Couple enjoys trip on Route 66
Rowland and Barbara Maddox have been getting their kicks on Route 66 for their entire lives, so it only seemed fitting to celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary cruising along that famous stretch of road."The trip was Rowland's idea," said Barbara, 84. "I want to give him all the credit. We had just come back from a trip when he suggested it, and, at first, I didn't know if I was up to it, but the more I thought about it, the better it sounded."
The Upland couple on Nov. 6 packed up their PT Cruiser and headed down the historic highway with the destination of Winslow, Ariz. - yes, the same one made famous by the classic rock-n-roll band, The Eagles.
Barbara's first trip on Route 66 was in a Model A Ford when she was 2.
She had moved with her family from her San Diego birthplace to Flagstaff, Ariz.
Barbara's family eventually moved back to California and settled in downtown Los Angeles.
Rowland, 86, also took his first trip on Route 66 in a Model A Ford. It was 1935, he was 10.
He and his father escorted a lady and her two daughters from their home in Kansas to California during The Great Depression.
"Times were tough and my parents split up and they split us kids up," said Rowland, who went with his father while his two sisters stayed with their mother.
Rowland, however, wouldn't remain with his father.
Once in school, Rowland became close friends with Barbara's cousin John and his family.
Rowland's father planned to remarry and Rowland "did not fit into the picture."
Rowland was welcomed into John's family and through family functions, eventually met his future wife.
During their growing up years, the couple traveled Route 66 many times - separately and together.
Rowland had become so special to Barbara's family that their union had the family's blessing even before the couple's Nov. 9, 1945 wedding day.
The couple honeymooned by driving Route 66.
"Route 66 has always played such a big role in our lives," Barbara said.
Barstow Harvey House - News
Another memorable stop was the historical museum in Barstow, which used to include a Harvey House, a popular chain of hotels, lunchrooms and restaurants, established by Fred Harvey. Rowland and Barbara stopped at many former Harvey Houses on their trip
Barstow Harvey House Hits 100 | History | SoCal Focus | KCET
Isolated on a dusty road that bends around a rock ridge, Barstow's restored Harvey House Rail Depot sits with elegant dignity in the desert. Formally known as Casa del Desierto, it once had a restaurant, a circling lunch counter, a ballroom, and rooms providing lodging for travelers and employees. Locals still talk about the station's dining room requiring diners to dress formal.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Harvey House opening for service later this month, the city will hold a small party and cut some cake for the station it still treasures.
The landmark was built by Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, designed by Fred Harvey Company to be its premiere stop in the west. It was completed in 1910, and the infamous Harvey Girls--female floor staff--were in place on February 22, 1911.
The Spanish-Moorish building was designed by Mary E. J. Coulter, who is well-known by rail aficionados as the architect behind the Harvey House Restaurant for Union Station in Los Angeles (Harvey Houses used dot the nation along railroads). Barstow's gem was shuttered in 1971 and later was stripped of its delicate fixtures by artifact hunters. Rooms were trashed by squatters. When in the latter half of the 1980s, Santa Fe planned to demolish the station, the city stepped in to purchase the property and building in 1990. However, the day before a 1992 re-dedication, the 7.3 magnitude Landers quake struck causing structural damage and postponing an opening.
It was restored, retrofitted, and reopened in 1999. Now the ballroom is rented out for events and rooms were adapted for use as office space. It is also become the home to the Route 66 Mother Road Museum and the Western American Railroad Museum.
"The top floors of the building house what is known as the business portal and have nine business," says Jeri Justus, Executive Director of the Barstow Chamber Of Commerce, the first tenant of the restored Historic Harvey House.