The Best Hotel Pool on US Route 6 - A Big Surprise

And the honor goes to....

DAYS INN

Delta Utah......

I had expected a dusty, unappealing town and hotel, hoping at least for a clean room.  The photos online do not do the Days Inn property in Delta, UT justice.  I spied this beautifully landscaped pool as I walked to my room.  After nearly 5 weeks on the road, this was the first time I was compelled to take a dip at the end of the day.......

Days Inn Delta, Utah

Days Inn, Delta Utah

Congrats to Some of My Favorite Route 6 Towns! Des Moines, Omaha, Denver and Glenwood Springs Made Forbes Magazine and USA Today Lists

Adventure Park
Glenwood Springs, CO

Soon, I'll be coming up with my own Best of Lists - but for now, I'll bow to some pretty mighty media giants (USA Today and Forbes) to bring you the latest rankings.

Rand McNally in conjunction with USA Today deemed Glenwood Springs "The Most Fun Town" in America.  I can concur - I had a blast there.

Durham Museum
Omaha, NE

And Forbes Magazine presented it's list of America's Best Cities for Young Professionals.  Three, count 'em THREE are on US Route 6; Des Moines, Omaha and Denver.  (And #15 happens to be my very own city; Stamford, CT).

Congratulations to all the winners and may you continue to prosper!

Iowa's White Pole Road: The Importance of Highway (Route) 6 To Our Country's Mid-Section

Though in the 1930's, 40's, 50's and part of the 1960's, Route 6 ran from the Atlantic Ocean (Provincetown, MA) to the Pacific Ocean (Long Beach, CA), this Federal Highway was most important to the towns and cities that lay far from these bodies of water.

While reading through a massive pile of brochures, calling cards, guidebooks and other information from my six weeks on Route 6, I discovered a copy of a flier (date unknown) extolling the virtues of the new and improved "Great White Way."

Celebrating the Great White Way
Iowa, USA

In its old-fashioned furtive way, the advertisement asked, "Eventually, Why Not Now?  The Great White Way By Day or By Night, The White Pole Route Between Des Moines, Stuart, Adair, Atlantic, Oakland, Council Bluffs, Omaha and Denver - Shortest and Best Route for Tourists."

I'd determine this ad to be from the mid-1920's, before the White Pole Road became US Route 6, when interest in auto-touring increased with the numbers of automobiles sold.

The flier goes on to gush, "The Great White Way is the best built, the best drained and the best kept road across Iowa.  It passes through twice as many good towns and cities, is always near railway accommodations and telegraph stations, has more garages, has by far the fewest hills. Fifty thousand dollars has been expended to improve grades, build cement and steel bridges, the approaches to which have been and are the special pride of men who have established the Great White Way. All along the route are well improved farms and stock ranches - sites worth traveling a long way to see."

These farms and ranches are still worth traveling a long way to see.  I never got over the thrill of seeing yet another looming, imposing, sky-high grain elevator up close, when I understood the phrase "our nation's breadbasket" in a more visceral, tangible way.  Iowa, Nebraska and eastern Colorado are regions roundly ignored in most "Best of" or "Top Attractions" tour guides, and that's a shame.  You'll learn a lot about our country, meet some great folks and be surprised  by the inventive and creative thinking (not to mention some great food) in our country's mid-section.

Lately, localities along the former White Pole Road have been trying to revive interest in the route, which now parallels the fast-flowing  I80.  I found the following on the White Pole Road website:

 In December of 1931, sections of our White Pole Road officially became a part of U.S. Highway 6, which at one point was the longest continuous east-west route in the United States stretching from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Long Beach, California.   In 1947, Iowa joined other states in officially designating US 6 to be named the Grand Army of the Republic Highway at the urging of an association of Union veterans of the Civil War.  In 1965, Interstate 80 was completed and the popularity of this once important highway diminished.


US Route 6 is an important part of our country's history and present.  I'm happy to have made the complete drive.  And it will be a pleasure to round up my findings in my own Best of And Top Attractions lists.  Stay tuned.....

"If You Show Me A Sign, I'll Be Willin' To Keep Moving" - Dallas Alice, Tonopah and US Route 6

Though I'm home, the road still calls.  I won't be answering for awhile, with hearth and home, family and East Coast generating equal appeal.  But it wasn't always so.  An eon ago, while in High School, I gave serious thought to becoming a truck driver, so I could satisfy my desire to explore the open road while making a living at the same time.  Back then, I'd listen to the song "Willin'" by Little Feat with welled-eyes - fully understanding the sentiments behind the words - "If You Show Me A Sign, I'll Be Willin' To Keep Moving."  Little did I know back then, that The Sign would be the US Route 6 Shield!

Back in March, I wrote this post about the Route 6, Tonopah, Little Feat connection.  In future posts, I'll feature Tonopah for reasons other than being in the trucker's anthem, "Willin."

Making the List on US Route 6

Travel lists can seem contrived, arbitrary and even a tad gratuitous, but we all love them.  So over the next couple of months, I'll be compiling my own "Best of Route 6" lists - and you can be sure that I've personally vetted every single place/person/thing that I write about. Why over the "next couple of months? Because I'll be traveling the globe until September and that's when I'll start to put my US Route 6 Guidebook together. Until then, I'll round up my experiences into small, managable Best of inventories including:

1. Best Watering Holes (Pubs, Saloons and Bars)

2. Hands Down Best Restaurant (I already have that one chosen and it won by a mile....stay tuned)

3. Best Hotel/B&B/Lodge With Incomparable Views

4. Most Outrageous, Larger Than Life Route 6 Characters

5. Best Route 6 Company Towns (with great factory/property tours)

6. Best Places to Discover Americana on US Route 6

7. Best Old Fashioned Soda Fountains on US Route 6 (Green River Phosphates, anyone?)

8. Most Surprising Discoveries on US Route 6

9. Best Hotel Amenities on US Route 6, Including Best "Wine and Cheese Afternoon Hour"



10. Most Historic Sites on US Route 6

11. Seven Natural Wonders of US Route 6

12. Best Sleepy Towns, Best Bustling Cities on US Route 6

13. Best Route 6 Main Streets

14. Best Bakery/Pastry Shop on US Rout 6

15. Best/Most Unusual Wineries on US Route 6

Leave a comment if you have any other ideas!

In Memory of Ardis James, Who, With Husband Robert Founded the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, NE (A Route 6 City)

International Quilt Study Center and Museum

Lincoln, NE

International Quilt Study Center and Museum

Lincoln, NE

International Quilt Study Center and Museum; put everything you thought you knew about the quaint, country art of quilting aside.  The once homespun handicraft has risen to the level of academic study. With 3,500 quilts from nearly 30 countries, this fantastic museum and study center conducts genealogical and sociological research on antique quilts, and exhibits these intricate and amazing creations on a rotating basis. The new LEED contemporary building was designed to represent pieces of a quilt and it showcases these artifacts in the best possible manner.  There’s an interactive room where you can record your own quilt story, and upstairs a soaring, temperature-controlled gallery where some of the oldest and best quilts the world has to offer are on display.  Famous quilter, Grace Snyder used 80,000 pieces in one of her creations, and the museum has one of her works on display.  “Quilts are so personal, so intimate, and a wonderful way to put a piece of yourself into a functional work of art to give to others,” said museum staff member Maureen Ose.  A must-see even for non-quilters (like me) who will gain appreciation for the craft here.

Last month, I wrote the above about the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, NE.  But I left out some very important information.  The Center was founded in 1997 when Chappaqua, NY residents Ardis and Robert James donated 1,000 quilts from their personal collection to establish a museum and academic study center in Lincoln, NE (where Ardis was born). 

Why am I revisiting this now?  Ardis and Robert moved into a senior residence in my hometown - Stamford, CT - and according to today's New York Times obituary, Ardis passed away on July 7, 2011 just several miles from my house. 

The world is richer for Ardis Jame's contribution to the art, craft and study of quilting.  This post is in honor and memory of her.

Dodging Disasters on US Route 6

Last month, I drove 3,652 miles from Provincetown, MA to Long Beach, CA on the longest contiguous federal highway in the United States - US Route 6.  For months, I contemplated the logistics of the drive, and though I was eager and excited to journey alone, I did harbor some concerns.

As a travel writer, I'm very comfortable going solo.  Being a woman without an entourage didn't bother me in the least (though I never advertised that fact on this blog). I never drove at night, booked either B&B's or safe hotels and was generally aware of precautions to take.

But I know that Mother Nature is not as predictable as Human Nature.  She can whirl a deadly tornado or swell a river without a moment's notice, and so the following were the Natural Disasters I was lucky enough to avoid as I made my way across the country in nothing more than a piece of tin on wheels;

Aftermath of Freak Hurricane, Summer 2010
Stamford, CT

Hurricanes: These were the least of my worries, as I was burrowing inland West of Cape Cod.  And anyway, most East Coast hurricanes occur in August/September.

Floods: Unprecedented flooding, especially in the Midwest, was big news when I left my home in on May 20th.  I carefully watched flood reports in Council Bluffs/Omaha and heard that some roads there might be off-limits.  Though I did witness rising water levels, I did not have to divert my own course.

Tornados; Fear of twisters kept me glued to the Weather Channel after a monster tornado took out most of Joplin, MO, two days into my Route 6 journey. As I approached Western Illinois and particularly in Iowa and the "tornado alley" of Nebraska, I became a TOR-CON (Tornado Condition) expert - assessing the possibility of a storm bad enough to spawn super cells and twisters. Fortunately, when bad (but not deadly) weather hit, it was usually during the night or before or after I got on the road.

Landslides/Falling Rocks;  I had nightmares of boulders cascading onto my car as I drove through canyons and alongside mountain cliffs, especially on I70 in Glenwood Canyon where it's happened before.  Fortunately, nary a pebble bounced onto my windshield, and the roads were free and clear of fallen rocks.


Earthquakes; This has been a seismically active season in the Pacific basin, and so it wasn't such a big leap to conjure up images of tumbling roadways and buildings in Southern California.  Good thing the earth did not move for me while I hung out in Los Angeles for just over a day.

Now that I'm home, I won't have to run the weather gauntlet until my next road trip (which won't be for awhile; a lame way of saying, I have no idea when), but I do intend to absorb and process all of my great experiences across the country and will write about them from time to time.  In the meantime, read past blogs and enjoy!