“Flip side of America - Route 66

STATEMENT

My mother never explored further than a few hundred miles from her home and neither had I. In the early 1990’s she expressed a desire to see America. So, the wheels of my inherent need to explore and search for “place” in America edged forward. I was a journalist for a local newspaper at the time when I decided that we should explore Route 66. This project had a toehold within me years before, I lived near the town where Bobby Troup grew up and I purchased sheet music and practiced piano at Troup Music House in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

In 1992 I traveled Route 66 with my mother and in 1993 I returned again with my daughter. We took the road that only a few explored, fragments of the route lying sad, nearly forgotten, and floundering to survive, traveling the gentle meandering roadway southwestward in search of its character, culture, and people. Along remote roadway sections of gravel, dust, and concrete I found defunct businesses, lonely streets, and deserted towns. The charm of the adventure, the depth of exploration, and the people I met truly characterized the sense of place all along Route 66.

As I revisited my hundreds plus negatives to create this portfolio I relived all the wrong turns, dust, gravel sections, nights at campgrounds, the conversations, and the people I met. In many ways, these images will live on in my dreams and the adventure in my heart.