FREE WILLIE
Back in 1977 the 18-year-old me was at the pictures to see a re-run of Death Race 2000. The adverts came on first and one was for Levis jeans, set to a brilliant rock version of 'Get your kicks on Route 66'. Its story revolved around the adventures of two girls hitching from Chicago to LA. It was all beautiful, shot against a background of iconic Route 66 locations. When the advert finished, Route 66 was instantly added to the list of things I was definitely going to do before I died.
Fast forward almost four decades and a cruel joke by one of my children made me realise that in just three years I’d be 60 and therefore officially old!
After a few days thinking about this I decided I could get away with doing something reckless and self-centred. The wife wasn't convinced that this was a real late-life crisis, but said if I could get the cash together, I could go.
So in October, after three years of saving, I found myself in
