Route 66, USA

Maybe you remember, maybe you dont...maybe you've never been introduced to the fact that when it comes to DM, there must be a Route 66 card as well...with a slight difference that this time there will be more than one card...cos it's been like two years since I've posted anything Route 66...and then I've acquired so many Route 66 cards over time...so should give them a fair chance to be shown...plus, all the ones for today come from different people..and with lovely different stamps...how could I have resisted??



First one comes from Erin, for the North American RR...

the text on the back says: This legendary route began in 1926 in Chicago, IL and passes through the states of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and ends in Santa Monica, CA. This 2,448 mile stretch of highway is also known as "The Mother Road", "Main Street USA", and Will Roger's Highway.
I definitely prefer "Route 66"

stamps: the American Clock, the American Toleware, the Silver Coffeepot (I think this one doesn't come so often, issued in 2007), a great lighthouse stamp from the 2013 New England Coastal Lighthouses set, showing the Boston Harbor in Massachusetts...and a lovely Johnny Cash stamp, also issued in 2013.


Another one that arrived for the North American RR, this time from Megan.

no text on the back, but that's why there is a bunch of cool stamps!

starting from the cat...pardon, the Bobcat, issued in 2012..then there is an old stamp showing Garibaldi, issued in a set of two stamps in 1960...next to it is an 'energy conservation' stamp issued in 1977. And two Forever stamps from 2013 - first comes one commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Death of Althea Gibson, 1927-2003, while the other one commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.


Get your kick...or get your fill..whichever you prefer...though if you are a lady I guess you wouldn't mind this scene along your Route 66 journey ;-)

received this one from Denise and she says that back in the days attendants did pump gas for the customers....sorry for the dumb question, but when did this change? and who is in charge for pumping gas now?

3 stamps - George Washington from 2011, and two adorable Pixar stamps from 2012, showing "A Bug's Life" and "Monsters"


One more for the North American RR....from Cynthia..

back of the card: Route 66 was declared 'The Main Street of America" by the U.S. Highway 66 Association. Originally used as an advertisement to stimulate tourism on the highway, the nickname was never forgotten.

stamps: the American clock...the Chippendale chair next to it (I dont think I see this one often - issued in 2004...and two great stamps from a set of 4 issued in 2012, representing Innovative Choreographers - in particular, José Arcadio Limón, and Robert Louis Fosse



I love this black and white sign..and arrived from...well, of course, Bryon..such an update couldn't go without him ;-)

he added a new Route 66 to my collection and new lovely stamps! though im quite sure he has forgotten he has sent it to me...since it dates back from March 2012 (yeah, shame on me!)

first one was issued in 1982, showing Francis of Assissi...next is a very very cool stamp called "Take me out to the ball game", issued in 2008...and a Forever stamp from 2012, putting some attention on Heart Health.




one from Esra for the favourites tag!

back of the card:
* Established in 1926 and since celebrated in popular music, film and literature
*Spanned 8 states and 3 time zones
* Has had several nicknames, including "The Mother Road", "The Main Street of America" and the "Will Rogers Highway"
* Used by migrant farm workers headed to California during the 1930's Dust Bowl
* In 1984, the last segment of US 66 in Arizona decommissioned as federal highway
* Several segments are still named 66, but instead designated as state highways
* Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington D.C displays a 40-foot stretch of the highway
* Portions now designated as National Scenic Byway marked "Historic Route 66"

a somewhat forgotten stamp - issued in 2012, showing the Lancaster County in Pennsylvania...



aaaand just one more!

absolutely love this one! the car gives such a cool feeling to it all...like from some old horror movie...and I almost read "hell" on the sign, just to realize it was a "Shell" sign...disappointments! :)
Received from Angie, for the Choose a Country RR...

George Washington again on a stamp...and two new ones,both Forverer stamps issued in 2012...above George is a Sailing ship, commemorating The 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812...the other stamp shows the American writer, William Sydney Porter, known by his pen-name O.Henry.

Well guys, I hope you enjoyed the posts today...will be back next time on the regular track (by this I mean posting cards that have nothing to do with my trips, so no endless rambling..)

Unfortunately I will have to end this update with the sad news that the great Robin Williams has died...not that he was my favourite actor or anything (though he was a great one), just that such news always make me realize how fragile and unexpected life is and that one should really take all the chances and opportunities it gives you, even when you think it may be a trivial thing.

Stay well!

Oklahoma, USA

last time I told you that i lack posts from some of the US states...and of course, i got into the maniac search through my boxes....the results were far from disappointing...the only thing I could find are two Oklahoma cards (and both maps). But i cant believe it that Im absolutely missing 3 US states in total!

soooo... i need a good US soul here to help me out with Arkansas, Nebraska and Vermont....you dont need to live in that actual state, but I do need the card to be mailed from the US...view card or map card, doesnt matter...though a view card from Oklahoma would be highly appreciated too :) Thank you soo much in advance!

as for the card above...Oklahoma is home to the longest driveable stretch of Route 66, with nearly 400 miles of "America's Main Street"
I ABSOLUTELY love that cute little car on the card! It just has this happy, dancing kind of attitude :))))

and a nice choice of 3 not-so-every-day-US-stamps :)

the love stamp (left) was issued in 1991 in a set of two love stamps (just cute!). The Rachel Carson stamp was issued in 1981 (she was an was an American marine biologist and conservationist). The third stamp (right) was issued in 2006 in a set of 3 and it shows the Bryce Canyon (in Utah).

Route 66

wow, been so long since Ive posted a Route 66 card here! (actually ive realized that ive been overlooking some particular countries too even though i have a good number of postcards from there, so I should be working on those too..)

Anyways, this is definitely the most fantastic Route 66 Ive received! It is actually like a real metal licence plate!! Fantastic!! And it arrived undamaged and in perfect condition!
The huge thank you for this goes to dear Goran. Once he surprised me with a Route 66 magnet and now this great card/licence plate!
What I especially love about this one is how the US states through which this Route ran are represented on the both sides, with the US flag in between. And I cant forget the old-timers too...perfectly fitting in the image :)
Hvala ti puno puno puno Gorane!!


well, unless you've forgotten, since it's been a long long while, Route 66 cards are accompanied with a Depeche Mode song....this time it is one of the songs from Exciter which I constantly used to skip until I heard the live version of it on the One Night In Paris DVD...it became one of my all time favourites ever since and i got totally hooked on it...the genius called Martin L. Gore strikes once again...

...indeed =/

Route 66

oh well, despite everything, ive managed to make an update today...with certain things going haywire every now and then, but yeah, you were warned...and my throat is still killing me..

as you might suppose, a Route 66 card means actually a Depeche Mode post...not much news about it...except that i think this is the most misfortunate tour ever....coz they end up cancelling shows quite often...for various reasons...first the stomach virus, then Dave hurt his knee or so, then due to logistics they couldnt manage certain places so of course they cancelled them...then doctors advised Dave to rest his voice, so again cancellations...on the other hand some other new dates are being added...a real chaos...and in all that chaos, i still havent got a chance to see them...=|

well...just one of my very favourite songs from the last album....Miles Away....or, The truth is, you're miles away.......*sigh*




see ya!

20th May.....the day that wasnt meant to be =(

Well, here i am....and instead of catching my bus to Belgrade, im going nowhere....unfortunately...hence my mood in the past days...if that can be called a mood at all.....this is the day ive been anxiously anticipating for months, or better said since last September when it was announced that Depeche Mode are gonna be touring again...this is the day that I dreaded since the very same day...and unfortunately, the day i wont have a chance to fulfill my dream....simply, the concert was cancelled...along with a number of others...the real shock was when i read that the concert in Athens had to be cancelled at the very last minute, before the guys actually went on stage....thats when the ghosts and the shadows started haunting me, giving me some bad sign...then it was Istanbul that was cancelled...and then, it was four others...Bucharest, Sofia, Belgrade and Zagreb....when i read this i was totally lost...i wanted to cry, but i couldnt....i just felt totally down and bummed out and just totally empty on the inside...I know to many it sounds as if im making a drama over nothing...but to me, Depeche Mode are not just my all time favourite band...their real impact is far beyond that...there is an emotional  connection i would never be able to explain...with their music i had managed to get through many of my hard times...with their music, i was able to face and live my own feelings and fears and joys and doubts...with their music i had often been able to give my feelings a meaning...you know, when you feel a certain way, but you cant find the right words to express it? well, Mr. Martin L. Gore has written it all down for me...their power on stage is one of the most amazing things ive seen and felt...and i have to say ive been lucky to actually experience it...3 years ago...regardless how pathetic it sounds, thats the best event thats has happened to my life, EVER!  Depeche Mode are an inherited part of me....and thats why all this is feeling so hard on me...its like a dream being broken into thousands of tiny little pieces....

Im really sorry im bothering you all with this....but i really need to commemorate this day to myself in any way...coz today is when i actually start to realize what has actually happened (its like a post-shock state).
 I even planned to stay in Belgrade by the end of the week, since my manager gave me two days off to go to the concert, and then was the weekend and just a perfect way to spend some time in the city i love so much...there was even the plan to meet with some of the Serbian postcrossers, but they will have to do without me this time :) The problem is, i dont know the right way to grieve all this...and i just still feel its chocking me on the inside...the worst part is that, I and all the rest of the DM fans, have no idea how the condition of Dave Gahan is right now..everyone is extremely worried, coz no news at all is actually WORSE than any sort of situation update...that gives a lots of room for opening rumourss and speculations and right now the official Depeche Mode message board is a place of insanity, with people's attitudes ranging from anger to fear to total impatience...and its getting worse and worse...unfortunately, im into that category too....the lack of news is killing me...not about further cancellations or the reschedule of the Belgrade concert...the fact that no one knows how Dave is doing is whats bringing loads of drama, and of course, the fact that many people have booked train/plane tickets, hotels etc. and now it all may be for nothing...its a real real chaos...but i just want so suppress my selfish attitude of *I* didnt go to the concert...this is not about me anymore...its about Dave and Depeche Mode...and all my thoughts and prayers for the best possible outcome regarding all this...I just wish it didnt feel THIS sad =|




Get better soon Dave....our hearts and thoughts are with you! I REALLY want to do the "NLMDA" wave at least once more in my life :)
Cheers to all the Depeche Mode fans out there, to all the soul sisters and soul brothers and any DM fans who happen to come across this post.

Route 66, USA

Well, by just throwing a glimpse at this card, i can feel your teeth cringing...oh no, not another Route 66 card...not Depeche Mode again =|
I dont know whether i would have ever developed such an interest in Route 66 cards if it wasnt for Depeche Mode actually...

You want to hear the new chapter of my going-to-the-DM-concert-story?!
Well, my cousin mailed me, telling me that the tickets had arrived! She even took a picture of them, so that i can see them and that my heart can be still and that i can sleep peacfully at night (yeah, she actually used those words :))
But you know...the paranoid me..until i get the tickets in my hands...no no..until i actually get inside the venue and the concert starts and i AM present..i will have bits and pieces of paranoia...thats just me...i cant help it...and its not that far away anymore...two months...time flies so fast...its scary..

Well...DM released a new single from their upcoming album..and its freaking GREAT...believe it or not, i had over 100 plays in a row on my playlist...in total, i have 350 something plays...i think its the song i had had most on repeat...its just catchy and addictive and the lyrics are, oh so Martin Gore...and oh so real...and i just love that disharmonious psychodelic sound....really emphasizes the 'wrong-ness'...

DM performing at the Berlin Echo Awards in February, when this song was actually introduced for the first time..a great powerful DM performance...



the lyrics in between:

Wrong x 4

I was born with the wrong sign in the wrong house
with the wrong ascendancy
I took the wrong road that led to
the wrong tendencies
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time
For the wrong reason and the wrong rhyme
On the wrong day of the wrong week
Used the wrong method with the wrong technique

Wrong x 2

There’s something wrong with me Chemically
Something wrong with me Inherently
The wrong mix in the wrong genes
I reached the wrong ends by the wrong means
It was the wrong plan in the wrong hands
The wrong theory for the wrong man
The wrong lies, on the wrong prize
The wrong questions with the wrong replies

Wrong x2

I was marching to the wrong drum with the wrong scum
pissing out the wrong energy
Using all the wrong lines and the wrong signs
with the wrong intensity
I was on the wrong page of the wrong book
With the wrong rendition of the wrong hook
Made the wrong move, every wrong night
With the wrong tune played till it sounded right yeah

Wrong x2

Too long ... Wrong x2

Too Long

I was born with the wrong sign
In the wrong house
With the wrong ascendancy
I took the wrong road
That led to the wrong tendencies
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time
For the wrong reason and the wrong rhyme
On the wrong day of the wrong week
Used the wrong method with the wrong technique

Wrong

and the official video....hopefully the youtube guys will have some mercy and wont remove these....at least for a while :)

Route 66, USA

I told you time ago, that once i know that i will be attending that DM concert i will commemorate it with a Route 66 card...

Well, here is a Route 66 card, so you know what that means :)  Yup...Ana is going to see DM in Belgrade 20th of May 2009!
Now i know you wonder why the lack of warmth and excitement while writing this....well, until i get to hold my ticket in the hand...and until i get to get inside the venue...i cant be still....thats just me...i always feel something can go wrong with things like this, so until i see it and feel it with all my senses, i cant be sure :-(
My dear cousing had reserved/bought the tickets...just that the actual ones will be delivered sometime in April...right now she just has the proofs that she has paid for it and all, but the physical tickets wont be available until then...i just hope the management behind this whole thing wont screw something up....

here is Enjoy the Silence...this got me into DM...this song breaks my emotions to million pieces each time i hear it...this song totally strips me down emotionally when i hear it live...this is an eternal, undying anthem....these are Depeche Mode...the one and only Depeche Mode



i have never cried to a song as i did to this one when i watched DM live in Sofia, 21.06.2006...NEVER!!

Route 66 - USA (03)

Totally not on purpose, all the cards today turned out to be from the 'long ones'....

I realized I actually have a problem when i need to post a Route 66 card, coz the first and only thing I can relate to it is Depeche Mode and their version of the song...I even find it plain to post anything else, coz all my feelings are dragged towards Depeche Mode

hmmm, regarding DM...there is a press-conference in Berling held the 6th October, regarding their future plans...which means, their upcoming album, and tour dates and all...and im having this weird feeling inside of me about it...coz if there is an upcoming tour, id DIE to go...but i dont know where the concerts would be, and if id be able to go and if id be able to get a ticket, and if that ticket will give me the chance to fight for a first row and all...and i know im gonna make no sense with what im going to say, but I DEFINITELY dont want them to come to Skopje...really, id rather go through a hassle so i can go to Belgrade for example, or some place else, instead having DM come to Macedonia...coz with all the concerts i had attended so far here ive been HIGHLY disappointed with the concert-culture these people have...and that ruins a lot my overall feeling at a concert...which is what happened last year when I attended the Placebo concert here...I mean, the concert itself was great, and I ADORE Placebo...they are my all time second-favourites...but if only, just if only these people here had a different attitude towards concerts and all, things would have been much different...but, oh well....

Route 66, USA

A Route 66 card!! Uhh, i love this one...its sooooo colourful!!


I like the old-fashioned style of the card...it really portrays the actual times of Route 66....and its cool to be actually driving in a car, with an old radio on, which is playing the song itself :)
though i wouldnt really want to be dressed like the woman on the card....im not a fashion addict, but this is really...well, just....not for me :)

Route 66, USA

"Well if you ever plan to motor west, Travel my way, Take the highway that's the best Get your kicks on Route 66....
Well it winds from Chicago, To LA, More than two thousand miles All the way,
Get your kicks on Route 66...."

Yaaayyyy!! And here comes my first Route 66 card!!! Awesome!!!

Now....i guess i owe you a brief explanation about my affection for Route 66 cards....

Ive never been to the states, neither, of course, took a drive along Route 66....neither i have some affection for the highway itself....

thing is...Depeche Mode have a version of the Route 66 song....Depeche Mode are my all time favourite band which have had a firm number one position in ages and will remain there no matter what...I owe them more than i could ever explain.....

So, im somewhat emotionally attached to these kind of cards, since in a way its related to Depeche Mode...not directly, but at mentioning Route 66, i always think of DM....so hence the significance of these kind of cards for me and why i so much want to collect them.....and, oh well....the cards themselves are interesting too....so i do like them in the first place :)

Well....now that the secret has been revealed, here is the song.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqrKxBhKdFM

it aint an official video, there never has been for that song....but just listen :)


"Well it goes to St. Louis, Down to Missouri, Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty
You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona
Don't forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino
If you get hip to this kind of trip, And go take that California trip Get your kicks on Route 66"

Get your kicks on Route 66!!!!