Part 3: "Mountains and Deserts"
In this part, we drive across the tracks of the old railroads which laid the way for Route 66.
Rudolfo Anaya, one of America’s leading Hispanic authors, tells how as a child growing up on Route 66 he told his mother he wanted to be a tourist when he grew up.
Then in Albuquerque and Flagstaff, we learn how cities have been using Route 66 to promote economic and heritage tourism.
Out in Hollywood and in LA, we explore films set on Route 66, and radio clips from Will Rogers and Wolfman Jack.
Leaving the mountains for California and its desert, we spend the night at a haunted house, visit an African-American educated at UCLA who is spending his life savings restoring a Route 66 landmark—and building a catfish farm in the middle of the Mojave.
We’re there at the Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino, talking with owners of classic cars, and interviewing Chicano nationalist in L.A. who insist Route 66 was a mistake in the first place.
We end with a Hollywood finale: listening to excerpts from Route 66 films and the Route 66 TV series. We conclude that Route 66 joined America’s regions across the tracks and opened up our soul as a nation.
All Aboard for Route 66!
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