The first time I drove to california the only way to get there from St.Louis was old route 40 or 66. I went west on 66 to LA and came back on 40 witch came through colorado. Both highways for the most part followed the railroad tracks so there were a lot of small towns you had to go through. I44 bypasses most of these towns now so it's hard to get a good look at the old Mother road. If you havn't seen the movie Cars you should rent it and watch it. It has somthing to do with what the the new highway did to the small towns along the route.