Out West, your motorcycle can be picked up at a number of rental locations in Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The detailed day-by-day Route 66 itinerary covers all the basic details (mileage, general route) and sightseeing highlights along the 2,400 mile route. It is a trip through the American self-understanding and a trip where friends for life are made. The song "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" was composed by songwriter Bobby Troup in 1946. Since this locale can be disappointing after the long journey from Chicago, the Route 66 Alliance partnered with the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation in 2009 to mount an unofficial “End of the Trail” sign on the pier, seen below in 2020. "The Mother Road" was established on November 11, 1926, and ultimately stretched 2,448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. Die Route 66 zählt zu den legendärsten Straßen der USA. For more insight into each stop along the route, our content is arranged by state. Let's get on the Road ... starting in Chicago, Illinois, and heading west through eight states to Santa Monica, California. Trip - 5 … Gallup, New Mexico, Route 66 offers over 2000 miles of nostalgic Americana, ever-changing scenery and some of America’s best cities. - 317 From its beginning in Chicago, Route 66 headed south … Many travelers on Route 66 rent motorcycles to seek new open-air adventures on their USA road trip! In 1938, Route 66 became the first completely paved highway in the United States. Have lunch at Lou Mitchell’s, then head to Pontiac to see the Route 66 Hall of Fame and walk over one or three of the swinging footbridges. Route 66 was one of the United State's first continuous stretches of paved highway, and served as a major path for those who migrated west. The moniker “The Mother Road,” was coined by John Steinbeck in his 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning book The... Route 66 history. This map was created by a user. Diners and motels play up their Route 66 connections, and many bona fide Route 66 landmarks are kept in business by nostalgic travelers intent on experiencing a taste of this endlessly endangered American experience. Joplin, Missouri, There are no turn directions, which are needed if you intend to travel Route 66, which I highly recommend (it will take you two weeks to a month to travel all 2400 miles and see most of the well-known sites). Get out on the highway! A popular television show during the early 1960s bore the road's name: "Route 66". A variety of motorcycle rental plans are available, such as those from Eaglerider Motorcycle Rentals. While some elect guided bus tours, or drive their own vehicles, others seek new destinations in their RV or motor home. The End of the Trail ... Santa Monica, California (Staff Photo), Copyright © 2020 RoadTravelAmerica.com & Route66RoadTrip.com • All Rights Reserved, The Architecture ... and the start of Route 66 west, Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, Route 66 Gateway Sign & Historic District, Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza: East Meets West, Standing on the Corner & the LaPosada Historic District, Angel & Vilma Delgadillo's Gift Shop & Visitor's Center, Powerhouse Route 66 Museum and Visitors Center, End of the Trail ... the westward end of Route 66. From its beginning in Chicago, Route 66 headed south through Illinois and Missouri, and a small section of southeast Kansas. We've had the pleasure of driving in all eight states along Route 66, The Main Street of America! The mural at Pearl Brothers Hardware in downtown Joplin, Missouri. Detouring from the main highway at Seligman allows you to travel along the original Route 66, which is peppered with abandoned motels, derelict gas stations, and the outdoor Route 66 Car Museum. Route 66 was replaced by five Interstates: I-55 southbound from Chicago, I-44 across Missouri and Oklahoma, I-40 in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, I-15 and finally I-10 into Los Angeles. If you have a couple of weeks at your disposal, a Route 66 road trip is a rewarding way to spend them. Established in 1926, Route 66 is one of the original highways in the United States, built before the interstate road system was a thing. All the information you will need on the best travel destinations, attractions, hotels, motels and restaurants on U.S. Route 66. Despite the name of the series, most episodes did NOT take place on the historic road, but in 25 different U.S. states. The legendary highway was known far and wide for its variety of "mom and pop" motels, neon lights, drive-ins, quirky roadside attractions, flat tires, cars with no air conditioning, dangerous curves, steep hills, and narrow lanes. Different people choose different modes of transportation to tour the Mother Road. Perhaps the most compelling reason to follow Route 66 is to experience the road’s ingrained time line of contemporary America. Won't you get hip to this timely tip: Mehr Amerika geht nicht. Arizona. "Historic Route 66 Associations" are active in several states. The popularity stuck, and continues to grow today! A road-trip on Route 66 is an experience you cannot get elsewhere. MORE INFO Just long the song says, “it winds from Chicago to LA” — which means you’ve got a lot of stuff to see and do along the way! The romance of Route 66 continues to captivate people around the world. Route 66, affectionately known as “The Mother Road”, spans across three time zones, starting from Chicago, Illinois and travelling all the way down to the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles, California.A journey across Route 66 takes you back to the time when many families drove across the country in the 1930s to put … Self-drive tours often include rental of the motorcycle, hotel reservations and detailed tour route information. Road Trip USA Route 66 gives an overview of the route, the towns on the route and a little history about the route. Are you ready for a Road Trip? Nicknamed the nation’s ‘Mother Road’ by novelist John Steinbeck, this string of small-town main streets and country byways first connected big-shouldered Chicago with the waving palm trees of Los Angeles in 1926. U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66), also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways in the U.S. Highway System. Beginning in the late 1950s and continuing gradually over the next 25 years, old Route 66 was bypassed section by section as the high-speed Interstate highways were completed. Los Angeles, otherwise known as the City of Angels, is home to Old Route 66, which runs from Olvera Street and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument to West Hollywood. Route 66 is about suspending real life and your disbelief and jumping headlong into 2,400 miles of natural beauty contradicted by absolute nonsense. - 301 There’s also a link to buy them if you wish! Perhaps the most compelling reason to follow Route 66 is to experience the road’s ingrained time line of contemporary America. Missouri - 13 The passage of the Federal Highway Act of 1956 sounded the death knell for the old road, and gradually segments were replaced with new, safer and faster superhighways. The symbolic start of Route 66 is the Buckingham Fountain in Chicago’s Millennium Park, but it’s not really a road trip until you’re headed southwest out … Explore these eleven incredible cross-country road trip routes across the U.S.! For three decades before and after World War II, Route 66 earned the title “Main Street of Am… The museum is a repository for thousands of pieces of historic memorabilia from the glory days of the Mother Road. Auf den 3.940 km zwischen Chicago, Illinois, und Los Angeles, Kalifornien, gibt es berühmte Wahrzeichen und traumhafte Nationalparks zu entdecken. View more. Professional traveler Jamie Jensen traveled more than 400,000 miles to bring you the best-selling guide Road Trip USA.In this expanded tour of Route 66, Jamie covers the kitschy "Main Street of America", one of the country's first transcontinental highways. - 401 "The Mother Road" was established on November 11, 1926, and ultimately stretched 2,448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. Shown here is one of those, the Cadillac Ranch, just west of Amarillo, on present-day I-40. Kansas Though it is no longer a main route across the country, Route 66 has retained its mystique in part due to the very same effective hype, hucksterism, and boosterism that animated it through its half-century heyday. Out West, your motorcycle can be picked up at a number of rental locations in Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Running between Chicago and Los Angeles, “over two thousand miles all the way” in the words of the popular R&B anthem, this legendary old road passes through the heart of the United States on a diagonal trip that takes in some of the country’s most archetypal roadside scenes. Shown here is a vintage Phillips 66 Service Station in McLean, Texas. Day one starts in Chicago. Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways. The early Philliips stations, like the one in McLean, were designed in the "Cottage Look" to blend with local residential neighborhoods. There, it turns into Santa Monica Boulevard. Planning Your Route 66 Road Trip Planning the Route. Flagstaff, Arizona. In the early years many sections connected only one small town to the next, and had no official federal route number. Many travelers on Route 66 rent motorcycles to seek new open-air adventures on their USA road trip! Excerpted from Road Trip USA Mile-by-mile highlights celebrating the best of Route 66… - 487 The scenery is a thrill, but it’s the stops and sights along the way — each seemingly more mind-blowing than the last — that make the Route 66 road trip. Have dinner at the Old Log Cabin Restaurant and consider staying at the Chateau H… If you don't want to ride independently, choose from one of many guided motorcycle tours. … and Oklahoma City is mighty pretty. Route 66 passes through a marvelous cross-section of American scenes, from the cornfields of Illinois all the way to the golden sands and sunshine of Los Angeles, passing by such diverse environs as the Grand Canyon, the Native American communities of the desert Southwest, the small-town Midwest heartlands of Oklahoma and the Ozarks, and the city streets of St. Louis and Chicago. His  work helped make Seligman "The Birthplace of Historic Route 66". Dozens of old gas stations were located along Route 66 ... like this one. Before it was called Route 66, and long before it was even paved in 1926, this corridor was traversed by the National Old Trails Highway, one of the country’s first transcontinental highways. This is often referred to as the official ending point of Route 66. Your Guide to a Route 66 Road Trip Fast facts. Before it was called Route 66, and long before it was even paved in 1926, this corridor was traversed by the National Old Trails Highway, one of the country’s first transcontinental highways. This is a great place to learn the history of Route 66 in Illinois, see images of the road's wonderful history, and hear a few great stories about life in America when Route 66 was the most important highway in the nation. The district emcompasses the Route 66 roadbed and 17 abandoned structures. View more. That said, many quirky old motels and cafés hang on by a thread of hope, sit vacant, or survive in memory only—all for want of an Interstate exit. Join us as we take the road well-traveled, leave the cities behind and head towards the ‘dust bowls’ to show you the non-city sights along Route 66… Historic Route 66 is still considered a treasure of USA 1. Much of the original road can be re-traced today, so you can follow in … Remains can still be seen of an old motel, cafe, service station, the post office, and a few other buildings, as well as the old Route 66 roadbed. more than two thousand miles all the way. Check out these top USA travel experiences A variety of motorcycle rental plans are available, such as those from Eaglerider Motorcycle Rentals. From there it turned in a more westward direction through Oklahoma and Texas, … Traveling Illinois’ Great River Road: Scenic Stops along the Mississippi River. A long list of well-known actors and actresses appeared on the series. The classic Route 66 road trip is an unforgettable journey into America, then and now. Route 66 officially starts in Chicago. In those days it was possible to journey from the Midwest to the California Coast by one road - Route 66 - right through small town America and the heart and soul of the USA. Venturing deeper into the desert, you'll have the opportunity to stop at the Hoover Dam, which is located around 56 km (35 miles) … Route 66 became one of the most famous roads in the United States, outdistancing others such as the Lincoln Highway. You certainly can spend the night at big-chain hotels, but half the fun of a Route 66 road trip is staying at quirky, old-school motels off the highway. Starring George Maharis as Buz, and Martin Milner as Tod, the two young adventurers drove the road in their Chevrolet Corvette for 116 episodes. Planning a road trip on Route 66? But here are a few favorites! Included on this website are photographs, personal experiences, commentary and travel recommendations on the various segments of the Mother Road. Route 66 is known for its quirky and unusual attractions. Over time the route was formalized as a Federal Highway numbered as "U.S. 66". The original terminus of U.S. Route 66 was at 7th and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. Get your motor running! The movie "Easy Rider" was filmed at several locations along Route 66.  Lucille, who quickly became known for her friendly assistance to motorists, earned the nickname "Mother of the Mother Road."Â. Finally, after the last stretch of freeway was completed in 1984, Route 66 was officially decommissioned. For more information: Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, Cahokia Mounds and the Chain of Rocks Bridge. - 186 Accommodations. travel my way, take the highway that is best. California It is popular lore in movies, songs, books like "The Grapes of Wrath", and TV shows. The last town by-passed by the Interstate system was Williams, Arizona, on October 13, 1984. when you make that California trip The same commercial know-how and shameless self-promotion has helped the towns along the old route stay alive. What a way to start our 3,940km journey to Illinois; our first stop is the wonder that is the Grand … Experience a Classic USA Road Trip Through Montana. Route 66 underwent many improvements and realignments during its lifetime. Route 66 is the ultimate American road trip and we've put together a comprehensive 2 week Route 66 itinerary to help drivers navigate this historic route. It winds from Chicago to LA, The route was later extended to the intersection of Lincoln and Olympic boulevards in Santa Monica, about one mile from the Pacific Ocean. The show was filmed mostly on location, and became known for its cinematography. If you ever plan to motor west, Trikes can also be rented. Here are some major cities along Route 66 where travelers aiming to follow only a section of the full cross-country route may wish to use to plan their drive: By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. And be sure to bring a can of spray paint! Get your kicks on Route sixty-six. The road is also a major tourist attraction, so many states openly market attractions and lodging along the old route. After World War II, many thousands more expressed their upward mobility by leaving the industrial East, bound for good jobs in the suburban idyll of Southern California—again following Route 66, which came to embody the demographic shift from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt. Whether you are motivated by an interest in history, feel a nostalgic yearning for the “good old days” Route 66 has come to represent, or simply want to experience firsthand the amazing diversity of people and landscapes that line its path, Route 66 offers an unforgettable journey into America, then and now. I cannot recommend it enough. To stimulate tourism, Angel, his wife Vilma, and other shop owners in northwest Arizona established the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. Learn how to create your own. Today, several states recognize the historical significance of the road, and have it marked with "66" in the state highway number. Sitting directly on the Texas - New Mexico border at Exit 0 is the abandoned ghost town of Glenrio. It is located at 115 W. Howard Street in Pontiac. The move "Thelma and Louise" also featured Route 66 references and scenes. The "Dodge and Cowboy" mural in Tucumcari, New Mexico. A Classic USA Road Trip Itinerary – 1 Week on Route 66 Day 1: Chicago – St. Louis. TheRoute-66.com Online Travel Guide TheRoute-66.com is the ultimate Travel Guide for planning the road trip of your life driving along Route 66. And it was here on Route 66 that the great American driving vacation first flourished. Elvis and friend take a break along Route 66 in Seligman, Arizona, Roy's Motel and Cafe in Amboy, California. Known as the 'Mother Road', it stretched from the Great Lakes to the shores of California’s Pacific Coast. Here are the travel guides and reviews by state... Tucumcari thru From its beginning in Chicago, Route 66 headed south through Illinois and Missouri, and a small section of southeast Kansas. For a classic American road trip, nothing beats good ol’ Route 66. This site uses cookies in part to offer a better browsing experience and analyze site traffic. Business was good until September of 1978, when I-40 bypassed Seligman. Formerly known as "4 Women on the Route", the attraction sells sandwiches, antiques, Route 66 memorabilia and work by local artists. The townsite still has noticeable traces of Route 66 and the motels and restaurants that used to thrive there before the arrival of I-40. And there are dozens of cities and towns. Texas We cover quirky Route 66 … This Historic Route 66 tour takes you on an unforgettable self-drive journey filled with captivating Americana and the history of the old west. Billboards and giant statues along the highway still hawk a baffling array of roadside attractions, tempting passing travelers to view giant blue whales, to see live rattlesnakes and other wild creatures on display in roadside menageries, or to stay at “Tucumcari Tonite.”. The old route is now designated Historic Route 66. Explore the historic "Main Street of America," from cosmopolitan Chicago and quirky St. Louis, through the deserts of New Mexico, to sunny Los Angeles. Route 66 was one of the United State's first continuous stretches of paved highway, and served as a major path for those who migrated west. Lucille's Service Station, a classic gas station built in 1929 along Route 66 near Hydro, is one of only two upper-story, out-thrust porch style stations left on Oklahoma's stretch of Route 66. Cars on the Route is located in a restored Kan-O-Tex service station at 119 North Main Street in Galena. Trip - 2 days Cruising Missouri’s Route 66: Classic Sites and Family Adventure. It has connections with the movie "Cars" featuring the rusted tow truck "Tow Tater" and other restored vehicles on display. Going from east to west, Route 66 starts in downtown Chicago and ends at Santa Monica Pier in Los... Time On the Road. The old road still traverses dozens of small towns with vintage gas stations, quirky tourist attractions, diners, "Mop & Pop" motels, historic sites & museums, stunning vistas, and gift shops. Stretching across the USA from Chicago to Los Angeles, this epic road was established in 1926, originally spanned 2400 miles and was responsible for some of the best examples of classic North American roadside architecture – yes, we’re talking retro ‘50s diners … All the information you will need on the best travel destinations, attractions, hotels, motels and restaurants on U.S. Route 66. Now you go through Saint Looey This Route 66 holiday is an all-time classic road trip that’s been etched into American folklore by those migrating west along “The Mother Road” during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Today it includes the Glenrio Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. Arizona The route winds through 8 states and covers 2,451 miles. - 314. View more. Get your kicks on Route sixty-six. Reserve accommodations. The Association was located in Angel's Barber Shop & Pool Hall. We hope that this site will help planning your next vacation or holiday, and get Route 66 checked off your bucket list of destinations! The interest in the show continues today by "Baby Boomers" who remember the original showings, and new generations of viewers fascinated by the show who watch it on DVD. It was a Route 66 sight, the marvelous Meramec Caverns, that gave the world the bumper sticker. "The Mother Road" was established on November 11, 1926, and ultimately stretched 2,448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through As with many roads, Route 66 changed over the years, and there are a number of different versions of the road, which are referred to as alignments. During the Great Depression, hundreds of thousands of farm families, displaced from the Dust Bowl, made their way west along Route 66 to California, following what John Steinbeck called “The Mother Road” in his vivid portrait, The Grapes of Wrath. Route 66 Road Trip Itinerary. Subsequently, U.S. Route 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System on June 27, 1985.