Posted: 8/7/07
Caledonians take trip of
a lifetime on Route 66
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
"If you ever plan to motor west,
Travel my way,
Take the highway that is best --
Get your kicks on Route 66.
It winds from Chicago to LA,
More than two thousand miles all the way.
Get your kicks on Route 66."
Lyrics from Route 66
by Bobby Troup
Nat King Cole recorded the hit song about the famous highway in 1946. Since that time, countless musicians have performed the rock and roll standard. And millions of lovers of the open road have taken Bobby Troupís advice and gotten their "kicks on Route 66."
Five family members from Caledonia, ranging in age from 7 to 90, took a trip of a lifetime in July when they spent two weeks traveling from Bloomington, Ill. to Los Angeles on Route 66. And to make the trip a little more authentic, they did it in a 1963 Mercury Monterey.
The five local adventurers included 90-year-old Elsie Hellickson, daughters Ancy Hellickson, Wanda Pieper, son-in-law Bernard Pieper, and 7-year-old grandson Mitchell Wilson. It took the quintet 11 days to travel more than 2,500 miles to LA via Route 66, and just four days to return via the Interstate Highway System.
The idea to make the trip on the highway stretching from Chicago to LA was first discussed last November when Ancy told her sister Wanda she wanted to purchase a large classic car from the 1960s and drive Route 66.
Ancy had her heart set on a large four door that would provide a comfortable ride. She started surfing the Internet and found a 1963 Mercury Monterey in Iowa. After some negotiating, Ancy thought she had a done deal. The owner of the car planned to do a little work on it over the winter and Ancy planned to pick it up in the spring.
Unfortunately, the deal fell through in June, just two weeks before they were to make the trip. So Ancy got back on the Internet, and with the help of her nephew Brian Wilson, she found another ë63 Monterey and purchased it. This car was 500 miles away in Springfield, Mo.
Wilson drove his aunt to Missouri to pick up the car. The car was advertised as "road worthy," but Ancyís nephew insisted they travel to Missouri in his truck, equipped with plenty of tools and several gas cans (the gas gauge in the ë63 Mercury didnít work).
"The car worked fine on the trip back to Caledonia," Ancy reported. "That was a good test run, although I wasnít that concerned. We were going one way or another. If the car broke down on our trip, we planned to take the train. We were going."
Young Mitchell heard his relatives talking about the trip and told his grandmother he thought it sounded like fun. He begged to go along, he was small and there was plenty of room in the massive auto, so he was included.
But was a 5,000-mile round trip through some pretty desolate country in a 44-year-old car really a smart move for a 90-year-old woman?
"My youngest daughter didnít think I should go," Elsie said. "But I had taken many trips between Washington state, where I used to live, and Minnesota. This sounded like quite an adventure and I wanted to go!"
Ancy and Wanda did quite a bit of preparing for the trip. A website about Route 66 provided them with a very detailed itinerary of the entire route, complete with maps, and suggestions for taking alternative roads in some cases. Route 66 is no longer a complete highway from Chicago to LA. When the Interstate System was completed in the 1970s, sections of the famed highway were abandoned. Other sections are still there, but nothing more than gravel, or even dirt trails.
The Caledonia contingent left Houston County on July 9 and traveled to Bloomington, Ill. to get on Route 66.
"We didnít want to start in Chicago. Not with all that traffic. Bloomington was good enough," Ancy explained.
Coaxing the ë63 Mercury over the 5,000-mile route was an adventure in itself. While at the Route 66 museum in Springfield, Ill., the safety mechanism that prevented the car from being started in gear (it is an automatic transmission) went out.
"There were plenty of people who wanted to help us - to get under the hood," Wanda said. The big blue Monterey was quite a drawing card.
They werenít able to find a part for the old Mercury, but bypassed the broken part, and headed west towards LA.
Because the gas gauge didnít work, they tried to make sure the tank was always full. But there are many stretches on Route 66 where gas stations are few and far between. While attempting to "make it" to Albuquerque the car spitted and sputtered to a stop, just seven miles from town. Luckily, the modern convenience known as a cell phone brought help, but not before a long, hot wait.
Coming into Flagstaff, the car began to sputter again. Bernard knew the Mercury wasnít out of gas, but suspected a clogged fuel filter. It turned out to be a bad fuel pump. While the group was waiting for the car to be repaired, they ran into a relative of the Hellicksons from Spring Grove.
On the way home one of the back tires started to separate due to the intense Utah heat. They were able to limp into town and found a wheel and tire station still open on a Saturday afternoon that had a white wall tire they needed.
In Rifle, Colorado, they noticed their tail lights werenít working, as they were leaving the motel. The husband of the desk clerk was a classic car nut and had a great time trying to remedy the problem. After blowing two new fuses, the Good Samaritan decided there was a dead short. Following an unsuccessful search for the dead short, he suggested the car only be driven during daylight hours on the trip home.
The intense desert heat forced the group to "pack it in" early one afternoon while crossing California on the way out.
"When we reached Needles, California, it was 114 degrees," Wanda remembered. "We werenít about to cross Death Valley in that heat. Iím sure it was probably 120 in the valley. So we checked into a motel, got up at 3 the next morning and got across Death Valley before it got real hot."
Elsie said she was so surprised at how brown everything was out west. "I had never seen the desert before. It was very interesting," Elsie noted. "I told one man I would never live out in that country and I wouldnít want to die there either."
Just about everywhere the group went, people would stop and look at the beautiful blue Monterey Breezeway, with its unique slide down electric back window. And when people found out the Caledonia contingency was making a 5,000-mile trip along Route 66 in the classic car, they were surprised and impressed.
"The biggest chuckle I got was when this guy in California just couldnít believe we actually made it from Minnesota to California in that old car," Elsie said. "When we told him we planned to drive it back, he just shook his head."
Caledonia Argus
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507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com