[Sketch Trip America] Episode 15: Treasure Map of Route 66

Gary drew on the map the road that goes east and west as north and south. Without the '96 West' on the map, it would've been hard to find the cardinal direction. For the town's people, a place is where one reaches by following a road. Who would bother with azimuth or cardinal points? Those are for people who don't know anything.

From Sinclair, Sumi and I began searching for a town called Spencer according to the map Gary drew with his shaking hands.

Ignore any new and straight road!

Straight line is boring!

Crinkum crankum find only the old ones!

From this town to next!

Like the treasure map of a pirate captain!

If we followed the map, there would be an old landscape and abandoned shops, a town filled with treasures that had been out of fashion for over fifty years. For anyone who wants to get there, you must give up speed. The right turn into Spencer was narrow and dark, it seemed like once you miss this turn, you'd end up in a roundabout for a long time. If we weren't going thirty miles per hour, we could've easily missed the turn. Not so much because it was hard to see, but because we normally wouldn't be so tempted to make the turn. We were humming along and wouldn't care if we made circles all day, so we happily made the turn onto the road to Spencer. Soon, inside the road, a bridge with paint stripped halfway appeared.

'Johnson Creek Bridge(1926) is a stately steel truss bridge located near the hamlet of Spencer.'

It was written in the book we just bought at Sinclair. Very simple editing of the book with only pictures and dates. It served  the purpose within less than an hour from the point of purchase. "It already paid for itself $1 worth out of $35," I said to Sumi. From the name of the bridge, I figured the small stream running under the bridge was Johnson Creek, and the bridge was the gateway to the small town Spencer. It wasn't much of an attraction coming in through the winding road, but with the bridge, suddenly created a wonderful view. However, this intimate landscape was also the reason for its disregard. The highway that opened just a few miles away cut off traffic into this town. This town didn't create enough reasons to be stopped in place of giving up speed.

All it was in hamlet of Spencer was a small store building. In the boom of travel on the Route 66, it would've been all travelers' stopping point with all the necessities like gas station, food store, barber shop, and even post office. It must've been hard to compete with the big highways. The entire Route 66 was losing its charm because of the highways, a small town would've suffered the most. The outcome from the battle was a few random visitors like us holding a map which was drawn by a shaky hand. Sumi and I started collecting the remnants of few things that went out of fashion long ago. Pepsi Cola adverts that looked to be over sixty years old, gas pump, and building facade were collected in our cameras. The desolate surrounding was collected in our eyes. And the things that we couldn't collect by the two methods, we collected in our hearts--curiosity, awe, and excitement of the things that are two generations before us.

The roads in the past connected a town to town, but the highway system made towns disappear. Then the road that connected the towns also disappeared. A generation had passed and even highways became the thing of the past. Then a new stream of travelers began driving on this road instead of on fast highways. We were one of them. "You are once again being acknowledged and remade now. Hurry and get up. Make a new album, a movie, or anything. Here is the contract." I wanted to tell the old and run-down refrigerator and gas pump and the barbershop sign that people started to come around here again.

When the next traveler crossing the Johnson Creek bridge was in sight, we got in our car and on the road again, with the map that Gary drew in our hand.

   

  

    

[Sketch Trip America] Episode 13: Road Guide on Route 66

At a remote gas station in southern Missouri.

The battle between the meter gauge cheat dragon and the straight edge of justice had ended and a peace came upon this dry desolate place at last.

 

Rest in Peace, you wicked dragon!

Don't ever wake up again.

While this straight edge of justice keep shining, you'll sleep forever.

We knew the reality wasn't exactly so, and we wished that day would soon arrive.

Since we had fought with a dragon, naturally we got very hungry. Then we saw an old lady who seems to be the owner of the establishment selling some donuts and drinks. Hurriedly, we went over and grabbed some donuts and coffee. When we were getting ready to pay, she said we don't need to pay for them. Wow, This must be the southern hospitality that we heard so much about!

Ray's Donuts.

This must be a local donut shop. I saw the packaging and there were three of them around. Donut tasted great. Sweet bread was rolled up in a spiral shape and it was soft and chewy when I bit into it. It was better than all of donut flavors in Dunkin Donuts combined. Sort of like the donuts in traditional markets in Korea.

 

Even with the notion of southern hospitality, this seemed too much. There must be many people who pass here. We already see several people in front of us. In a day, there should be dozens, even a hundred. We looked around for some tip jar with no avail. Again, we tried to pay something for it, but the lady declined, again. Then she pointed to a direction with her chin and said, "If you want, you can buy a book, or some other souvenirs over there." Puwahahaha-. It was a marketing gimmick hidden behind the country hospitality. Sumi and I decided to buy a book about Route 66.

 

It was a book of photographs from all points along Route 66. This may serve as a good reference guide. The price was $35. Once we paid for the book, the kind old lady told us to go inside the office where we can get the book signed. She said the book was made by a friend of his. We weren't sure why we should get it signed by the author's friend, but we decided to go in anyway. There seemed to be lots of interesting stuffs in the office.

 

Inside the office was well-preserved from the time the gas station was in full operation. All four sides of wall had shelves that are filled with old stuff that even a tiny mouse would have hard time to roam about. Inside this  gap, there was an old gentleman sitting like one of the antique collections. He was signing a book brought to him by another party of tourists. While we wait for our turn, I decided to look around the shelves. Just when I thought he might be done signing the book, he started to turn the pages and explained at length which seemed to span the entire book. I looked around and around the shelves, but the story did not end. So I looked some more. Then, I started to notice something inside this seemingly random pile of antiques on the shelves--layers depicting generations and places. Different kinds of motor oils and automobile products from the time gas station was in operation were one layer. Another layer had nothing to do with gas station but things brought in to remind of Route 66. They were all old, of course. Then, there were this last layer that looked mostly like souvenirs, waiting for people looking to buy memories of old times' sake. This souvenir layer could've left bitter taste in my mouth, but being on Rt 66, this actually brought me certain warm nostalgia.

Each layers sang to me,

We were part of gas station and we were popular once

Everyone going east and west stopped here

Got gas and cared for their cars

A noble woman and Hollywood stars were no exception

It was time that we were the hipsters

Then the antiques said,

We are not from the gas station

but were popular else where in the same time period

Original Coca-Cola bottle, hand-stitched baseball, peanut vending machine...

If there is anyone on earth that lived without us, show us your face

It was souvenir's turn,

I won't say much, I'm just here to sell you memory

If you want to remember anything from the old Route 66, you'd better buy me

Who knows, after many years, I will also become an original

You'd better take me home with you

Then there was a chorus,

How about it? Isn't it beautiful?

Anything with glorious past still holds value

Everything old is beautiful

Even with a little bit of extraneous things

The last line was the souvenir's solo.

 

Speaking of the extraneous things, there were more of that in the places that had Route 66 museum signs on than Gary's Gay Parita. And those places also collected entrance fees. At least Sinclair still stands where it used to be and receives the test of time, along with Gary and Lena.

 

 

It is our turn finally. The old gentleman's name is Gary Turner.

Just like the lady told us, the book is by his friend and Gary is selling it for him. A strange system that a seller signs in place of the author. However, Gary's signature is very unique, it definitely added to the value of the book.

After signing our book with shaky hands, Gary said, "I'm not the age that I can travel. Instead, I meet folks from all over the world here on route 66. Then, he told us stories from old days, about his son's website, the friend's book, even though it wasn't his, and most of all, about the town. He told us we must stop at nearby town of Spencer and Red Oak 2. He even drew us a map in detail on a piece of paper. He then came out to the front of Sinclair gas station with us and had us hold a Route 66 flag and take picture at a pre-determined spot. I'm a bit sorry to say, but all this seemed quite manneristic. With this, we bid good-bye with self-claimed Route 66 guide, Gary Turner. As we move away in our car, watching Gary and Lena waving at us, I thought that they know very well that they are the best and most valuable collectibles and souvenirs for the travelers on Route 66. In other words, they were the professionals. They knew how to spread the message and the atmosphere of the old Route 66 more than any of the museums along the way. I was glad we stopped here. Sinclair led us into the world of the old Route 66 from being the tourists merely looking in from outside. A whole new world was about to open up in front of our eyes.

Jingoogk's original blog in Korean