East Wenatchee
The end of Route 66 is the pier at Santa Monica, Calif. The McDonalds capped off their more than 2,400-mile Route 66 experience by driving their car north to East Wenatchee from Southern California. is an indelible piece of American pop culture. “Once we got into it and started learning more and more and more about Route 66,” Pat said, “it just became so fascinating to us. ‘Americana’ is a good word, because that’s exactly what it is.” Along the 2,400-mile route, the McDonalds — along with friends Terry and Lynn Molander of Newberg, Ore., who drove their 1940 Ford Coupe Street Rod — made stops in eight states, connected with fellow travelers and soaked in as much American culture they could. “This was totally diferent (from any other trip we’ve taken),” Pat said. “We were in a diferent place every night. We were never bored.” They tried to not travel more than 100 miles per day and locate a hotel by
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around 4 p.m. to allow for plenty of stops and a leisurely pace. They left Chicago on May 11 and traveled south into Missouri, then crossed over to Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, where they pulled into the Santa Monica Pier, the route’s oicial ending point, on June 2. During the trip, they saw dozens of unique attractions. They went to the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis; visited the famous Cadillac Ranch, just outside of Amarillo, Texas; saw the Petriied Forest National Park and the Grand Canyon in Arizona; fed wandering burros in Oatman, Ariz.; and stopped at dozens of iconic hotels and restaurants. Their favorite stop, however, came early on. “I think that we agreed that Missouri
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was our favorite state,” Pat said. “We met a lot of really nice people in Missouri. It was such a pretty state, and there was a lot of Route 66 there that you can still drive.” They had some problems while they were there, though. “We were just ahead of the tornadoes,” Jim said. “We were in Joplin, Mo., ive days before it got wiped of the map. On May 23, when we were in Clinton, Okla., there was a tornado that touched down 15 miles from our door. I was nervous until we got out of Oklahoma.” The trip was so fun that Jim and Pat are trying to plan their next travel adventure. The problem is, they’ve set a very high standard. “I don’t know what kind of road trip we can take that can top that,” Pat said. “I don’t think there is one.”
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GildedLilyHome.com 2 N. Wenatchee Ave. 663-1733 August / September 2011
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