HELEN'S JOURNAL

Mildred's philosophy from yesterday rang true today when we met Dixie Lee Evans. Now, Ms. Evans isn't exactly on Route 66 - we'd taken a detour, well into the middle of nowhere, really, in order to visit 'Exotic World', Wild Road. Dixie Lee led us through her museum of burlesque and striptease with a breathy energy, giving us information about Aristophanes being the founder of burlesque and in the next moment, slipping into a quick and brilliant Marylin Monroe impression. 'That's Sherri Champagne,' she says, pointing to a golden urn. 'Now she just wouldn't wear any costume that didn't have the picture of a champagne glass on it.

Dixie's energy and vivacity was exhilarating. She knew by name every one of 'the girls' pictured in their hundreds on the walls of the museum. At times, framed in a doorway, she would hold out her arms dramatically, saying, 'We took what was real and we exagerated it. We made it larger than life. That was burlesque.'

After leaving Dixie Lee, we drove on to one of the last fragments of the old raod. We unpacked the hamper and cold box Leslie's dad had so generously filled for us and sat right there in the middle of the old road and ate our picnic under the hot Californian sun. In a nearby mailbox, we left a Polaroid picture of ourselves and a note and then headed for the Pacific and the end of our journey west.