I – once again – went to California for a few weeks in October 2019, in my opinion the best time of the year to travel to the Golden State.

I had some clear images in my mind what kind of photographs I wanted to make. I already hat tons of the “normal” tourist pictures, so I went to look for the “typical” Californian Route 66 pictures: old gas stations, old-timers, a line of not-so-straight telephone poles next to the highway – you know what I mean.

But – I couldn’t find what I was looking for. Was I searching in the wrong places, or has all that stuff gone?

The image above is of a brand new gas station, presumably replacing an old gas station of the type I was looking for (btw: have a look at the gas prices…). Although it is neat and maybe symbolises the new kind of highway freedom in the US, it was not was I was looking for.

A bit later in the trip I came to Truckee, CA, near Donner Pass and one of the pricture-book Route-66-Towns (although it is nowhere near the historic Route 66, it is a typical town of the area). here I was able to find at least an old gas station – converted into nothing else than a real estate agency!

An old gas station converted into a real estate agency in Truckee, CA

Is this how we treat our history? Converting it into a real estate agency?

Whatever, it made for a nice picture, and I have to look for the typical “Route-66-Style” next time.

(Panasonic Lumix FZ-2000)