Author guest post from Mike Murtagh.

As I have mentioned in previous blogposts for Pen & Sword, the title of my book, Spying On The Kremlin, doesn’t really do justice to the full scope of the book. It’s a memoir which, apart from mainly being an account of my rather unusual activities during my 5 years of living and working in Russia, is also an account of turning points throughout my life. This post is about one of them.

It is Summer 1973, and I am between jobs, an ideal time to take some time off to reassess my young life and maybe have a bit of fun into the bargain before embarking on the next stage of my life. My sister had emigrated to Canada a couple of years earlier, so it seemed logical to visit her for a while and maybe even venture into the USA.

Music has always been important to me, so the obvious thing to do, especially as an old family friend had moved to Los Angeles in the mid-60s, was to try and visit her while making the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll road trip on Route 66, the so-called ‘Mother Road’ made famous by Bobby Troup’s classic song. And so it was that I found myself early one August morning on a Greyhound bus hitting the road for Detroit initially, then changing buses to head for Chicago, the start of Route 66.

The first of many amazing sights I encountered was the view across the southern end of Lake Michigan to downtown Chicago and its impressive skyline. Most striking for me was the trapezoidal, black glass John Hancock Tower. Really amazing in the sunshine! As I boarded the bus on the first stage to St Louis, it dawned on me the scale of the solo adventure that I was undertaking. The bus was to be my home for the next 3 days and 2 nights before we reached Los Angeles. Luckily, it was reasonably comfortable! I had hardly any money on me, and I could not afford the luxury of stopping off somewhere en route.

Route 66 gave you the opportunity to see and appreciate the variety of the USA’s amazing landscapes. You travelled over the Great Plains, mountain ranges and vast desert regions, as well as fascinating cityscapes along the way. We trundled on, day and night, passing through the places mentioned in the song – St Louis, Joplin, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Gallup, Flagstaff, Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino and eventually, trail-weary and probably a bit smelly, we arrived in the Greyhound Bus Station in downtown Los Angeles.

All the bus stations were always in the worst parts of town, so it was quite a culture shock sometimes for me, with my tender years and relatively quiet upbringing! There were several unfamiliar and uncertain situations that I had to negotiate on the trip. Sometimes I felt a very long way from home! However, I wouldn’t have had it any other way!

It did cross my mind, after visiting my friend, to go back to my sister’s the long way around – up to Vancouver and then due East but, having endured the vicissitudes of the trip out, I decided I couldn’t, at that stage, face an even longer trip back, so I chickened out and opted for the direct route back the way I’d come – another 3 days and 2 nights on the bus!

This was a wonderful trip for me in so many ways. A definite tale of development! I’d done the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll road trip! My first solo holiday trip! I met some lovely people at various stages of my trip. I even managed a romantic encounter with a pretty, sun-kissed young lady from upstate New York between Barstow and St Louis!

I feel sad that the old, genuine Route 66 that I travelled barely exists now, having been circumvented in many areas by new Interstate highways that totally lack the romance and heritage of ‘The Mother Road’. I certainly got my kicks on Route 66! Unforgettable! More details of the trip are in Spying On The Kremlin.

Order your copy here.