It Wasn't Route 66

Like any adventurous teenaged boy I wanted that Corvette to drive down Route 66 and visit exotic places. Instead I did a lot of hitch hiking and ride bumming until I managed to get an old car or two. It's good that gas was 25 cents a gallon then because I don't think I ever had more than 2 bucks in my dusty blue jeans. Like most kids my age we sat around drank beer and waited for the draft, or Uncle Sam's kind invitation to serve. Never liked waiting for anything so I searched out all the Recruiters determined to have a great adventure. I succeeded and soon discovered I could go to strange lands, I volunteered to go to Vietnam and thankfully was turned down and promptly shipped to the UK. Cold and wet instead of hot and wet. My thoughts turned to Route 66 again and after a time I managed to snag an old Ford Popular, the one in the photograph. I went a lot of places, with a roll of bailing wire and some dry rags to clean out the distributor cap.
 Little traffic and narrow roads, I would shoot off on some tiny road to see where it went. Usually it went behind a large flock of sheep which tends to slow you down. I used the time to drift off to Route 66, thinking about driving that bright red Corvette down the road.

In time the old Ford gave up and begged for rest. I bought a new sportier car but not that red Corvette. When I came back I brought it with me and drove to Florida then back to Texas. My second trip half way across the country. Times were tough and I had to ditch that little car, I did mange to get a sensible sedan about the time I started in photography. And again I traveled around a large part of the country taking lots of pictures for the company. I crossed Route 66 on several occasions and I always had a small smile when I did.

Thanks for stopping by this week.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/photographybyjw

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwhanley