Better Left As Memories

It had been fifty years since I'd left New Hampshire back in June of 1968 to do the one thing many long haired hippies had only talked about doing…hitch-hiking to California by way of the MOTHER ROAD Route 66, and that journey I wrote about in my novel BETWEEN THE WHITE LINE AND THE FENCE POST. So when two high school friends made contact and invited me on a trip they were planning which was to drive Route 66 to California to experience what they hadn't back in 1968, I jumped up and down with excitement. Along with places I wanted to re-visit, there were ones I hadn't seen back when I hitched across the country, and was looking forward to seeing them, and writing about them. As fifty years takes a toll on our bodies, so has it taken its toll on Route 66. Much has been re-placed by Route 40 with very little of the old route there to drive over. Gas stations, and other businesses I worked at to buy my beloved burger and fries are no longer there, or are now skeletons of buildings. For me this trip would answer a lot of questions I've had, and it would also take me down the dark paths of my past that were: BETTER LEFT AS MEMORIES