As we get ready to start September, I am reminded of the celebrations of Route 66 that take place this month in parts of Southern California, especially in San Bernardino County. Who'd ever think that a road that was originally intended just to get people from one point to another would become such a lifetime legend for so many people.
In these parts at least, folks flock to the Route 66 areas on the map, meet up with other folks with the same destination in mind, and discuss the wonderful sites along the Route as if it has been their legacy all their lives. These sites, sometimes fantastic in what they offer, and sometimes just showing the funky side of life, have taken on such an incredible meaning that some people have web sites and Internet lists all about the joys of Route 66.But what is it really that draws us to want to join in the fun and sense of adventure? For me, it has always been a representation of something beyond the ordinary, something to aim for - it is that "road less traveled" perhaps. Going to a location like Hackberry, Arizona, where very few people would end up consciously is sort of like joining an expedition to some unknown and far-distant part of the world, not really knowing what lies ahead, or even, in some cases at least, why the heck you are going there in the first place.
I had a lot of fun making my art quilt of Hackberry, Arizona, not because it is in a juried traveling exhibit for three years, but because it drew me back to my memories of another time and place where I lived a very different life than today. It was a good life - today's life is good too, but in a very different way. I had a life partner back then, and there was this sense of sharing that now just goes on inside the journal of my soul. My goodness, what an interesting journal, and what an interesting journey this has been! The neat thing is that it feels as though the journey has just begun. And who knows where it will all lead?
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