Route 66

- Season 1

(1960)

Leaving New York City behind, Tod and Buz begin their search "to catch a star" and find themselves in a nightmare right out of "Bad Day at Black Rock." The unfriendly, suspicious, and violent residents of a tiny Mississippi town have a long-held secret--and they will kill to protect it.

Tod and Buz reach the destination they started for in Episode One, Louisiana, and jobs working as crewmen on a shrimp trawler. However, crewing for a beautiful female captain, the resentment of local fishermen and a deadly storm at sea were results that were totally unexpected by them.

Tod and Buz layover to work in New Orleans and make the acquaintance of a young woman who accidentally interferes with a smuggling ring.The young woman's melancholy mother and the danger of an epidemic add to the difficulties.

Tod and Buz take labor jobs on a Louisiana offshore oil rig. Tod immediately finds the behavior of a seemingly out-of-place older worker to be odd. As Tod continues to watch the man he finds the strange behavior has a sane purpose-the man is a Nazi hunter who is closing in on his prey.

Tod and Buz, driving through California "West by North" in a rainstorm nearly run over a young woman. After giving her a lift to the next town they find she is on the run from a murder charge. Despite the protests of the Sheriff, the townspeople and the woman herself, Buz feels there is more to the story than obvious guilt.

Tod and Buz,working as ranch hands in a drought stricken area of Utah,befriend a desperate family.The family's farm does not have sufficient water to maintain the livestock.The family comes to realize that solving the problem in the short run may not be the only option.

Tod and Buz inadvertently become involved in the conflicts between a hops rancher/processor and his two teenage children. The spoiled, undisciplined boy and girl's immaturity end up causing fights, death and worker revolt.

Tod and Buz, now working in a small town Oregon sawmill, aid a young woman recently arrived from Italy. She is a WWII war orphan who has come to the U.S. to sell a legacy left to her by a dead G.I. in order to raise funds for her church. The problem is the G.I. actually never owned anything.

Tod and Buz, working as laborers near Page, Arizona on a dam project, are reassigned by the Project Manager to run interference for a group of fashion models shooting pictures at the site. The lady chaperoning the models has her hands full too,dealing both with the girls and her past-with the Project Manager.

Tod and Buz, working as laborers at a large scale Arizona mining operation, help an old-time prospector while "looking for their fortune" on a day off. The man has found a valuable claim and the owner of the large mining operation resorts to violence to find its location. Buz finds an unlikely ally in the owner's wife.

Dr. Mark Christopher is a famous scientist who believes from his Russian friend's cryptic message that the USSR will initiate a New Year's Day nuclear attack on the United States. Unable to convince his associates to act on this information, Christopher, his son, and a small band of followers, he takes shelter deep inside Carlsbad Caverns Tod and Buz assist Paula Shay, a devious newspaper reporter who wants to interview Dr. Christopher.

A modern version of the old "David and Bathsheba" story in which King David fell in love with a married woman and arranged for her husband to be killed during a battle. Rich cattleman Woody Biggs continues to be rejected by recently widowed Laura Church so he has her framed for embezzlement and sent to prison. Then he pulls some strings and gets her paroled. Buz and Tod try to protect her from Woody who is pressuring her to marry him.

Tod and Buz are in California for the Riverside Grand Prix auto races which Tod decides to enter in the Stock-Class.Doing well in practice,he is asked to drive in the main event.After being drawn into the conflict between a veteran driver,his daughter and second wife, Tod nearly is "rerouted" in more ways than one.

Tod and Buz, vacationing in Malibu, California, are drawn into the world of a paranoid Progressive Jazz trumpeter and his wife. Told largely in flashback by Buz, beginning innocently enough with Buz having made a connection with lounge songstress Kitty Parker.

Tod and Buz, in Indio, California for lunch, meet a flirtatious young woman. The two end up working at her guardian's date farm. The guardian wants to marry his ward despite her indifference. Complicating the situation is a disputed highway paving project and one of the road crew workers who has an interest in the girl.

Tod and Buz, in Phoenix, Arizona, and looking for work with a crop-dusting company, encounter a combat-scarred, world-weary pilot who is a self-described "Jonah." The pilot hates himself for still being alive and causing others' deaths. Buz' interest in the pilot's chanteuse ex-wife is a side story.

Tod tempts the fates by training for crop dusting with the "jinx".The doomed pilot financially saves the dusting business by taking on a dangerous assignment and brings the owner of the business back to reality.Buz,ready to end his life's search,is turned down.He vows to look for her (and perhaps finds her in Season 3).

Tod and Buz, in the Los Angeles area, while Tod is taking a computer class at UCLA and Buz sells cosmetics, aid a "girl in danger". She claims the mafia are after her to locate her "Don" father who they plan to kill. Tod and Buz have an uneasy series of adventures before the true story comes out.

Still in the Los Angeles area with Tod struggling over his computer class at UCLA and Buz enjoying the "sights", a beautiful blond woman enters their lives. She was recently married and almost immediately widowed. The lady will stop at nothing to find the men who killed her husband-despite being blind.

Tod and Buz, driving through Nevada, pick up an orphan hitchhiking. Tod insists he be returned to the orphanage. Buz, both unhappy and angry, separates from Tod. On his own now, Buz looks to fill his loneliness and meets a motherly lady. He finds her sad life includes alcoholism over regret for a long lost son.

Tod and Buz travel to Squaw Valley, California for "some work and some fun". They barely settle in on their new jobs at the Squaw Valley Ski Lodge when the dead body of a female skier is found out on the slopes. The perpetrator, a mentally defective guest at the lodge, goes undetected and may seek another victim.

Tod and Buz, driving through Nevada, help protect the bankroll of two men who are from the dried up mining town of Broken Knee. The two men are heading to Reno to try to win enough money at the craps table to fund a project which can save the town. Later in Reno, Tod and Buz end up lending moral and financial support.

Tod and Buz travel to Los Angeles in response to a letter Tod received from an Aunt who has not been heard of for 20 yrs and thought to be dead. From her deathbed she makes a final request of Tod-find her daughter. Tod and Buz embark on a search that leads them to many people and places and eventually to the answer.

Tod and Buz, in San Diego and employed in aerospace jobs, save a drunken man from drowning while they are enjoying a day off. The man's underage niece uses her influence to get Tod and Buz to help her. The objective is to sober him up so he can remain her guardian. The man is not cooperative and is hiding a secret.

Tod and Buz, working as ranch hands in New Mexico, become disgusted with the actions of their employer. The man wants possession of his dead son's baby whether the mother approves of it or not. The rancher will stop at nothing to get his way and neither will his men-including murder.

Tod and Buz, camping out near Sante Fe, New Mexico, have a run-in with a madman who is illegally hunting. Their car damaged, Tod and Buz seek the man out in Santa Fe. Buz gets satisfaction by giving him a severe beating. Later they are blamed for poaching and again seek the man out. This time the interchange becomes deadly.

Tod and Buz are bamboozled into a tiny remote mountain town in New Mexico. Once there,they are convicted on a trumped up "crime" with the sentence being to teach school for one year. Slowly,they come to lose their resentment and actually end up empathizing with the reason for the deception.

Tod and Buz "detour" to Youngstown,Ohio to see a boyhood idol of Buz,a boxer who is scheduled to fight a local hero.The "idol" is no longer a contender,he is a punch-drunk has-been. Buz attempts both to build up the man's confidence and give him a view to the future with the help of the boxer's female admirer.

Tod and Buz, working as laborers in a factory in Amity, Ohio, meet a strange young woman at their boarding house. She is towing a headstone on a trailer behind her car-with the person's date of death from 10 years before. Finding she is a pariah in Amity, Tod and Buz offer help in carrying out her unusual mission.

Tod and Buz, in Cleveland, Ohio working as laborers on a "three week job at a gravel yard", stay at their Russian supervisor's home. He has a mute daughter who has a miserable life. When a fellow Russian, whom the community has ostracized, shows his love for her tragedy follows. The two ill-fated people meet an uncertain end.