The Duke Joins Me on Route 66

On August 30 my husband----in BVG talk, The Duke-----joined six of his closest friends, including me, on Route 66. He is the last of seven of us, all members of the Class of '66, to turn 66 in this past year. He is four months younger than I am, and for four months each year he points that out to me. That only bothered me when I was in my 30's and he was still in his 20's, and then for each decade after. When we both turned 65 last year, it was our time to sign up for Medicare. This year we are journeying together on what my sister pointed out to me could be called Route 66. I took her suggestion and expanded it to the point that, in honor of my husband's 66th birthday, I threw a Route 66 party for him. Hence the cake pictured above, thanks to a friend of ours, a fellow traveler on Route 66 this year.

Both j and her husband are on Route 66 this year, and they were at the party to welcome my husband aboard. Cool and her husband were here, even though it will be a few years before they start their own journey on Route 66. Elletu, though invited, was unable to attend, but there were 13 partygoers, more than half of which are 66. Our motto for this year: It is better to be 66 than 666!

My Brain Quiz for this event was all about Route 66, and I could tell everyone had been studying all the information I e-mailed to them over the past several weeks. We all learned so much that now we want to get out there and travel that route from Chicago to L.A. But alas, it's not all still there. The parts that remain are designated as Historic Route 66. The U.S. Interstate Highway System replaced the route, but interest in this highway, which was established in 1926, has only increased.

So the party was lots of fun, and we did some reminiscing per usual. This same group of friends came to our house 27 years ago for another party, a Jack Benny Party, the year we all turned 39. We could not have predicted that 27 years from then we would reconvene for a Route 66 Party. But I will state this now: Here's hoping (and praying) we can all be together 11 years from now for--what else?---a 77 Sunset Strip Party!