What's so special about Route 66?

like getting line jerk. Oh yeah, my name rhymes with bad words. Yeah, definitely does, so does Josh, though no it doesn't. Oh yeah, you're right, it's frette and easy. My parents gave it a lot of thought. They're like, what can they call our son Josh? Nothing? He got nothing on that one, So they just called me fatty instead, dough boy. How's it going good, Chuck? Yes, Um. We've got a a little bit of highway stretching out in front of us today. We on the open road sixty

six man. Who Yeah, probably the most um iconic road in America, most romanticized for sure. Yeah that's not saying a lot though, I mean it is, for sure, but how many roads are there really even? Like you know what, I was thinking about that too. This is a Debbie Ranka article. She's your buddy freak girl, right um and uh, she says in the article, like it is, you know, the most romanticized, the most um, the most immortalized road and pop culture. And I was thinking, like, there is

nothing else. There aren't any other roads. What are the roads are there that are mentioned like specifically more than once not a song called the Only No there's um eighty five South yeah uh, which is mentioned by Outcast and the group eighty five Styles. Yes. And there's another one called that mentions eighty five Styles. That's all I could think of. Well, roads back then, and this is one of the basis of this article is it was

a different deal back then. Roads were much more important and meant a lot more than nowadays, when you kind of take it all for granted because you don't get anywhere. And my hats off to the guys who you know, made sure that Route sixties six came into existence because they didn't they didn't follow the path that we followed today, which is, you know, when you create a highway to go from point A to point B with as little

resistance as possible, as fast as possible. Right, these guys shaped Root sixties six so that it literally went through the main streets of small towns throughout America. That's right, Josh. And these guys are two gentlemen, in particular, an Oklahoma real estate a gent named Cyrus Avery. Cyrus Sure, I like Sirius and John Woodruff, who was a highway guy. And they were, um, the two big advocates for starting

Root sixty six from Chicago to Los Angeles. And uh, well, I think that there was a plan to have a highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. They're in on the debates on where to take it and have to do it, and everybody was like, well, we'll just use the old Santa Fe Trail. Why wouldn't we. I mean, it's already there, you go right there, And um, Sirius was good enough for the wagons. Yeah, Sirious was like, oh no, you

don't because that doesn't go through Oklahoma. I'm an Oki and I want this road to go through my home state. By god, if he didn't wrestle it into reality, Yeah, and I got a stat for you here I found UM. The reason this was necessary is because from nineteen ten to nineteen decade, five hundred thousand cars grew to ten million cars in ten years, and we weren't ready for

that at all. I know, we weren't Chuck. That was a huge boom of UM automobiles and we basically it was like having UM going from five thousand computers to ten million computers and not having an Internet. Hey, you know it's a nice analogy. Thanks. Yeah. So the Associated Highways of America they developed a plan UM. I mean, it's pretty comprehensive. It wasn't just like, hey, let's build

some roads. It was let's let's link them all, let's establish a numbering system, let's road signs, road sign uniform, road sign, absolutely warning signs. Upkeep? How are we gonna upkeep? All this? It was really comprehensive, right because prior to the the creation of the Associated Highways of America Plan UM, it was like immigration today, it's all patchwork or you know,

you never know. If you are an illegal immigrant, you don't know what you're going to run into an Illinois and if you go to California, you have no it's patchwork. Well and you would name it, you know, you're like, this is the Lincoln Highway, right, Yeah, from here to here, it's the Lincoln Highway, right, uh yeah, because the same

road could be adopted and renamed by any locality. This this group had the very UM a tremendous amount of foresight in saying like, no, no, no, Like, if we can get people easily from one place to another in these cars, they'll spend money along the way. And that's exactly what happened. So one of the UM, one of the roads that came into existence out of this Associated Highways of America plan was eventually named Route sixty six and it was officially designated on November when the UM

National Highway Act was passed. Right, yes, Josh Roote, sixty six was born, and it was a very popular road and it meant a lot more than here we've got a road. It linked Chicago to l a, which is a really big deal. That helped bring industry from east to west. Yeah, and this is the so it wasn't like the wild wild West, but the West wasn't like it was today thanks to Route sixty six that helped, you know, bring it forward and join you know, the

rest of the country. Uh, the whole thing stretched miles rightly. Yeah. One of the things that interests me is it's changed so many times and had some carved out or added on or whatever that even the National Scenic Byways Association can say exactly how long it was, right, but roughly miles. And and like we said, it didn't take a direct route from Los Angeles or from Chicago to Los Angeles.

It's snaked through eight different states Illinois, Missouri, and Chuck has a map here Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. And although it didn't follow the old Santa Fe trail, it did follow some obscure wagon trail used by Minor forty nine ers during the California Gold Rush. So people driving on Roote sixty six were actually following

an old wagon trail. Well. Yeah, and another cool thing too is what it what it did besides make it quicker and bring industry, you know, back and forth quicker it Uh, this is the first time a lot of these people and a lot of these towns had access to a road like this, right, Like back in the day, you were just kind of stuck where you were, and if you wanted to get to Los Angeles, it was a lot tougher than just hopping on what became Root

sixty six or later on right. And and remember we said that people um were spending money along the way at filling stations, at hotels and all this, and there was kind of this um celebratory idea of you know, let's let's attract these people. Let's get them to stay here, let's get them to stop here and get their guests,

let's get them to eat here. So all these really great odd places sprung up, like, Um, there's the Twin Arrows, which is just this old store basically, and it's two old telephone poles sticking out of the ground made to look like arrows. They're being a yellow and red and I mean that's it. But I mean, if you think about it, Chuck, if you and I were to go down Peach Tree, we're not going to see two giant

arrows sticking out of the side of the road. And that could be enough for you know, word of mouth to get through. Like you have to see the two Twin Arrows. They're huge and enormous cool, that's what's in your head over this other town that you heard nothing else about, right, and this is kitch. Now obviously when we look now and see Pee Wee's Big Adventure and we see the Caabazon dinosaurs, it's it's like it's funny. Or the world's tallest thermometer, which I've always had a

problem with because it's not even a thermometer. What does it just look like a thermometer? Well, yeah, it's it's actually that's not on Root sixty six, that's in Baker. But every time I used to pass it angered me because it claims to be the world's tallest thermometer and it's just a readout of the temperature. That's really tall. It's not like it's full of mercury and it's like

a hundred feet of mercury measuring. You know, it's just phony. Yeah, but probably if they did fill it with mercury, it would violate some sort of law. Yeah, a lot of mercury there are. I mean, D sixty six is still well we'll talk about the decline of in a minute, but it's still packed with some weird things like the twin arrows, the the Cozy Dog drive in which looks delicious in Illinois, they claim, although other people claim this

as well, to have invented the corn dog. Yes, one of our favorite things a k a. The hot dog and a stick. It's a corn dog. Uh. And they are still open today. They've been open since the late forties. And did you see the sign? No, that was another thing too. There um signs sprung up for these places, and there's some great signs. The Cozy Dog in has two hot dogs in their look they look like honeymoon

hot dogs. They're they're very cozy, and it's just I would stop there just for the sign, and I guess that that's the point, right, Yeah, same with the giganticus hedacus. Did you see this thing? I didn't see a picture of it now. It looks like one of the Eastern Island statues kind of buried up to its chin. Maybe Yeah. It's fourteen ft tall, right, fourteen ft above ground? Yeah, I don't. I don't know how much his underground. Yeah.

So again, no reason for it, like the twin arrows, other than like to get people to stop, get out of their car and open their wallets. Right right. Have you ever been to the Cadillac Ranch. I haven't. That's pretty cool, Like a lot of these. I kind of turned my nose up at because it's really like south of the border type stuff. And I don't mean Mexico. I mean that place in North Carolina anyway. Cadillac Ranch

uh in Texas, Amaro, Texas. It um. That is where you will find ten Cadillacs from nineteen sixty three stuck nose down into the ground. You can paint them, you can graffiti, um, you can do anything you want to them. Really, I didn't know that. I just assumed that the graffiti was. Now they encourage it and it's it's part of the allure.

And that was a helium magnet named Stanley Marsh commissioned that in the nineteen seventies and then it was moved in the late nineties because it was like civilization was getting too close, so they actually moved it. So I had that confused with the Chicken Ranch until I read the description. I was like, Oh, that's not the Chicken Ranch. What's the Chicken Ranch. It's a famous brothel. Oh, okay in Nevada. I think I guess it would have to

be Nevada. I've never been there. I haven't either. I would like to go officially on the record one more time. I have never been there either. I saw it on like I think a HBO Real Sex special when I was twelve. I got you yeah uh. And then Josh, there's the meteor crater, which I've actually been to, and

that's why I pulled that page for you. Yeah, so Chuck chuck him up with a little extra um supplemental research that included a picture and a description, and I just I couldn't make heads or tales of why he chose that. Now I understand, why did you go stand in the crater and get all irradiated? No, but that is in Amboy, California, and we uh did a TV commercial there and it's across from it's very near Royce

Cafe and right there on Root sixty six. Royce Cafe is like the only thing around because I've already killed Root sixty six in that area. And um, I got a shirt I should have worn it like a little Royce Cafe and boy and boy like a sort of like a mechanic shirt. Nice, like a hipster mechanic shirt. Very nice. The creater is really cool though, right, Josh, Yeah, I think it's like fifty years old. Yeah, it's huge. It's like two two and a half miles. Well, I

let me count myself. I imagine that the dirt is far far older than fifty thou years old. But the shape right occurred fifty year the event they created the creator the meteor. But it's enormous. Like when you see it, it's like two and a half miles in circumference, fifty feet deep and you drive by it and you're like, wow, what if that thing were to hit somewhere today in your civilization. But anyway, hats off to Roy's Cafe. They they're still around, uh today and back in the day

they had seventy people that work there. Yeah, at its height when when sixty six was swinging it. Now, when I was in there, I got a milkshake, there was like to two dudes in there. Yeah, and you hats off to two still going because there's even parts of Roots sixty Roots sixty six are just gone. Yeah, like fifteen they say, is is just not even there anymore? You can still drive of it. Yeah, And so let's

talk about the hey day, Chuck. In the hey day, there was a TV show called Root sixty six that premiered in nineteen sixty right, Um had a great little, uh little swinging theme song. Nelson riddles Root sixty six. Have you heard it? Not? No? No, In my opinion, it's way better. It's instrumental, but I listened to it all day to day while we were researching, and it's

a good song. Um. And then you know, the TV show Root sixty six was written by this guy who traveled, actually traveled the country and like got inspiration for the

TV show as he was writing it. Yeah, so he was going in like he'd see a VA hospital and then he was writing a story about these two main characters who were like, uh, they kind of represent the post war baby boomer angst of like America won the war and like we have all this money now and there's a lot of like disenfranchisement, which led to beat nicks and hippies and jet caroac and all this stuff. And Root sixty six became emblematic of people pushing westward

towards l A after the war. Easy writer, that was Root sixty But the TV show a little factoid. It was filmed in forty different states. Yeah, and that's like they don't even do that now, So to do that back then was like really revolutionary and Robert Redford was almost in that too. Did you see that? I did didn't make the cut though, we didn't forty states for one show. One show. That's where sixty six right near Josh. So can we are we at the decline, the sad decline?

I think we are. Yeah, that same highway plan kind of is what killed it, because after World War Two they were like, we need people working, and we need more roads, better roads, faster roads, Like we need to go against what um Cyrus Avery came up with, which is just we'll circumvent towns. Towns slow things down, towns have red lights in them. Yeah, we're going to create

these super highways. And that's what happened. Yeah, Eisenhower was inspired by the Altobahn and created the Federal Highway Act finally, right, and that that pretty much killed Root sixty six. Like I said, I forty killed a great portion of it, and a lot of it still runs side by side, which is the saddest part. Like you can be on Route sixty six and all you look to your right and you see people just like zooming by you, and

it's really kind of you suckers. Get out of the rat race and they're looking at us, going, you hippie right, following the old Root sixty six. Actually I followed Route sixty six a little bit in New Mexico when I was living in the van beautiful country there on Route sixty six. Historic Root sixty six. That's a lot of yeah, that's a lot of the The only way you can find Roote sixty six these days are Historic Route sixty six markers. Because you're saying, if already killed it, yeah,

not only did was I forty? You know, can you say it was probably responsible? I forty was completed in nineteen eighty four and in nine five, Roots sixty six was officially decommissioned, so it didn't appear on any map. Basically said you're not a highway anymore, which is really sad.

So if you want a drive Root sixty six or the portions that you can drive, you need to get a special map these days, and thankfully they make them that shows the old trail and or the trail the old highway and all the little quaint, little kitchy, cheesy things you can see and do along the way. So chuck. One of the things you can see as a statue A right, yeah, and foil Oklahoma? Right? Do you know

about this? Oh? I love this guy. Um. There's a guy named Andy Payne and he is the guy who the statues of back in he won the Transcontinental foot Race. Oh that guy. Yeah, this guy was part Cherokee. He was from Oklahoma, and he ran from Los Angeles to New York in f and one miles. He won prize and this this thisbstantial amount of money. I would probably run that for fifty thou dollars today. I can only imagine. I didn't do the math, get like into New Jersey,

need quit. I don't know. Yeah, Um, you're not part Cherokee though, No I'm not. It's in his blood. I'm part Choctaw. Um are you really know? Because I am? No, you're not like way way very small part, isn't everybody? So? Um? So? The so Mr Payne ran from New York to or l A to New York in uh five hundred and seventy three hours, which is twenty three days. Right. But to make it thirty four dred miles in seventy three hours, he would have had to have run an average of

six miles an hour. For twenty three straight days without stopping, so god knows how fast he was running because he had to sleep at some point in time. Right, But this guy, if you ask me, he deserved not only the twenty five thou dollars. I think I said fifty thod earlier today night. So uh that's about it. Huh. Yeah. I think a lot of Root sixty six is on the Registry of National Historic Places and they're trying to preserve as much of it as they can thanks to

a bill that President Clinton signed. But it's also on a list of what was that other list it was on, basically saying it was endangered the Endangered species list of highways highways. Yeah, well, the problem was it wasn't like Eisenhower was like, wa, I'm going to destroy Americana. It was Root sixties six was too busy. It couldn't handle the traffic that it was set up for, which is the most embarrassing and humiliating experience a highway can have. Really. Yeah,

pretty much, ear that are a dead end. That's it. That's pretty humiliating, poor dead end roads. So that's Rod sixty six. As you were saying, um, it's still around BIA. Special man go check it out and just kind of drop out for a little while, ye if they If you want to see any pictures find out more about this stuff, you can go type root sixty six in the handy search bart how stuff works dot Com, which I said I was dropping, didn't I? Uh, yeah, I

just don't like the word handy. After two and thirty five, you don't like ordnamdy not anymore. Yeah, uh, just type it into the search bar, the standard normal search bar at how stuff works dot com, which is not at all handy. So listener mail time. Huh yeah, Josh, I'm gonna call this. Uh, this is what you get for pledging and for at okay, hey, Josh and Chuck. I listened to the Ghost Prison podcast and found one particular part pretty funny and relevant to something that happened to me.

I've never been in a ghost prison or a political prisoner yet, but I have been held captive and tortured with music. This past fall, I pledged a fraternity at a major university. He doesn't reveal like anything. Of course, that's what those guys did here. One night while I was pledging, the brothers had us all show up at this kid's house. With the promise of a really good time. That's when I would run screaming as soon as we

walked through the door like a dummy. As soon as we walked through the door, we were searched, our pockets were emptied, and we were putt into a really dirty, dank basement which is probably about twelve by twelve one couch for eleven dudes. As soon as everyone got there, they slammed the door, shut off the lights, and started playing Mambo number five by Lou Bega. It's as bad

as it gets. Um. If it doesn't come to mind lou Bega if you listen to his podcast, we apologize, but it's true and get back to pumping that gash. They had it on. They had it on full blast from a pretty powerful stereo from about eight pm to two AM, so like six hours straight of loue Vega's song Mambo number five. We had to raise our voices even to be able to hear each other. At two a m. They abruptly turned off the music and shouted, go to sleep. We all breathed this I of relief

the end. Then we tried to go to sleep. After about ten minutes we heard it playing faintly in the distance. I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. But after about thirty minutes it got gradually and gradually louder, and then it was full blast again and remained on for the next forty eight hours with only a ten

second break. So Jack who was in a fraternity and had to endure that for like two days, And the reason he didn't include all this is because that fraternity would be shut down and the university would be sued if this came to light, because that is wrong. Yeah, I'm not going to call for fraternity stories, So what should I call for? Uh sorority stories? If you have any generic, funny, interesting story, we want to hear it or wrap it up, send it in an email to

stuff podcast how stuff works dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Want more house stuff works, check out our blogs on the house stuff works dot com home page. M brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you