This was written for an English assignment last year. The assignment was to write a short story about a character's journey across the country on historic route 66. We had a list of places that we had to include the character seeing. So here it is. By the way, the top five essays were submitted to the National Geographic Society and two people were awarded $50 each. I didn't win the money, but I WAS one of the top five and I DID get an A+. So , here it is.

Summer, 1946

Shari The Bird squawked excitedly in her cage as her eight-year-old owner Alice Almasy giggled joyously as she packed her suitcase. Shari The Bird was Alice's fifth birthday present. She wanted to give him a unique name, and so he became not only Shari, but Shari The Bird, and Alice refused to call him anything else.

"Guess what, Shari The Bird?" she asked. "We're going on vacation- me and you and Momma and Daddy and Sister! We're going to Santa Monica. That's in CALIFORNIA!" As she said 'California,' Alice threw her arms up in the air, releasing the pile of clothes she held. Alice and her older sister Margarete, who she just called 'Sister,' had been looking forward to this trip for months. Now that it was finally here, Alice could hardly contain her excitement.

After a long day of packing, Alice and Margarete nodded off to sleep, waiting anxiously for the next morning, when they would leave their small farm and start the journey in Chicago.

The next morning, Alice awoke to find herself in the car, just as her dad pulled into a parking space outside of Chicago. Rubbing her eyes, she realized that their trip had begun. After getting their picture taken in front of the "Welcome to Chicago" sign, they all piled back into the car and headed out.

Since they hadn't enough money to buy souvenirs, the Almasy family took a picture in front of the welcome sign of every town they passed. In Joliet, they stopped to eat at Del Rhea's Chicken Basket, and in Litchfield, they bought some Coca-Colas and coffees at The Ariston Café.

Soon, they passed the Missouri state line. Alice oohed and aahed as she explained to Shari The Bird that they were passing the Gateway Arch. Once in Missouri, the family found a very good ice cream parlor called Ted Drewes' Frozen Custard and checked into a hotel for a good night's sleep. In the morning, they visited Meramec Caverns and proceeded through the Ozarks into the towns of Springfield and Joplin.

It wasn't long at all before the Almasy's were entering Kansas. and exiting after the 13 miles were over. In Oklahoma, they visited the Coleman Theatre in Miami and the newly finished world's Largest Totem Pole in Foyil. After eating in Chandler, the pecan capital of the world, they proceeded to Oklahoma City and stayed the night in a hotel, taking a picture in each town they passed.

The next morning, the border of Texas came and went. After visiting Palo Duro Canyon and Amarillo, the New Mexico border arrived, just as the flat lands ended. New Mexico crawled by as it got hotter and hotter outside. Shari The Bird was also starting to feel the effects of the heat, as his feather began to droop. The heat didn't seem to bother Alice, as she continued to point out important places to Shari The Bird.

After staying the night in El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, New Mexico, the Almasy's passed over the border into Arizona. This time, Alice did feel the heat as she became more and more dreary. Shari The Bird seemed to have lost all of his shine, and some of his feathers were starting to fall. As they passed through the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert, Alice and Margarete could no longer stand the heat and hung their feet out the windows.

Arizona dragged on even slower than New Mexico. Even though there were more towns to visit, they were farther apart and between them was absolutely nothing for miles around. Finally, the Grand Canyon loomed ahead, and the passengers of the car, including Shari The Bird, began to feel a little better. That night, they stayed in a hotel and woke early enough to see the sun rise over the canyon. The beautiful sight picked up Alice's mood and once again began chattering to her bird.

California soon arrived. As they passed the border, the Almasy's noticed a change in Shari The Bird's attitude. No longer was he happy and singing, but he just sat in the corner of his cage. They thought that maybe he would like to see the ocean and hurried through the towns in California. They still, however, found time to take pictures at each welcome sign. After driving through the Mojave Desert and eating at Roy's Café in Amboy, Margarete looked at a map and announced that there were only four more towns until the ocean. Those four towns were a blur as everyone began to get excited about seeing the Pacific for the first time. Even Shari The Bird began to sing again as they stayed the night in Los Angeles.

Finally, the moment arrived when the tiny car pulled into Santa Monica. The end of the road was here. Getting out of the car and walking up to Santa Monica Pier, Alice and Margarete took turns dancing with Shari The Bird. But when they got back in the car, Shari The Bird, who had been in Alice's little hands, didn't fly back into his cage. He stayed very still. As the children cried, their momma and daddy inspected him and told the girls that Shari The Bird wouldn't be coming back home. To this day, he sits in a little box by the side of Route 66 in Santa Monica, California, where Alice and Margarete Almasy had so carefully laid him to rest.

Route 66 was not just a vacation spot for them, it was a memory of Shari The Bird's first and last trip off of their Northern Illinois farm. They had never forgotten the song Shari The Bird had sung that last night in Los Angeles. It represented Shari The Bird's thanks for all of Alice and Margarete's kindness towards him and his telling them that he had fun. Because not only is Route 66 a street across the country, it is a place to make memories, both happy and sad.