Ive been told many times that the best way to see America is to drive across it.
The real 66 is bumpy, unkempt, and rife with weed-filled cracks.
The more the road resembles the regular highway, the more likely it is youve veered off course.
Donkeys hanging out in Oatman, Arizona.Courtesy of Dan Sheehan
Modern interstates are bright, sterile, and with little to look at besides ads.
Were in high spirits, with me behind the wheel of a rented Volvo SUV.
This decision seemed to baffle Evan, but I was excited to drive the entirety of the road myself.
There, were greeted by a friendly older woman.
She then smiles and reassures me that she actually loves Chicago.
You know my favorite building in Chicago?
she asks, pausing for effect.
This window into Americas past is part of the appeal of driving Route 66.
That image is one absent of modern complexity.
There are no phones, emails, or social media.
But, much to the delight of the MAGA crowd, its also an image absent of modern progress.
Its populated largely by white people, most of whom are grouped off into tidy nuclear families.
The cars are candy-colored classics and the cops wear crisp blue shirts instead of riot gear.
A calendar featuring Keen dressed up in his mayoral outfit promises to Make Uranus Great Again.
Their fudge is as serious as fudgin the presidential election.
My nose wrinkles as I connect the dots.
Were these little references to Trump only there because they helped sell more merchandise?
Or has Route 66 been so completely co-opted by the right that the two could no longer be untangled?
The whale is a cartoonish bright blue, and sits on an idyllic pond full of fish and turtles.
No one was seriously injured, no one ever sued, no one was ever bitten by a snake.
It was a good time, it was a good place.
As we walk in, two brothers are doing just that.
A second car, done up in similar fashion, comes up behind it.
Before long, the parking lot has at least 10 cars outfitted in Trump regalia.
Their passengers get out, each of them clad in various combinations of red, white, and blue.
As each new car pulls up, more excited Trump supporters pour out.
Their shared fanaticism feels like a ritual, as though Trump himself might rise from the lake.
He begins speaking of ejecting the many people in our country whom he has deemed undeserving of his bounty.
He quickly loses the attention of the crowd.
The guide provides an open invitation to its authors gallery, so of course we plan a stop.
Before we even introduce ourselves, he asks for our copy.
With great efficiency, he flips through and marks various detours and road closings.
We get to chatting.
Route 66 has had many iterations over the years and theres ongoing debate.
Youre gonna chase a lot of rabbits, he tells us.
Youre gonna waste a lot of time.
Texas is less concerned with nostalgia for Americas past as it is with enthusiasm for itself.
Flags are just symbols, shortcuts you could use to recognize someones affiliation.
When an authoritarian movement gets its claws in a flag, it doesnt tend to walk away unscathed.
Now, Evan and I see another overpass gathering.
This group waves no swastikas, only American flags.
The lack of hate symbols comes as a relief to us, but the gesture seems ominous.
Five young Spanish-speaking friends razz each other to jump in from the rocky ledge.
A nearby older woman with a thick Texan drawl yells, Bien trabajo!
Her accent makes it sound like a song.
I see everyone smiling, swimming, and laughing with strangers.
Leah closes by asking us what wed have done if we found ourselves in the same situation.
Would we have been able to show grace to our enemies?
Could we feel sympathy for scared kids in the wrong uniforms?
You dont know what moment you live in, she says.
What were living before, during, and after.
We have to choose for ourselves how to react.
The audience is silent.
Then she sends us all on our way, spellbound.
Its Indigenous Peoples Day.
The instinct towards respect was still in there, like concrete beneath asphalt.
The land was stolen by Spanish settlers, becoming part of Mexico and then the United States.
A railroad was built along old pioneer wagon trails, and Route 66 was built along the railroad.
When I-40 became the preferred thoroughfare, the businesses were abandoned.
One giant sign reads, in a chunky 1960s font, Make Love, Not War Trump/Vance.
Its very different from driving, says.
You meet more people, stop in more places.
I ask her what gave her the idea and she smiles.
I can do anything.
At the time, the story was dramatized and used to stoke hatred towards Americas indigenous populations.
With its Gold Rush days long behind it, Oatmans 2024 economy is a little more precarious.
On paper, a visit to Oatman lets tourists experience a preserved Wild West town.
In practice, its a place to watch people avoid getting bit by donkeys.
If the primary pillar of the towns economy is wild donkeys, the second isDonald Trump.
There isnt a single store on Oatmans main street that hasnt found a way to promote Trump merch.
Another hangs a 13-starred colonial American flag.
Twisted Sister blasts from speakers on the street and the tourists bob their heads along.
Self-sufficient, homogenous, and isolated, this seems to be the realized dream of modern conservatism.
People would be wearingmypreferred brands of t-shirt here, though wed soon see how much good itd do us.
Route 66 should be experienced westward, seeing the sun set over a series of new horizons.
I worry about the next horizon.
The only future being promised now is a warped refraction of our own idealized past.
When we do, well know where the road behind us really was.
Maybe then, the path forward will be a little clearer.
