I am going to guess that when you think about Route 66, it doesn’t look like this. I mean – there’s no fixed-up 1950s style diners, no quaint old gas stations, no official logo anywhere.

This is a relic of the road that’s known as the Sidewalk Highway because the main roadway was only nine feet wide. The author of the guidebook I’ve been using on this Route 66 adventure lamented the current road condition, saying it has “VERY ROUGH (rub-board) GRAVEL” (his emphasis*) and that it is only for the “die-hard.” But honestly, it didn’t seem that much worse than certain sections of the Oklahoma turnpikes that I paid actual money to drive on and that I am not at all bitter about.**

near Narcissa, Oklahoma
photographed 4.5.2023

*dramatic much?
**dramatic much?