Monday, June 28, 2010

Get Your Kicks . . .

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Just wanted to slip a post in here while I had a minute, to put in a short piece of free advertising for Stickup Artist's truly excellent blog, Living In the Wild West. She's been doing a photo series about the old Route 66, of which some remnants still remain out in California. She has a special way with a camera, I would encourage anyone to go take a look through alot of her past posts, for there is some fabulous work hiding there in her back pages. Like in the Dylan song... My Back Pages.
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So while out walking around in Paris the other day, I couldn't help but think of Stickup Artist when I saw this café not far from the Bastille . . .
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I'm thinking that years and years ago, cars like this one may have gone up and down Route 66 . . .
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46 comments:

The Sagittarian said...

Oh, how great to be roaming about in an ol' car like that eh? And thanks for the hint about Living in the Wild West, truly some great photos there!

Now then, almost Tuesday....

Nathalie said...

Wonderful !
And thanks for the link to Stickup artist's route 66 shots, it's a wonderful blog!

@eloh said...

Well, there's another one I can't live without.

Not that many years ago, you could still see the remnants of old model "T"'s left in the desert during the great migration of the 1930's dust bowl.

Steve said...

Now that's a car with real personality!

mythopolis said...

Stick Up's site is great, and I've enjoyed the "66" series, having driven many parts of it. Some parts have disappeared unfortunately.

The old Chevy pic is great. These were frequently seen 1939 - 43 or so, in the form of mail trucks used by the US Postal service. A friend restored one, and set the whole body down over a Jeep Cherokee chassis, with Jeep motor and four wheel drive. Fabulous ride!

PeterParis said...

Although I did a lot of the US routes in 1965, by using an unlimited traveling by a 99$ Greyhound ticket, I only crossed the 66, much to my regret, but there was such a lot to see and do. Nice memories!


... and what a great opportunity to show one od your vintage car peictures!

Jean said...

J'adore la citation du "Petit Prince "que vous avez mise sur le blog "Life is beautiful " .

Clytie said...

I will have to go check out Stickup Artist's blog. You do have a knack for finding the coolest ones!

You asked about the subject of my trash reflection ... I used a broken plastic toy tube to isolate and focus in on the sun reflecting from the turn signal on an old dead pickup truck.

Have a wonderful week!

The Pliers said...

You are so sweet!

Amy said...

Looks like she'll need to go to Paris to finish up her series! I love reading her posts and seeing her tremendous photos. I hope lots of folks go over to take a look!

Owen said...

Dear Saj !

Can't wait 'til Tuesday. Shucks, it may be Tuesday already where your are for all I know... Will be by soon to see if it really is Tuesday, 'cause we all know good things happen on Tuesday... which may be why the Moody Blues even wrote a song about it...

We could park one of these in front of our hotel... to draw in the curious...

And you are very welcome for the link to Stickup's place, her photos are something else again...

Owen said...

Hi Nathalie !
She is good... worth keeping an eye on... could be the next Ansel Adams...

Greetings to Avignon !

Owen said...

Hey @eloh,
We'll add it to the list...

I wish I had time and resources to go scouring the desert out west a bit for traces of the past, I'm sure there are still plenty, it's so vast...

Hope you are well...

Owen said...

Steve,
I think she's smiling at your comment... she loves nice feedback like that...

Catherine said...

Route 66, correspondance à Bastille, ligne 1.

Une petite "licence IV" pour nous rappeler que nous ne sommes pas si loin :-) Il y des cafetiers qui ne savent pas aller jusqu'au bout de leur rêve.....Mais on le touche.

Owen said...

Hey Mythopolis,
Her photos are so good they make me shiver every time...

Mail trucks huh ? I'm wondering if this one might be the origin of "I took my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry..." ?
:-)

Your friend's one sounds like fun. How's that VW coming along ?

Owen said...

Peter,
wow, 1965 huh, 45 years ago... hope you still have hundreds of pictures from that trip to post ??? What ? You didn't have a digital camera back then ?

What I would give to be able to go back on the trips we took back and forth across the US in the late 60's... I didn't even have a film camera then... my Dad did the picture taking...

Owen said...

Bonjour Jean,
et oui, le Petit Prince, quasiment tout le bouquin vaut d'être cité... c'est tellement belle comme histoire...
Merci...

Owen said...

Hi Clytie,
Wow... a broken turn signal... turned into a work of art...
It's all in the artist's imagination, but the potential out there is limitless...

Owen said...

Dear Pliers,
It is Stickup who is sweet, me, I'm just snips and snails and puppy dogs tails...
:-)

Owen said...

Hey Amy,
Well, given the tens of thousands of visitors to this page every day, she should see a significant increase in traffic over the next 24 hours on her site ...

(haha... guess I have a ways to go yet before that fantasy is achieved...)(dreamer, nothing but a dreamer...)

Owen said...

Salut Catherine !
Et oui, route soixante-six Paris Babylon, voie express...

Je ne connais pas tous les détails de ce qu'une license 4 pourrait valoir, mais semblerait-il qu'il y avait un groupe musical de ce nom qui a eu un certain succès il y a quelques années... des chansons pour buveurs bien sûr...
:-)

Roxana said...

i discovered her marvelous work thanks to your - once again - amazing generosity, Owen, and now i am a faithful reader!
waiving at both of you, smiling -

Stickup Artist said...

Dearest Owen,

Thank you so much for the shout out. I am deeply touched and grateful for all your kindness, friendship, wit, and support from practically day one. Your generosity of spirit and enthusiasm are truly inspirational and so deeply appreciated. And I can't believe the 66 is alive and well in France! That's just amazing. We might all get to meet there one day when I get to France!

And all you guys kind enough to take a gander at my blog from time to time...

I literally have moisture welling in my eyes from your all your kind words!

HAPPY TRAILS!

Lynne with an e said...

Thanks for the tip, bro. I joined the mass exodus from here and ran across the highway to see what was sticking up.

Lynne with an e said...

Oh- and loved what I saw!

Anonymous said...

Hi Owen,
You are always alerting us to interesting blogs and me personally to squirrel related posts, so i thought that I should return the favor. Please check out my friend Marie's blog here http://lenightowlinjonzac.blogspot.com/

I think you will like it.

Owen said...

Hi Roxana,
And I'm waving back... you must have very good eyes, I'm amazed you can see us down here on the ground from way up there in the clouds on the floating bridge...

Stickup artist has just a beautiful way of looking at things... straightforward, honest, straight shooting... I like all those qualities... And she somehow seems to always be at the right place at the right time... another quality not easy to come by...

Owen said...

Dear Stickup,

Largely merited ! An avalanche starts as just one snowflake shifting its tiny weight, then two... and so forth...

And the next time you're in Paris, a round of drinks is on me, at the 66 Café ! With pleasure...

Owen said...

Lynne,
Ahem... running across hallways to see what's sticking up... just like you I guess... Last night I watched the film Notting Hill, with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant... very amusing... not that that has anything to do with anything...

Hope you had a fine time over at Stickup's place... there are worse places to spend a quiet moment, going way back into her back pages...

Owen said...

Hi LGS,
Thanks very much, I did just go drop by the link you gave here... a young new blog in the works there... signed up as follower number two, just behind you... Will be curious to see where it goes...

Lydia said...

I love all things Route 66....so this post appealed greatly to me. What finds, both the cafe and the vehicle.
Now I'm off to check out Stickup's blog.

Mary Ann said...

My parents live just a few hundred feet from historic rt 66 in St. Louis. almost all traces of it have vanished.

Lynne with an e said...

Owen,
I didn't run across a mere hallway to see what was sticking up, I took my life in my hands and ran across the freaking highway: a reference to Route 66. And on the other side of a highway, cutting through desert and the underbelly of an all but forgotten middle America, who knows what one might find sticking up...including a stick-up artist.

One of my guilty pleasures is Notting Hill. I esp. like the tall blonde crazy tenant guy. But why on earth would you mention watching that movie in response to my previous comment? Owen the Obscure, a very hardy read, I must say.
:-)

Lynne with an e said...

Oh, wait a minute, hold the phone...you took time out to watch an oldish, feel-good type romantic comedy? You were being self-indulgent and pampering yourself with a form of self-medication; not producing, or fretting, or organizing, or obsessing, snapping photos, writing poetry or bloggage, not ironing your shirts or getting a hair cut or washing the car or serving anyone else's purpose. Well done, BrOwen!

clo said...

merci pour ce lien Owen...ce blog est tres sympa ...il ya de superbes photos...et question dépaysement c'est totalement assuré...
de gros bisoux a toi...mille mercis pour ta gentillesse...
bises a bientot..:o)

LadyFi said...

Route 66 is a legend - even for this ex-pat Brit living in Sweden! The Swedes have lots of old cars like this one.

jeff said...

On fait comment pour ouvrir cette porte Owen ?... On la pousse, on passe à travers, on sonne ?...
Mais est-ce une porte d'abord ?...:)

Jo said...

If you ever plan to motor west,
"Travel my way, take the highway that is best.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.

It winds from chicago to la,
More than two thousand miles all the way.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six."


Just from hearing that song, I always thought Route 66 would be the most romantic road in the world on which to travel ... in a convertible, of course ... :-)

Owen said...

Hi Lydia,
Hope you had a good time over at Stickup's place...

If only, if only we could turn the clocks back for a long enough to go back are take another look...

Owen said...

Hi Mary Ann,
Which explains why I think Stickup is really doing something totally worthwhile, saving some of the last traces, before they're totally gone... covered over, torn down, obliterated by... "progress"

Owen said...

Dearest Lynne,
Imagine that, Mr Toad actually kicking back, chilling out, feet up, beer in hand, in front of a perfectly silly and improbable piece of entertainment, yet giggling, smiling, a joyfully idiotic tear or two welling up... well, what halfway normal healthy male wouldn't want Julia Roberts to walk into their life ??? And I can't remember why I would have mentioned that, ever since reading your Memoire Blanc, I can't remember much of anything... anyway, I'm glad to hear you're still sticking up, as in standing up, and didn't get run over by a tractor trailer worth of memories out there trying to cross old route 66...

PS figures you would like the weird Welsh guy
:-)

Owen said...

Howdy Clo !
Ses photos sont belles, n'est-ce pas ? Elle capte des trucs sublime en se baladant...

Tous nos voeux partent vers toi et la petite famille dans le sud, pour que la vie reprenne après cet ahurissant chapitre apocalyptique...

Bon courage

Owen said...

Hello LadyFi, thanks for dropping in here... what's a Brit doing in Sweden ? I've heard there are some interesting old cars up that way, in the far northlands... there is one blog in particular that has already given me a strong desire to go look around up there a bit...

http://johnsfoto.blogspot.com/

If you like derelict old automobiles, there are quite a few to be found on John's blog... though he hasn't updated for a while, I hope he'll be back...

Owen said...

Jeff, Salut Jeff...

Ah, cela ne m'étonne pas que tu souhaiterais trouver la façon d'entrer là dedans, car il y a sûrement des tisanes d'excellentes qualités à trouver là dedans...

L'astuce c'est la toute petite ouverture là où le trottoir rencontre le mur, sous le mot "conditioned"... il faut se faufiler par cette ouverture pour rentrer. Pour un crapaud comme moi, ce n'est point un problème. Pour d'autres gabarits, je ne sais pas trop comment vous pouvez rentrer... il doit y avoir un moyen...
:-)
Une très bonne soirée à toi...

Owen said...

Hi Jo !
Indeed, indeed, in a convertible, with Elvis on the radio, or Jerry Lee Lewis...

Hope all is well in Vancouver...