Driving Route 66

You need a guide to follow the route, sights, history and be warned about the rough spots. Jerry McClanahan's EZ66 was mentioned, but I live by Tom Snyder's Route 66: Traveler's Guide and Roadside Companion and there's a recent 4th edition. It describes more of the actual route(s) while Jerry's offers more sights (thicker). The guides will tell you the location of the attractions and when you'll have to use your imagination.
We've driven 66 end to end except for the segment between Chandler OK to Tulsa and downtown Chicago. Probably 60% was with a crewcab P/U pulling a 29' TT or a 45' Super C. The 40% was with no TT or the toad behind the Super C.
We drove the Victorville to Barstow, Kingman to Seligman and Ludlow to near Needles thru Amboy recently in the Super C, but Topock to Kingman would be tough due to curves near Oatman. Barstow, Kingman and Seligman have museums or are just interesting. There's a Harvey House being restored in Barstow and Winslow. As was said, where there is a town along I40, RT66 went thru it. Williams, Flagstaff, Winslow (stand on the corner), Holbrook, Gallup and especially Albuquerque (Central Ave.) have tons of 66 scenery. The road thru the Petrified Forest NP is an old segment of 66. Much the same thru the rest of NM, TX until you get to OK City. There are excellent museums in Elk City, Clinton and El Reno OK. When you're out in the country, much of 66 from Seligman to Ok City is near or under I40, but landmarks have survived. East from OK City, 66 veers away from I40 and is close to I44, but pretty lonely to Tulsa. Not much is left from Springfield Mo to St. Louis.

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Route 66 is designated as a National Scenic Byway in most of the states it runs or ran through. IL, OK, AZ, NM. It is designated as a state scenic byway in MO, and as an Historic Road in CA. You can get info on attractions in each state from that state's scenic byway program.

As others have said, only some portions of the original road remain, but in most states, a route across the state has been designated. Some info: IL has a lot of remaining road. Interesting places along the route, but some long distances between Rt. 66 "kitsch" like the Gemini Giant in Wilmington. In CA, only the portion of Rt 66 in the eastern part of the state exists. As you near Los Angeles, the route is obliterated by interstates. But the Western terminus is still there-Santa Monica pier at the oceans edge.

One thing that is both interesting and depressing is the number of abandoned and derelict restaurants, gas stations, hotels and other attractions of the 1950s/1960s era.

The Disney movie Cars ( the 1st movie, not the sequel) was inspired by and all about Route 66. There used to be flourishing tourist towns all along the route, but then the interstate came and people bypassed all the neat little towns and their culture. The local organizations and the Scenic Byway Program are trying to restore some of that culture and promote travel once again along these historic routes.

Jamie Jensen's "Road Trip USA" guides one through a collection of trips on the Numbered U.S. Highway system that yet exists intact in the middle part of the country where everything was not blanketed by superhighways. The edition I have covers six North-South trips, four East-West trips, in addition to Route 66, which was one of the diagonals.

US-60 (I've traveled eastern New Mexico to the Atlantic Coast) will connect you with Kentucky through southern Missouri (crossing 66 in NE Oklahoma). US-412 will connect you with Tennessee (crossing 66 in Tulsa).

Because of my destinations, I more often follow diagonal routes (US-24, US-36, US-54, US-98) than the old E-W (US-2, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90). Actually, most of those highways still exist, but the current US- number route signs will have you follow Interstates instead. The historic routes of those highways are now more often state highways.

Many of the Interstates were put on new alignments to bypass, by at least a few miles, the towns and small cities the old highways served. Interstates got routed through only major cities to serve as expressways for the cities that did not yet have them.

Most of my interest in following the old highways is to see the small towns.

I've driven most parts of Route 66 between Joliet, Illinois and Williams, Arizona, some sections in Missouri and Oklahoma dozens of times because it is how I get from here to there, others a few times for the heck of it or as a tour.

A lot of the time you may be on the parallel Interstate because it is simply a better way to travel, sometimes because it is the only road there. Often the old route is the business route through each town bypassed by the Interstate, and in some places the old road serves as the access road.

The places to avoid on 66 are all of the big cities: St Louis, Tulsa, OKC, Amarillo, ABQ, etc. Staying on 66 around around major cities is a real problem because what was countryside 60 years ago is now miles and miles of suburbs with frequent traffic lights, half mile or closer, and in the cities themselves often a light at each city block. Take the Interstate or an expressway through or around.

What there is to see depends on what is interesting to you. Museums? Antique shops? Kitsch? The old towns? Grand Canyon? Meteor Crater? Caverns? What's there will be mostly historical, many attractions that appealed to 1950's and 60's travelers are still there, and the major cities still have most everything they had then and a lot more.

For what to see and do, Michael Walliss's "Route 66" is the classic tour description. For how to find the many different routings of the highway, and the remaining sights along each, I prefer Jerry McClanahan's "EZ66 Guide for Travelers" published by the National Historic Route 66 Federation.

For information on the WWW, try the websites of that Federation, the state Route 66 federations or associations for each of the eight states passed through, or the web sites of the tourist offices for each of those states.

Almost all of the last 1960s alignment in Missouri is still there to follow. Beyond Joplin, you will not find old 66 running alongside I-44, it goes west to Joplin and into Kansas (why TexasShadow lost it at OK-MO line, it didn't go that way).

All 13 miles of 66 through Kansas is still there, pretty easy to find even without a guide, it is well marked.

All of the 60's 66 from the Kansas line to NE side of Tulsa is still there, and you can follow the city street alignments through Tulsa until you have to hop onto I-44 to cross the river, then you can get back off and follow at least one historic alignment of 66 almost all the way to Texas.

In the Texas Panhandle, there are places where the 60's alignment is parallel to I-40, places where it is service road, and places where it is lost. Some of the places where more modern alignments are no longer open to traffic, you can fall back on 1926-1930's alignments, but some sections will be dirt road.

I'm pretty sure that old 66 still runs through eastern OK, sort of alongside I 44.
It's sort of hit and miss from MO state line down to Tulsa, then meanders down to OK City and after that, it's covered by I 40 until you get to Seligman, AZ. Don't drive past the Hackberry, AZ store. It's the only piece left of the town, but interesting.
Don't drive the old highway from Kingman to Needles. Too narrow and rough and twisty for trailers or MHs.
Between Needles and Barstow is some more of it, in small portions off the Interstate.

jleas524 wrote:

RoyB wrote:
The original Route 66 is between Chicago and Los Angeles. Does not go to the East coast at all...

The only real stretches I have seen just Route 66 was around FLAGSTAFF AZ. I think there are still some Route 66 roadways in Calif but havent done those myself...

Roy Ken

I should have mentioned we live on the east coast, that's why we are traveling that far. I am planning on riding Route 66 until St. Louis and then getting of to head home.

Ok, so you want to ride the old Route 66 from somewhere in the West, eastwardly, until you hit St Louis, and then get off to head home to Lexington (KY, I assume...)

As has been noted, there's not a lot of "Old" Route 66 left, especially in the western areas. I think there's probably more of it "preserved" in Illinois than almost any other state. Arizona has some small chunks here and there, as does Oklahoma. But a major chunk of it has been superceded by Interstate 40 out west, with random "Rt 66 Memorial" type of stuff here and there, for example between Oklahoma City eastward along Oklahoma State Road 66.

Good luck-there aren't many old cross-country non-interstate roads left anymore (after all , that's what the INTERSTATES are for...)

US 50 is still very complete from Ocean City MD to very nearly San Francisco, and US 1 from Maine to Florida, and US 101 along the west coast are the ones that spring to mind off the top of my pointy little head.

We tried following r66 and ended up here

dalenoel wrote:
We did big pieces of 66 from Chicago to AZ in 2012. Road Trip USA was a help in finding some of the attractions along the way.

Alot of the old road does not exist and you will find yourself on the interstate, I-40, so look for websites to give you info on where to get off. Search Galena, KS and you can find Mater from Cars. There are many other small attractions that are not worth a separate trip but worth driving past on your way. Makes a nice photo op.

I remember that a piece of Rt 66 was on the north side of I-40 in the Painted Desert and you won't find it unless you drove the roads through the desert and forest. They had car parts at one spot and looking along the telephone lines you could see where the road was but not from any other angle.

This happens in many, many of the areas. Don't expect to drive 66 for very long at any one time as it really does not exist in that aspect. It is is most of the small towns and is preserved partially but not like it was.

Two weeks for the trip there and back, LA to Chicago, might be a little quick unless you plan to just drive back straight through.

On edit: Another link that will give info on the old road is here. You should to a Google search 'Route 66 attractions' for many other sites to help you find the old road.

This one also

The return trip we have two weeks for.

RoyB wrote:
The original Route 66 is between Chicago and Los Angeles. Does not go to the East coast at all...

The only real stretches I have seen just Route 66 was around FLAGSTAFF AZ. I think there are still some Route 66 roadways in Calif but havent done those myself...

Roy Ken

I should have mentioned we live on the east coast, that's why we are traveling that far. I am planning on riding Route 66 until St. Louis and then getting of to head home.