"If you ever plan to motor west;
travel my way, take the highway that's the best.
Get your kicks on Route 66."

Thus sang the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Nat King Cole and countless others. The words and music of Bobby Troup has inspired millions to make this historic journey. Now it was the turn of The Fat Pack.

In true English style we made the journey from west to east in January. The reasons being: well, we drive on the opposite side of the road from you American guys, and in our country we boast a climate that consists of 9 months winter and 3 months bad weather... So for us this was a normal road journey! Also, a more serious reason for this planned date is that it coincided with Dino's 50th birthday.

Now Dino's family were very understanding when he told them he was going to spend his 50th birthday 5,000 miles away from his family for a total of 2 weeks driving along his dream highway. They were so understanding that they told him he could go and live there permanently!!! But this is nothing new for the members of the Fat Pack. Only last year Peter Spent his 50th in Cuba with the rest of the guys and his wife said absolutely nothing... In fact she hasn't said anything to him ever since!!!

The idea to do the trip was originally Dino's, but very quickly the rest of the guys fell in with the it. First we made ourselves members of the National Historic Route 66 Federation, an excellent non profit organisation whose aim is the awareness and preservation of Route 66. Through these caring people we discovered that we could not only adopt a section of the road, but also we could have our name inscribed on a brick at the midpoint monument, Adrian, Texas.

"Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona" sang the Eagles, and that is exactly where we stood mid January, for it is this section that we have adopted — Section 18: Winslow to Williams. This section takes in Flagstaff and Meteor City where, apparently, a meteorite fell at a speed of 150,000mph leaving a crater with a diameter of 1 mile and a circumference of 3 miles! Now this may be impressive, but come on you guys, this is also an eyesore. It obviously needs filling in, leveling off and a couple of casinos and bars building over it. I mean somebody could fall down this huge hole, and where would that leave us? So that is our first recommendation to the Federation. (A joke!)

Proposed site of new Fat Pack casino and leisure complex (Still joking!).

We are also the very proud owners of our very own brick, inscribed with our names: "The Fat Pack" alongside our heroes, The Rat Pack. All this makes us feel very privileged and honoured to be involved in such a wonderful scheme as the preservation of the Route 66. As an added bonus, we have been granted honorary citizenship of Adrian, Texas. Something which we feel makes us somewhat unique back here in the United Kingdom. At this point we would like to thank the Honourable Larry Loveless, Mayor of the city of Adrian, for this kind and thoughtful gesture.

Amongst the highlights of our trip was Dino's 50th. We stayed in Holbrook, Arizona at the Wigwam Motel. The idea to sleep in a wigwam is everyone's dream — Well... It was ours! Also, it was good practice for Dino, for he has now been relegated to sleeping in a tent in his back garden since his arrival home. Permanently!!!

We failed at The Big Texan Steak Ranch, where if you finish the 72oz steak in less than hour, it's free. Our very own pack member "The Big P", for whom eating is a religion (In fact, he once had a book published extolling the virtues of religion and fatty foods... Called "Praise the Lard". I kid you not!) made the mistake of eating a big Texan style breakfast that same morning, leaving no room for the 72 ounce steak... But he has vowed to return for a second try.

The whole trip was a blast and we certainly got our kicks; and being that we happened to frequent a few bars along the way we also got our "sips" on Route 66.

THE ROUTE 66 PHOTOS

Traveling is about seeing new places, and taking photographs of people or of things that usually turn out to be too far away. Traveling is also about discovering the different and occasionally the bizarre; about finding something adventurous, daring, and even romantic in yourself. It's about expanding your perceptions.... Well we certainly found our Route 66 journey to be all of these things, and more. Below are just a few photographs of our recent trip and if one photograph looks indistinguishable from the other, we alone, remember the difference.

Texas - Shamrock.
The Fat Pack doing what they do worst... Sing.
Although the bunch of Texan guys who sang after us, were unbelievably worse!!
(Sorry Ty)

Illinois - Chicago.
Our kinda town and Pippins bar was most certainly our kinda bar.

Illinois - Chicago.
The Big "P" having an arresting time.

After the reunion, it was a long hitch-hike home for Butch.