For 3,940 kilometres, Rick Antonson had his nose pressed up to the window of America.
Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California all passed by in a kaleidoscope of images and impressions as he and his driving companion travelled whats known as Main Street America or the Mother Road. Along the way, myth and reality intermingled, in part because they discovered the American ability to tell a myth so often that it becomes its own sort of reality.
America is not to be understood, Antonson says. It can be contemplated, but never understood.
Thats the advantage of having Antonson as our cultural voyeur in his new book, Route 66 Still Kicks: Driving Americas Main Street. The head of Tourism Vancouver packs along his Canadian sense of detachment. He can be shocked when an American store owner walks towards him carrying a gun but then be able to carry out a polite conversation. He knows that Americans are different than Canadians but that it doesnt make them strangers.
America is as much myth as it is fact, he says, nestled in a booth in The Templeton, Granville Streets homage to the diners that catered to Americans sense of adventure when roadways opened up the country in the prosperous years following the Second World War. Americans dont have Canadians self-doubt, or self-questioning, and, as a result, they do a lot of self-conversion.
In other words, dont let the truth get in the way of a good story. [They] take the facts and re-tell them in a self-friendly way.
Antonson started his journey with his own set of preconceptions and biases. His own views of life are left of centre and Route 66 takes you right to the heart of places that voted for George Bush not once, but twice, and without question. (He thinks the perfect ticket in this years presidential campaign would be Barack Obama for president and Mitt Romney as his vice-presidential running mate. Americans, Antonson says, are both do not take away my independence but help me out.)
The people are so authentic, says Antonson. The only thing that got threatened was my prejudice.
A country that needed the Supreme Court to allow a watered-down healthcare bill is populated by people who were more than willing to help Antonson when he periodically gets in trouble in journey across America. They like people in trouble, Antonson says. They like the notion of helping you.
Paraphrasing another writer, he says, Its an America thats not as lost as you thought it was. Its an America thats honest and sincere and forthright, with no self-doubt, but the people are as generous as youd ever find.
Route 66 travellers would feel at home at The Templeton
There are diners that try to recreate the kitschy-ness of 1950s Americana with shiny, bright (and new) memorabilia on the walls.
And then there are diners that embody that sense of fun and excitement in their DNA.
The Templeton manages to be both the real deal and a reflection of Vancouvers fastidiousness about good quality food. Thats why you find juicy thick hamburgers on the menu but the beef is organic and the chicken is free range. Theres even a vegetarian version. And look there, on the blackboard as todays dessert special, is a deep-fried, died-and-gone-to-heaven Mars bar.
The faded decor has enough cracks to let you know its been around for a long time and because its earned the loyalty of its patrons who voted The Templeton the best diner in WE Vancouvers Best of the City poll you know it will be around for a long time to come.
Best of all? When they give you the bill, you get a Dubble Bubble, the ultimate chew of childhood.
