels like that spirit is still alive. Maybe that's my bias as a person who loves driving and who has made many spanning trips, being cooped up, no car in a hilly, stuffy Pittsburgh. But, rather than diminishing the West for being not as cultured, or asking if I rode horses to school, remember what I said about America being alive and well in the West.
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