Posted on 03/29/2012 7:41:59 AM PDT by blam
97% Of The Travelers On America's 'Mother Road' Are White
Gus Lubin
March 29, 2012, 8:06 AM
A big report is out on the importance of Route 66, which John Steinbeck dubbed America's "mother road."
The study by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, the National Park Service and the American Express Foundation argues for state spending to support this culture and economic institution.
But who enjoys the road from Chicago to Santa Monica?
The socioeconomic profile of the Route 66 traveler is:
1. Overwhelmingly (97 percent) white in race.
2. Overwhelmingly (97 percent) not Hispanic in ethnicity (recall however, the English-only version of the survey).
3. Generally (71 percent) married, though about one-tenth never married and one-seventh are currently divorced/widowed/separated.
4. Overwhelmingly middle-age (median of about 55 years) with a prominent senior contingent (46 percent were 60 years or older) and a younger cohort as well (about one-ninth were 20 to 39 years of age).
5. Generally (61 percent) in a two-member household, though about one seventh were in one-member households and a small share (3 percent) were in large households of five or more members.
6. Typically well educated (about 30 percent have started or finished undergraduate college and an approximately equal share have started/completed graduate work), with some exceptions (about one-eighth have either just attended or graduated high school).
7. Employed in many occupations (about one-fifth are in service, sales, transportation, and maintenance), though the most popular occupation category by far (36 percent) is management and professional (the latter management/professional finding comporting with the typically more advanced educational attainment noted earlier). Of note is that about four-tenths of the Route 66 travelers are retired.
8. Generally of middle-income (median household income of about $62,500), though there is a considerable
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
So What?
I have always loved that song. Sometime back in the early 1950s, an automotive writer named Tom McCahill wrote that the composer, Vincent Youmans, used to race the Super Chief “from Chicago to L.A.” in his Lincoln Continental. Always wished I could try that.
I suspect the reason the riders on the road were largely white had to do with money. It’s a luxury, and whites tend to have more disposable income.
Plus, to care about Route 66, you have to love America.
And minorities are taught to hate America.
(For the record, my father, who was an accidental American like myself, having make his home in Israel, toured Route 66 with my mother, his wife, 10 years ago -— because he loved America and wanted to see it.)
Hmmm, second story over the last two days about whitey getting more travel time than the “oppressed classes”.
Bobby Troup (from Emergency!, and real life husband of Julie London) wrote the song.
Greyhound don’t do Route 66. I suspect the numbers would be pretty similar on US 12 near my home.
My folks did the Route 66 thing for their honeymoon in ‘63 (in a Volkswagon Beetle!)
Thanks to the movie “Cars”, my kiddies think it would be the coolest thing ever to take a Route 66 roadtrip.
After seeing the demographics, looks like a safer trip than the usual Florida vacation!
Yes, I knew Bobby Troup wrote it. I think Youmans was way before his time. He was more of a Broadway musical type, I believe, and evidently a secret hot-shoe driver too.
What about Matin Luther King Blvd?
Or 1/2 black. Lots of White mama’s
****A big report is out on the importance of Route 66****
I’ve been on that road many times. Now, most people take I-44 through Missouri to OKC, then I-40 west.
Don’t forget that minorities are under-represented at national parks, too.
Its the mother road, not the brother road.
Seems to me that somebody is working up to a push for taxpayer funded vacations for the poor.
I wonder if I could get a government grant to study how much tax money is wasted on useless studies.
77% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
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