I wrote last Friday about life beyond the off-ramp — what Chandler and I experienced of the old Route 66 on our recent trip to the Grand Canyon. I ended that Catch with a proposed trip to Tucumcari, the real town in New Mexico that most resembles the fictitious Radiator Springs in the Pixar movie, “Cars.” Well, Chandler and I decided to turn our return trip from the Arizona national park into just that — an opportunity to explore what became known as the Main Street of America, the portions of the old Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica that we could discover on our way home from the Grand Canyon. So we picked up the scent west of Flagstaff, Arizona, in Ash Fork, and followed it, but for a few sections of I-40, all the way to Victorville, California. We took two days and many incredible memories we will talk about for a lifetime, to travel what easily could have been done in part of one forgotten monotonous day on the Interstate.

Instead of Kingman, Needles and Barstow — the only towns whose names you might even remember as you whiz by on I-40, we went right through the Main Streets of Peach Springs, Oatman, Goffs, and Ludlow, forgotten remnants of another day, or as Amboy, California boasts, “The ghost town that ain’t dead yet.” With everyone we met, conversation flowed easily.

I was amazed at how much Chandler picked up on the adventure, navigating us through  conflicting maps, even sending us backtracking to pick up a section we almost missed. Almost no one was traveling these roads. We went through 5, even 10 minute periods of not seeing another car. Once, I felt like we were in the Twilight Zone and everyone else on the planet had disappeared.

Right off the bat, Seligman, Arizona was the town that most embraced the Routs 66 theme, with almost every business, motel and eatery boasting the familiar US 66 black-and-white shield and numerous gift shops stocked with roadside memorabilia from the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. The once-famous road was completed in 1926, but its heyday spanned those mid-century decades, and most of the small towns we passed through are picking up on what appears to be a small Route 66 renaissance.

It’s incredible how much closer to the scenery and the local culture one single two-lane highway brings you. By far the most memorable was a section between Kingman, Arizona and Needles, California that wound and switchbacked its way through nine miles of  mountainous terrain that seriously rivaled the Grand Canyon in its striking shapes and colors. “Nine miles; 122 curves” as one shop owner expressed it. Blooming yellow mustard plants colored both sides of the road, blending into red cliffs and crystal blue sky with white wisps of clouds overhead. The memory is still in my mind even without a photograph.

This whole experience reminded me of the unseen nature of the kingdom of God — how the Spirit begins to show you deeper realities you have been missing and you are amazed at what was under your nose all along but you passed right by it. This is true of history, of the presence of God in all things, and the spiritual lessons every day affords that we so often miss because we are moving so fast from one thing to another.

Take it from Chandler and me: take another route. It may take longer, but believe me, it will be worth it.