Sunday, August 03, 2008

Route 66 licence plate

Well if you ever plan to motor west
Just take my way that's the highway that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than 2000 miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66


Well goes from St. Louie down to Missouri
Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty
You'll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino

"(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66", Nat King Cole, 1946.

During my Chicago Marathon training run this morning, 17 miles, I ran past the starting point of old Route 66, The Mother Road, which is on the corner of Jackson Boulevard and Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago.

It was quiet there--but that is not the case now. The Lollapalooza Festival, all eight noisy stages, have taken over Grant Park. At the end of my run, I came across this commemorative license plate.

Route 66, downgraded to a historic road in 1985, of course the highway ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. The sign on the right can be found on Jackson Boulevard near Racine.

Related post:

Route 66 in Dwight, Illinois

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's the deal on blocking off a public park and charginh up tp $200 to enter it while some hippie music festival is in town. Don't get me wrong. I've been to Lalas before - when they were held on private property. And while the sea of "Bush is not MY President" t shiirts made me vomit, the fest was fun and music good. I'm just questioning the use of public lands.

Marathon Pundit said...

Good point. Up until recently, except for the seats (not the grass) at Grant Park Symphony Orchestra concerts, this public space was supposed to be for free events.

(The seated ones donated money to the orchestra.)

El Rider said...

There were some Rt 66 plates offered through the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet either last fall or the previous fall, those were numbered up to 300. I never bought one (that money went to prep a car) but they are very cool. South Joliet has a number of motorsports venues on or just off of Chicago Ave (south of 80) which was part of Route 66.