Route 66

A clean and well-lit rest stop on the Information Superhighway.

" Get your kicks / on Route / 66."

You know how the song goes. Route 66 is a historic highway that partially runs along I-40, a major interstate highway that cuts through Flagstaff and Kingman and provides one of the major roads separating me from Las Vegas and Laughlin. The road is probably overhyped, but it nonetheless harkens back to a romanticized era of stuff. For that reason, I named my travel and geography section after this famed road. Now that I have been to both Washingtons, Baltimore and the heart of New York City, and you can see my pictures page to prove that point, I know that the West represents our dreams as a nation. You could say, then, that Route 66 is the road of dreams.

Geography rocks?

It’s more than knowing where Buenos Aires is, and it’s more than memorizing the names of all the capital cities in Africa. It’s about urban sprawl in the West and in the rest of the country. And it’s understanding the spatial differentiations in Michael Moore’s Roger and Me (that even appear in his next 2 works - and counting). It could even be tracking all of the transportation systems of the world - right down to modern-day light rail projects in Phoenix and elsewhere. Even better, it’s about class and economy and social stratification. Zoning, some will remind you, has its roots in discrimination. Hey, I’m a geek. But geography is also about travel. And it’s about Las Vegas. That’s why I study it. If you want to see more about my “professional credentials” and already-done research and all that good stuff, visit the Resume section. Otherwise I’ve linked to some of the same things here. And I have some more of my research and other information and opinions related to Geography here, ranging from mental maps to some thoughts on neon lighting and the people that want it in someone else’s town.