WEBVTT - What's so special about Route 66? 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should Know 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:16.360 from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:20.840 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles w Chuck, Chuckle, 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:25.360 Luck Bryant, Poor Chuck. He was the little kid who 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.880 um whose name could never be picked in that song? 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:36.279 Oh yeah, was it? Everyone they did it thought they 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.120 were just so clever because they were the first person 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:40.159 that'd ever done that to me. And I was just 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.280 like getting line jerk. Oh yeah, my name rhymes with 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:48.479 bad words. Yeah, definitely does, so does Josh, though no 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.920 it doesn't. Oh yeah, you're right, it's frette and easy. 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:53.960 My parents gave it a lot of thought. They're like, 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:58.040 what can they call our son Josh? Nothing? He got 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.440 nothing on that one, So they just called me fatty instead, 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:06.920 dough boy. How's it going good, Chuck? Yes, Um. We've 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.080 got a a little bit of highway stretching out in 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.959 front of us today. We on the open road sixty 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:19.039 six man. Who Yeah, probably the most um iconic road 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:23.360 in America, most romanticized for sure. Yeah that's not saying 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:25.319 a lot though, I mean it is, for sure, but 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:29.600 how many roads are there really even? Like you know what, 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:32.240 I was thinking about that too. This is a Debbie 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:37.320 Ranka article. She's your buddy freak girl, right um and uh, 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:40.160 she says in the article, like it is, you know, 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.760 the most romanticized, the most um, the most immortalized road 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.600 and pop culture. And I was thinking, like, there is 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:49.840 nothing else. There aren't any other roads. What are the 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.480 roads are there that are mentioned like specifically more than 0:01:53.520 --> 0:02:00.400 once not a song called the Only No there's um 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:05.880 eighty five South yeah uh, which is mentioned by Outcast 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.600 and the group eighty five Styles. Yes. And there's another 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.600 one called that mentions eighty five Styles. That's all I 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:15.240 could think of. Well, roads back then, and this is 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.600 one of the basis of this article is it was 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.160 a different deal back then. Roads were much more important 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.960 and meant a lot more than nowadays, when you kind 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:25.760 of take it all for granted because you don't get anywhere. 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.120 And my hats off to the guys who you know, 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:33.000 made sure that Route sixties six came into existence because 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:37.720 they didn't they didn't follow the path that we followed today, 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.239 which is, you know, when you create a highway to 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:43.000 go from point A to point B with as little 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:47.120 resistance as possible, as fast as possible. Right, these guys 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.520 shaped Root sixties six so that it literally went through 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:55.120 the main streets of small towns throughout America. That's right, Josh. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:59.320 And these guys are two gentlemen, in particular, an Oklahoma 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:05.000 real estate a gent named Cyrus Avery. Cyrus Sure, I 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:09.399 like Sirius and John Woodruff, who was a highway guy. 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:14.160 And they were, um, the two big advocates for starting 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.560 Root sixty six from Chicago to Los Angeles. And uh, well, 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:20.919 I think that there was a plan to have a 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.440 highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. They're in on the 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:25.440 debates on where to take it and have to do it, 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:27.359 and everybody was like, well, we'll just use the old 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.720 Santa Fe Trail. Why wouldn't we. I mean, it's already there, 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:34.080 you go right there, And um, Sirius was good enough 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.000 for the wagons. Yeah, Sirious was like, oh no, you 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:39.920 don't because that doesn't go through Oklahoma. I'm an Oki 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.840 and I want this road to go through my home state. 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:47.280 By god, if he didn't wrestle it into reality, Yeah, 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.400 and I got a stat for you here I found UM. 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:53.480 The reason this was necessary is because from nineteen ten 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:59.560 to nineteen decade, five hundred thousand cars grew to ten 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:04.360 million cars in ten years, and we weren't ready for 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:06.640 that at all. I know, we weren't Chuck. That was 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:11.480 a huge boom of UM automobiles and we basically it 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.440 was like having UM going from five thousand computers to 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.960 ten million computers and not having an Internet. Hey, you 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.840 know it's a nice analogy. Thanks. Yeah. So the Associated 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:26.039 Highways of America they developed a plan UM. I mean, 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.320 it's pretty comprehensive. It wasn't just like, hey, let's build 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.000 some roads. It was let's let's link them all, let's 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:36.359 establish a numbering system, let's road signs, road sign uniform, 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.960 road sign, absolutely warning signs. Upkeep? How are we gonna upkeep? 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.800 All this? It was really comprehensive, right because prior to 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:48.040 the the creation of the Associated Highways of America Plan UM, 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.680 it was like immigration today, it's all patchwork or you know, 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.880 you never know. If you are an illegal immigrant, you 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.080 don't know what you're going to run into an Illinois 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.839 and if you go to California, you have no it's patchwork. 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:02.480 Well and you would name it, you know, you're like, 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:07.320 this is the Lincoln Highway, right, Yeah, from here to here, 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.280 it's the Lincoln Highway, right, uh yeah, because the same 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.320 road could be adopted and renamed by any locality. This 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:19.200 this group had the very UM a tremendous amount of 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.080 foresight in saying like, no, no, no, Like, if we 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:24.359 can get people easily from one place to another in 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:28.520 these cars, they'll spend money along the way. And that's 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:33.520 exactly what happened. So one of the UM, one of 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.839 the roads that came into existence out of this Associated 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.680 Highways of America plan was eventually named Route sixty six 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:46.359 and it was officially designated on November when the UM 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:50.000 National Highway Act was passed. Right, yes, Josh Roote, sixty 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.280 six was born, and it was a very popular road 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.479 and it meant a lot more than here we've got 0:05:56.480 --> 0:06:00.080 a road. It linked Chicago to l a, which is 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.360 a really big deal. That helped bring industry from east 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.920 to west. Yeah, and this is the so it wasn't 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.320 like the wild wild West, but the West wasn't like 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:11.599 it was today thanks to Route sixty six that helped, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.560 you know, bring it forward and join you know, the 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:22.000 rest of the country. Uh, the whole thing stretched miles rightly. Yeah. 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.599 One of the things that interests me is it's changed 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.200 so many times and had some carved out or added 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:31.920 on or whatever that even the National Scenic Byways Association 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:37.799 can say exactly how long it was, right, but roughly miles. 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.279 And and like we said, it didn't take a direct 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:46.120 route from Los Angeles or from Chicago to Los Angeles. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:51.360 It's snaked through eight different states Illinois, Missouri, and Chuck 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:58.560 has a map here Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.920 and California. And although it didn't follow the old Santa 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:06.080 Fe trail, it did follow some obscure wagon trail used 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.760 by Minor forty nine ers during the California Gold Rush. 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.080 So people driving on Roote sixty six were actually following 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:15.120 an old wagon trail. Well. Yeah, and another cool thing 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:17.440 too is what it what it did besides make it 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.160 quicker and bring industry, you know, back and forth quicker 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:22.640 it Uh, this is the first time a lot of 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.240 these people and a lot of these towns had access 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.920 to a road like this, right, Like back in the day, 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.240 you were just kind of stuck where you were, and 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.160 if you wanted to get to Los Angeles, it was 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:35.720 a lot tougher than just hopping on what became Root 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:40.360 sixty six or later on right. And and remember we 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:43.880 said that people um were spending money along the way 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.120 at filling stations, at hotels and all this, and there 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:52.040 was kind of this um celebratory idea of you know, 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.280 let's let's attract these people. Let's get them to stay here, 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:57.320 let's get them to stop here and get their guests, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.320 let's get them to eat here. So all these really 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:07.040 great odd places sprung up, like, Um, there's the Twin Arrows, 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:11.760 which is just this old store basically, and it's two 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:15.040 old telephone poles sticking out of the ground made to 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.800 look like arrows. They're being a yellow and red and 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:20.040 I mean that's it. But I mean, if you think 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:21.920 about it, Chuck, if you and I were to go 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:25.000 down Peach Tree, we're not going to see two giant 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.560 arrows sticking out of the side of the road. And 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:30.000 that could be enough for you know, word of mouth 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:31.480 to get through. Like you have to see the two 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:35.280 Twin Arrows. They're huge and enormous cool, that's what's in 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:37.760 your head over this other town that you heard nothing 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.480 else about, right, and this is kitch. Now obviously when 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.800 we look now and see Pee Wee's Big Adventure and 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.160 we see the Caabazon dinosaurs, it's it's like it's funny. 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:52.040 Or the world's tallest thermometer, which I've always had a 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:54.719 problem with because it's not even a thermometer. What does 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.080 it just look like a thermometer? Well, yeah, it's it's 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.800 actually that's not on Root sixty six, that's in Baker. 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:01.960 But every time I used to pass it angered me 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.280 because it claims to be the world's tallest thermometer and 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.520 it's just a readout of the temperature. That's really tall. 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.360 It's not like it's full of mercury and it's like 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:13.920 a hundred feet of mercury measuring. You know, it's just phony. Yeah, 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.599 but probably if they did fill it with mercury, it 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.880 would violate some sort of law. Yeah, a lot of 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:25.400 mercury there are. I mean, D sixty six is still 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.120 well we'll talk about the decline of in a minute, 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.760 but it's still packed with some weird things like the 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:34.200 twin arrows, the the Cozy Dog drive in which looks 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:37.400 delicious in Illinois, they claim, although other people claim this 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.280 as well, to have invented the corn dog. Yes, one 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.640 of our favorite things a k a. The hot dog 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.280 and a stick. It's a corn dog. Uh. And they 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.040 are still open today. They've been open since the late forties. 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.240 And did you see the sign? No, that was another 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.240 thing too. There um signs sprung up for these places, 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.319 and there's some great signs. The Cozy Dog in has 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:00.920 two hot dogs in their look they look like honeymoon 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.720 hot dogs. They're they're very cozy, and it's just I 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:06.960 would stop there just for the sign, and I guess 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:11.280 that that's the point, right, Yeah, same with the giganticus hedacus. 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:14.600 Did you see this thing? I didn't see a picture 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.440 of it now. It looks like one of the Eastern 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:22.400 Island statues kind of buried up to its chin. Maybe Yeah. 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:26.280 It's fourteen ft tall, right, fourteen ft above ground? Yeah, 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.080 I don't. I don't know how much his underground. Yeah. 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.240 So again, no reason for it, like the twin arrows, 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.880 other than like to get people to stop, get out 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:36.760 of their car and open their wallets. Right right. Have 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.400 you ever been to the Cadillac Ranch. I haven't. That's 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.720 pretty cool, Like a lot of these. I kind of 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.040 turned my nose up at because it's really like south 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:46.319 of the border type stuff. And I don't mean Mexico. 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.560 I mean that place in North Carolina anyway. Cadillac Ranch 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:54.600 uh in Texas, Amaro, Texas. It um. That is where 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:59.880 you will find ten Cadillacs from nineteen sixty three stuck 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.200 nose down into the ground. You can paint them, you 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.840 can graffiti, um, you can do anything you want to them. Really, 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:09.360 I didn't know that. I just assumed that the graffiti was. 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.480 Now they encourage it and it's it's part of the allure. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:16.439 And that was a helium magnet named Stanley Marsh commissioned 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:18.800 that in the nineteen seventies and then it was moved 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.040 in the late nineties because it was like civilization was 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.920 getting too close, so they actually moved it. So I 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.480 had that confused with the Chicken Ranch until I read 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:30.079 the description. I was like, Oh, that's not the Chicken Ranch. 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.760 What's the Chicken Ranch. It's a famous brothel. Oh, okay 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.280 in Nevada. I think I guess it would have to 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.760 be Nevada. I've never been there. I haven't either. I 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:42.480 would like to go officially on the record one more time. 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.160 I have never been there either. I saw it on 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:48.600 like I think a HBO Real Sex special when I 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.640 was twelve. I got you yeah uh. And then Josh, 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:55.679 there's the meteor crater, which I've actually been to, and 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.600 that's why I pulled that page for you. Yeah, so 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.600 Chuck chuck him up with a little extra um supplemental 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:06.240 research that included a picture and a description, and I 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.800 just I couldn't make heads or tales of why he 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:12.559 chose that. Now I understand, why did you go stand 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.280 in the crater and get all irradiated? No, but that 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.880 is in Amboy, California, and we uh did a TV 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:23.560 commercial there and it's across from it's very near Royce 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:27.040 Cafe and right there on Root sixty six. Royce Cafe 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.520 is like the only thing around because I've already killed 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.000 Root sixty six in that area. And um, I got 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:34.680 a shirt I should have worn it like a little 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:39.000 Royce Cafe and boy and boy like a sort of 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:42.160 like a mechanic shirt. Nice, like a hipster mechanic shirt. 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.120 Very nice. The creater is really cool though, right, Josh, Yeah, 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:47.840 I think it's like fifty years old. Yeah, it's huge. 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:50.760 It's like two two and a half miles. Well, I 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:53.880 let me count myself. I imagine that the dirt is 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.720 far far older than fifty thou years old. But the 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:02.360 shape right occurred fifty year the event they created the 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.080 creator the meteor. But it's enormous. Like when you see it, 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.200 it's like two and a half miles in circumference, fifty 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:10.080 feet deep and you drive by it and you're like, wow, 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:12.680 what if that thing were to hit somewhere today in 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:16.520 your civilization. But anyway, hats off to Roy's Cafe. They 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:20.240 they're still around, uh today and back in the day 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.880 they had seventy people that work there. Yeah, at its 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:28.000 height when when sixty six was swinging it. Now, when 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:29.440 I was in there, I got a milkshake, there was 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.560 like to two dudes in there. Yeah, and you hats 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:35.920 off to two still going because there's even parts of 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:39.000 Roots sixty Roots sixty six are just gone. Yeah, like 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.440 fifteen they say, is is just not even there anymore? 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.760 You can still drive of it. Yeah, And so let's 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:47.720 talk about the hey day, Chuck. In the hey day, 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.520 there was a TV show called Root sixty six that 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:55.600 premiered in nineteen sixty right, Um had a great little, 0:13:55.760 --> 0:14:01.240 uh little swinging theme song. Nelson riddles Root sixty six. 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:05.360 Have you heard it? Not? No? No, In my opinion, 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.920 it's way better. It's instrumental, but I listened to it 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:10.160 all day to day while we were researching, and it's 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.080 a good song. Um. And then you know, the TV 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:17.120 show Root sixty six was written by this guy who traveled, 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:21.760 actually traveled the country and like got inspiration for the 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.240 TV show as he was writing it. Yeah, so he 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:27.600 was going in like he'd see a VA hospital and 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.360 then he was writing a story about these two main 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.760 characters who were like, uh, they kind of represent the 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:38.120 post war baby boomer angst of like America won the 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.080 war and like we have all this money now and 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.800 there's a lot of like disenfranchisement, which led to beat 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.520 nicks and hippies and jet caroac and all this stuff. 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.680 And Root sixty six became emblematic of people pushing westward 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.840 towards l A after the war. Easy writer, that was 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.880 Root sixty But the TV show a little factoid. It 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.120 was filmed in forty different states. Yeah, and that's like 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.360 they don't even do that now, So to do that 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.360 back then was like really revolutionary and Robert Redford was 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:08.360 almost in that too. Did you see that? I did 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:13.120 didn't make the cut though, we didn't forty states for 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:18.680 one show. One show. That's where sixty six right near Josh. 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.680 So can we are we at the decline, the sad decline? 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:27.360 I think we are. Yeah, that same highway plan kind 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.080 of is what killed it, because after World War Two 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:31.600 they were like, we need people working, and we need 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:36.000 more roads, better roads, faster roads, Like we need to 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:40.360 go against what um Cyrus Avery came up with, which 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:45.760 is just we'll circumvent towns. Towns slow things down, towns 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:48.280 have red lights in them. Yeah, we're going to create 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:52.240 these super highways. And that's what happened. Yeah, Eisenhower was 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:58.520 inspired by the Altobahn and created the Federal Highway Act finally, right, 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:02.760 and that that pretty much killed Root sixty six. Like 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.240 I said, I forty killed a great portion of it, 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:08.800 and a lot of it still runs side by side, 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.320 which is the saddest part. Like you can be on 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.560 Route sixty six and all you look to your right 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:16.600 and you see people just like zooming by you, and 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:20.080 it's really kind of you suckers. Get out of the 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:23.560 rat race and they're looking at us, going, you hippie right, 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:26.320 following the old Root sixty six. Actually I followed Route 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:28.280 sixty six a little bit in New Mexico when I 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.600 was living in the van beautiful country there on Route 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.800 sixty six. Historic Root sixty six. That's a lot of yeah, 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.000 that's a lot of the The only way you can 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.120 find Roote sixty six these days are Historic Route sixty 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:45.120 six markers. Because you're saying, if already killed it, yeah, 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.360 not only did was I forty? You know, can you 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.000 say it was probably responsible? I forty was completed in 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:55.000 nineteen eighty four and in nine five, Roots sixty six 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:58.680 was officially decommissioned, so it didn't appear on any map. 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.800 Basically said you're not a highway anymore, which is really sad. 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:04.679 So if you want a drive Root sixty six or 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.600 the portions that you can drive, you need to get 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.000 a special map these days, and thankfully they make them 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:13.760 that shows the old trail and or the trail the 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:18.719 old highway and all the little quaint, little kitchy, cheesy 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.800 things you can see and do along the way. So chuck. 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.280 One of the things you can see as a statue 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:30.520 A right, yeah, and foil Oklahoma? Right? Do you know 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.399 about this? Oh? I love this guy. Um. There's a 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.120 guy named Andy Payne and he is the guy who 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:42.800 the statues of back in he won the Transcontinental foot Race. 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.480 Oh that guy. Yeah, this guy was part Cherokee. He 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:51.879 was from Oklahoma, and he ran from Los Angeles to 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:58.600 New York in f and one miles. He won prize 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:03.040 and this this thisbstantial amount of money. I would probably 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.800 run that for fifty thou dollars today. I can only imagine. 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:09.359 I didn't do the math, get like into New Jersey, 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.680 need quit. I don't know. Yeah, Um, you're not part 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:14.640 Cherokee though, No I'm not. It's in his blood. I'm 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:19.720 part Choctaw. Um are you really know? Because I am? No, 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:27.200 you're not like way way very small part, isn't everybody? So? Um? So? 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:32.080 The so Mr Payne ran from New York to or 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.080 l A to New York in uh five hundred and 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.800 seventy three hours, which is twenty three days. Right. But 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.400 to make it thirty four dred miles in seventy three hours, 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:44.159 he would have had to have run an average of 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.560 six miles an hour. For twenty three straight days without stopping, 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.040 so god knows how fast he was running because he 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:53.960 had to sleep at some point in time. Right, But 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:56.400 this guy, if you ask me, he deserved not only 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.160 the twenty five thou dollars. I think I said fifty 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:03.000 thod earlier today night. So uh that's about it. Huh. Yeah. 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.280 I think a lot of Root sixty six is on 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:10.359 the Registry of National Historic Places and they're trying to 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:12.399 preserve as much of it as they can thanks to 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:16.040 a bill that President Clinton signed. But it's also on 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.080 a list of what was that other list it was on, 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:22.760 basically saying it was endangered the Endangered species list of 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.399 highways highways. Yeah, well, the problem was it wasn't like 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:30.640 Eisenhower was like, wa, I'm going to destroy Americana. It 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:35.080 was Root sixties six was too busy. It couldn't handle 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.200 the traffic that it was set up for, which is 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:42.240 the most embarrassing and humiliating experience a highway can have. Really. Yeah, 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:45.000 pretty much, ear that are a dead end. That's it. 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:49.600 That's pretty humiliating, poor dead end roads. So that's Rod 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:53.600 sixty six. As you were saying, um, it's still around BIA. 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.480 Special man go check it out and just kind of 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:00.840 drop out for a little while, ye if they If 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:03.080 you want to see any pictures find out more about 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:07.000 this stuff, you can go type root sixty six in 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:09.520 the handy search bart how stuff works dot Com, which 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:12.800 I said I was dropping, didn't I? Uh, yeah, I 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.280 just don't like the word handy. After two and thirty five, 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:20.480 you don't like ordnamdy not anymore. Yeah, uh, just type 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:23.280 it into the search bar, the standard normal search bar 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:25.159 at how stuff works dot com, which is not at 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:30.199 all handy. So listener mail time. Huh yeah, Josh, I'm 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:32.520 gonna call this. Uh, this is what you get for 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.399 pledging and for at okay, hey, Josh and Chuck. I 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.000 listened to the Ghost Prison podcast and found one particular 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.199 part pretty funny and relevant to something that happened to me. 0:20:41.640 --> 0:20:43.440 I've never been in a ghost prison or a political 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:46.560 prisoner yet, but I have been held captive and tortured 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:50.119 with music. This past fall, I pledged a fraternity at 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.000 a major university. He doesn't reveal like anything. Of course, 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.760 that's what those guys did here. One night while I 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:57.959 was pledging, the brothers had us all show up at 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:00.840 this kid's house. With the promise of a really good time. 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:05.399 That's when I would run screaming as soon as we 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:10.840 walked through the door like a dummy. As soon as 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:12.800 we walked through the door, we were searched, our pockets 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:14.560 were emptied, and we were putt into a really dirty, 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.640 dank basement which is probably about twelve by twelve one 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:21.120 couch for eleven dudes. As soon as everyone got there, 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:23.159 they slammed the door, shut off the lights, and started 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:28.679 playing Mambo number five by Lou Bega. It's as bad 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.080 as it gets. Um. If it doesn't come to mind 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.480 lou Bega if you listen to his podcast, we apologize, 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.800 but it's true and get back to pumping that gash. 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:40.320 They had it on. They had it on full blast 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.879 from a pretty powerful stereo from about eight pm to 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:47.520 two AM, so like six hours straight of loue Vega's 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.520 song Mambo number five. We had to raise our voices 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:53.679 even to be able to hear each other. At two 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:56.840 a m. They abruptly turned off the music and shouted, 0:21:56.880 --> 0:21:59.760 go to sleep. We all breathed this I of relief 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:01.960 the end. Then we tried to go to sleep. After 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:05.320 about ten minutes we heard it playing faintly in the distance. 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:07.679 I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:10.920 But after about thirty minutes it got gradually and gradually louder, 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:13.439 and then it was full blast again and remained on 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:16.640 for the next forty eight hours with only a ten 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:20.879 second break. So Jack who was in a fraternity and 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:23.240 had to endure that for like two days, And the 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:26.040 reason he didn't include all this is because that fraternity 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:28.359 would be shut down and the university would be sued 0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:32.640 if this came to light, because that is wrong. Yeah, 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:37.359 I'm not going to call for fraternity stories, So what 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:43.119 should I call for? Uh sorority stories? If you have 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:47.080 any generic, funny, interesting story, we want to hear it 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:49.280 or wrap it up, send it in an email to 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:58.239 stuff podcast how stuff works dot com. For more on 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:01.000 this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:04.439