Route 66 Voyager

In today’s world of USA Interstate highways, it’s difficult to imagine how things were back in the 1960s. The Interstate Highway system is officially known as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, but usually just called Interstate Highway. The Interstate Highway system was authorized in 1956, but there were some delays and some problems.
In 1963, I was working for a company in Santa Monica, CA. I was trained on an air defense computer system. I graduated from the training and then I was dispatched to an air defense site in Cape Cod, MA.
In preparation for the cross country trek, I had purchased a new 1963 Volkswagen Type 1 ‘Beetle.’ My VW was a two door sedan, powered by a forty (40) horsepower, rear mounted, air cooled engine. I researched the trek and then I loaded my worldlies into the back seat of the VW. I left Santa Monica and headed East on Interstate Highway 10. Back in those days I-10 had a several block gap, in the middle of Los Angeles. I navigated said gap, using the VW type 1 sign frequently, to communicate with other motorists. (The VW Type 1 sign was done by extending the middle finger from my clenched fist.) I got back on I-10 eastbound and drove until I veered off onto the Pasadena Freeway. I drove North, on the Pasadena Freeway, into Pasadena and then tiptoed through Pasadena, then the little towns of Arcadia and Monrovia, until I reached the little town of Duarte and my Route 66 adventure really begin. (Route 66 actually runs through several cities until it reaches Santa Monica. However, once Route 66 left Duarte, headed West, it was just a designated route through urban streets.
I rolled East from Duarte, along Route 66. At first there were some small towns then it was just a trek across an endless landscape of sand, sagebrush and cactus. I finally entered Arizona. I then rolled through the mountains and past the city of Flagstaff, in the North of Arizona.