Long, lonely: Driving 3,652 miles on U.S. 6
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By Bill Wundram | Thursday, August 21, 2008 |
VIDEO: 3,652 Miles on Old U.S. 6
Four devoted motorists are heading 3,652 miles on U.S. Highway 6 across Ame…
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GOOD old U.S. 6 — called the long and lonesome highway — has four very devoted motoring friends. They are heading 3,652 miles across America on U.S. 6 . It’s a slow-moving trip that all of us should envy.
U.S. 6 is the scenic, forgotten route. It’s like Rodney Dangerfield would say, “It don’t get no respect.”
It’s still possible to take the original “6” from coast to coast, a casual relief from the dull concrete of interstates. So, it made sense for two West Coast couples, after crossing Iowa on U.S. 6, to spend the night in Davenport before heading into Illinois on Friday morning.
So far, they stop when tired and spend the night at the tidiest-looking motel — usually a small town — along U.S. 6. At mealtime they shun franchise places, dining only in ma-and-pa-type restaurants. They visit whatever looks interesting, a park or museum or the last bank that Bonnie and Clyde robbed. They don’t believe in hurrying along.
It adds a special touch that these gypsies are traveling U.S. 6 in a 1941 Chevy, which already has 250,000 miles, and a 1934 Ford convertible coupe that has gosh-almighty more miles that anyone has kept track.
Ken and Sandy Dufford of Santa Rosa, Calif., are in the convert that is as spiffy as the day it came off the showroom floor. Les and Ruthie Foss of Montesano, Wash., are driving the Chevy, gleaming and humming along like a new Lexus.
They began driving from Long Beach, Calif., on Aug. 3. That is where U.S. 6 begins or ends, whichever direction you’re traveling. They expect to wind up Aug. 20, or a few days later, in Provincetown, Mass., where U.S. 6 began in the early 1900s. Then, after meandering around the East Coast, they’ll drive U.S. 6 back home. All this, covering about 10,000 miles of pavement.
Their trip is like Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” a look at people and places like Marengo, Iowa, where the travelers sat down at a long café table for breakfast. There were a half-dozen empty chairs, so townsfolk joined them to talk about crops and the weather.
“Most towns along U.S. 6 are small and friendly. We’ve had good luck in finding small town eating places,” says Ken Dufford. “A good hint is to always eat at a place that has a calendar.”
In much of America, U.S. 6 parallels interstates. Most of the original routing is untouched, though there are a few alignments. Across America, the couples are finding “6” organizations that claim allegiance to the grand old road. Dave Darby, Davenport, who is executive director of the Route 6 Tour Association, Iowa division, met the travelers in Council Bluffs and led them across Iowa.
In the 1920s, when Iowa road signs were sporadic, U.S. 6 was marked with white stripes on power poles. Some stripes are still maintained in Dexter, Stuart, Casey and Adair, if only for nostalgia’s sake. The route became known as “The Great White Pole Way,” visible day and night. That’s how the old White Way Café in Durant got its name.
“You miss all the interesting parts of travel when you go interstate,” says Sandy Dufford. “In Dexter, Iowa, we stopped at an impressive building that once was a bank and learned that Bonnie and Clyde robbed that bank in 1934. The building is now the Dexter police station.”
Picking across America, mostly at 55 mph, the travelers have had no mechanical problems with their “older” cars, and so far, not a flat tire. Speed is not important and gas mileage is acceptable.
“We just travel for the scenery,” says Les Foss. “On my tombstone, I want it engraved, ‘Still Taking the Scenic Route.’ ”
Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram at qctimes.com. Comment on this column at qctimes.com.
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