Route 66-based story
written by OC,SH’s founder, inspired by his September 2009 Route 66 road trip

CHAPTER 41: THE TRIP BEGINS

The sky was still black when the eldest’s eyes popped open. 4:15a, his digital clock glared at him. It’d be nearly 2 hours until he started hearing the faint whistle of the freight train about to roar through town, if the locomotive was running like the familiar clockwork. The eldest sighed. He immediately wished he had stuck to leaving earlier. The youngest wanted to wait to leave around 9a or 10a, but the eldest wanted to be on the road by 7a. The eldest eventually gave in because, as the youngest so eloquently argued, they “weren’t in any hurry to get anywhere” this trip. Somehow, the eldest wasn’t surprised his own words had come back to bite him.

Lying in his bed in the early morning stillness, he realized the delay was for the best. Several people, including the Shopkeeper & his wife, as well as the brothers’ middle sister, had originally wanted to be there in the morning to see them off. But, the eldest didn’t want any distractions as they embarked. So, the eldest agreed, again with some push from his younger brother, to allow them to throw a semi-surprise send-off party the night before. The party was wonderful, with many townspeople coming to the family business to wish them well, offer some advice & suggest places & people to see. The local Route 66 Association even chipped in part of the cost of the refreshments. With all of that excitement of the prior evening, it was nice to be able to look at the clock & realize he could go back to sleep for another hour or 2.

He had the urge to greet the freight train again, but realized that wasn’t a good idea. His brother’s tan 1976 Caprice was packed & gassed up ready to go & his maroon 1976 Caprice was already tucked away, awaiting the Shopkeeper to come rescue it in a day or so. Besides, he’d have many opportunities to watch trains along their Route 66 journey.

Within a few minutes, the eldest fell back asleep. He awoke to greet the day at 7:17a. The next couple hours seemed like a blur, between eating breakfast, closing up the house & other miscellaneous tasks.

The eldest was grateful to have mostly-packed the Caprice the afternoon & evening before. The trunk held the radio equipment his brother needed & some odds & ends, while the back seat held the brothers’ luggage, 1 suitcase & 1 overnight-misc bag each. WSM set it up so the youngest could announce from different locations & introduce songs, which the station would then play from its Nashville TN studios. The brothers had made the decision early on to “pack light”, which basically meant clothes for 3 days at a time. This decision was precipitated, in part, by WSM creating 3 special shirts for the youngest to wear all along the journey.

Just before 9:30a, the eldest slid into the driver’s seat.

He looked at his younger brother in the passenger seat, exclaimed “Are we all ready to go!?”, & was immediately transported to a back-in-time memory….