During our road trip, we discussed how much had changed in our lives and in the world in the seven years since our Kansas-to-California trip in late September 2019. Both my parents were alive at the time. Denise still had her father and Vicki her mother. Then, while on the trip, my mother had a stroke and died a few weeks later. Denise’s dad died in March 2022. My dad in July 2023; Vicki’s mother died in 2025. Both Barb’s parents had also passed away.
Now, in 2026, we were orphans on the “Mother Road.” Not that anyone mentioned it. But it's sad to think we can't call our parents to tell them about the trip. They knew the route; it had been a thoroughfare of their youth.
John Steinbeck used the term "Mother Road" in The Grapes of Wrath to describe the highway as a lifeline for those fleeing the Dust Bowl in search of a better life in California.
“Highway 66 is the main migrant road … 66 is the path of a people in flight … 66 is the mother road, the road of flight,” Steinbeck wrote.
We read the quote beside a large black-and-white photo of Steinbeck as we entered the AAA Route 66 Road Fest interactive exhibit in Tulsa on June 27. We spent the day immersed in the decades from the 1920s through the 1980s. There was everything from vintage campers to reenactors. I’m a sucker for historical characters coming to life. I spoke to several, including “Fill her up?" Phillip at the Phillips 66 station. He had just locked himself out of the station.
Special Agent Everett Callahan told me he was part of the newly formed Federal Bureau of Investigation. He said prohibition was a serious problem along Route 66, with Al Capone using the Mother Road to transport illegal booze. Callahan said he was hoping to run into Bonnie and Clyde to settle their account.
Then I ran into Flossie Endicott, who had just walked three miles to the gas station for help after her family’s car broke down as they were "escaping the Dust Bowl.” She was trying to hitch a ride, but people were put off when she told them not only did she need a ride, but her entire family and all their belongings needed to come along.
As you can tell, Mother Road is a popular term, visible on T-shirts, coffee mugs, and other souvenirs marketing the highway’s 100th anniversary. I think we all agreed the best part of the trip (besides seeing Vince Volpe’s charming St. Louis house) was the people we met along the way. Everyone had a story to tell!
A college student from Bulgaria said he was spending his summer in Chicago, waiting tables at Lou Mitchell’s. Lou Mitchell's is where travelers have breakfast before getting on Route 66, a block away. That’s where Denise and I grilled him with questions.
“How do you feel about America?” Denise cut to the chase.
“People are the same. All around the world, they are the same. It’s up to you and how you perceive the people. If you are upbeat, you will meet those kinds of people, but if you are quite the opposite and always thinking badly about everything and have bad energy, you’ll meet bad people and bad things will happen to you.”
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