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The Novel......
THE LAST RIDERS ON ROUTE 66
by Chet Nichols

COMMENTS FROM THE AUTHOR:

My last novel, The Last Riders On Route 66, is a story about
two college students who decide to take a hitchhiking trip from
Oklahoma City to Los Angeles. The story takes place during
their two week Spring Break back in late March of 1967.
They learned that Route 66 was officially about to begin its
breakup up into various segments and subsequent assimilation
into the interstate highway system in the fall of that year. So,
they decide to see Route 66 before it is covered over by the
pending Super Slab. In essence, it is the story of two
“Happy Days” era young men colliding with
the “Hippie Days”.

The storyteller in my novel is a young musician and songwriter
who hauls his guitar along with him on the trip and he finds
himself being inspired by many people, places and situations
that he encounters along Route 66. With the story taking
place at the time when America is caught up in the Vietnam
War, the rise of the civil rights movement, the explosion of
the arts and music, the sexual revolution, the psychedelic era,
the burgeoning space program, and the social and spiritual
upheaval that personified the 1967, there is a lot for these
two travelers to react to and a lot of situations that have a
lasting effect on them.

Price of the book is $20.00.....Plus $5.00 S&H.

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Chet at 19 hitchhiking to California in 1967......

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A BOOK REVIEW:
"Riding High On Route 66"

The Last Riders On Route 66, by Chet Nichols, is one of the
very few books which accurately lives the many states of mind
of the 1960s. His writing depicts those times unselfconsciously;
allowing the characters to tell their quietly exciting tales with
transparent innocence. It is appropriately sexy, realistically
spiritual, intelligent, spontaneously violent, and effortlessly
comedic. Long after reading it, one can continue to swill this
story in thought. It has a good after taste. The Last Riders
On Route 66 has multiple dimensions, accessible to most
age groups and walks of life. This may be an important book
for young men to read in coping with choices, pleasures, and
consequences. It's delightful for us females to get all stirred
up by. We'll give it to our lovers as a hint, hint, hint. The Last
Riders On Route 66 makes you miss places you've never
been to. It's the long version of a well written song.



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A BOOK REVIEW:
"The Road Novel We've Waited For"
February 25, 2000

Spring Break, 1966. Florida - been there, done that. Road Trip -
where? Route 66. Let's go. Buck and Pete step onto 66 in
Oklahoma, and step off in a California many of us remember and
long for. Music, women and a culture unsure of where the Viet Nam
War would lead us, provide the guys with a Spring Break unlike
anything they had previously experienced. Chet Nichols brings to
life a story dedicated to leaving the path our parents would have
wished on us, to explore a world the majority only dreamed of.
The discovery of an idyllic life in Flagstaff, Arizona (punctuated
by a redneck run-in) leads the guys to understand there is
something beyond the confines of Oklahoma. (A side note -
although a novel, I can assure you Josh and Maggie are alive
and well, and their Granddaughters are every bit as wild as
their mothers - Flagstaff lives on!). The beach, and the
grandeur of the Pacific, leads to the world of sex, drugs and
rock-n-roll - a time many of us remember with fondness, and
Chet brings it all back in vividly written scenes that make an
"old guy" long for a return to those times.

The Last Riders on Route 66 is the Route 66 novel we've
waited for. Guidebooks, histories, maps and, even a murder
mystery have explored the Mother Road, but Chet Nichols takes
us on a Road Trip that will stir the emotions of those who lived
through the excitement of the 60's only to land in the boredom
of the 90's and the new millineum. Well, researched (with only
a couple of minor errors about the road), and written in a style
that virtually demands you keep reading, The Last Riders of
Route 66 is a book for every Roadie who lived through the
sixties. Were Buck and Pete truly the last riders of Route 66?
The answer is, sadly, yes, they may have been. The rest of us
can only search the road and bring with us our memories of
those Road Trips from years gone by - but through the pages
of Chet Nichols novel we are allowed to share in one of the
great Road Trips of all time. This novel will make one heck
of a movie!
REVIEWER;  Bob Moore, Editor – “Route 66 Magazine
(Grand Canyon country)



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A BOOK REVIEW:
"A New Generational Voice"

I was referred to your site and book by a friend here in Phoenix.
I can not tell you how much I enjoyed this book. Very funny in
places and very thoughtful in places. I also loved the free-wheeling
writing style. Very natural dialogue. I'm a big fan of Tom Wolfe and
Ken Kesey and you are right there with these great
generational voices. Look forward to your next book!

Sincerely,
Teddy Washington - Phoenix"



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