Cars!

Ron and I went to OKC this evening for the Oklahoma premiere of Cars. I can pretty much sum up my whole review in three words:

Go.
See.
It.

This may be the most visually stunning film ever made. I have exactly zero interest in NASCAR, but the NASCAR sequences were so spectacular that I very well might have to park myself in front of the TV next time a race is on.

The Route 66 scenes were incredible. You can’t believe the details they included. There’s a scene where Lightning and Sally go for a drive, and you see the pits and cracks in the pavement under their tires … the dappled light filtering down through trees that look very reminiscent of the Kaibab National Forest … the winding switchbacks up Oatman Road in Arizona … a bridge with supports suspiciously reminiscent of the 11th Street Bridge here in Tulsa … the dazzling rock formations and gorgeous skies of New Mexico … and the breathtaking Havasu Falls, which in real life is about 70 miles plus a VERY long hike off of 66.

At another point, a character turns on a neon sign, and you hear the transformer buzz. It’s a tiny little thing, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood under the sign at the Blue Swallow Motel at dusk, just waiting to hear the old transformers hum to life.

I laughed with sheer delight at the sight of my friend Michael turned into a gruff old ‘49 Mercury police cruiser, and I cried at the sight of Radiator Springs — the fictional Route 66 town where the story takes place — in its heyday, followed by images of the town now, with businesses shuttered, windows boarded up, and neon signs dimmed.

Radiator Springs isn’t real, but it might as well be; its story is the story of dozens of communities all along 66 (and all the rest of this country’s blue highways, for that matter) that were decimated by the loss of tourist traffic after the interstates opened.

Cars opens Friday. Go see it. Then throw a change of clothes in the trunk and go see my road. And give me a yell on your way through Oklahoma. We’ll have dinner at the Rock Cafe, where you can meet Dawn Welch, the inspiration behind Sally the Porsche and an all-around great girl. I’ll even buy the first round of fried pickles.

If you’re in Oklahoma, you can watch the movie on Friday night and then get your first taste of 66 on Saturday morning — the Oklahoma Route 66 Association is hosting a Route 66 cruise that starts at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton and ends up at the Sandhills Curiousity Shop in Erick, with stops at three museums in between.

I’ll be there. I hope you will, too.

Emily