As you know from my recent postings, my dad and I spent the week before Labor Day touring Route 66 from Chicago to Albuquerque (and thanks to all of you who offered best wishes during our trip). To prepare, we gathered some resources (an old school reference book, and several websites loaded onto my laptop hard drive), and confirmed connection details via phone.
Dad and I tend to operate from the seat of our pants, so our planning during the trip often consisted of a morning discussion regarding our mileage goal for the day, and then allowing events to evolve organically. Not everyone is comfortable with this approach, but trying to lock down every detail of a Route 66 road tour is well-nigh impossible. However, if you want to attempt it, I’ll review some of the lessons we learned on this trip, using the classic question and answer format, and then open things up for discussion (blog style).
Question 1: Self directed or guided tour format?
Dad and I never considered the guided tour format, but it is an option. A quick Google search rings up multiple Route 66 guided tour operations, and for some, it’s an attractive option. By using a tour package, you don’t have to get a car from your house to Route 66 (which can be a very long drive), and for our out-of-country friends, a tour guide can handle all the food and lodging decisions, allowing tourists to focus on the Mother Road.
Some tour companies offer a car rental option, an attractive approach for folks in Seattle, Bangor, or Miami. Instead of spending several days driving to Route 66, you can fly into Chicago or Los Angeles, jump in a classic car and head out.
Question 2: What to drive?
I could spend a couple of paragraphs discussing options, but it really comes down to this: classic style or modern comfort? Beyond that, your decision will be guided by the resources available. Don’t forget the full tour runs 2,100 miles, and you’ll be buying fuel to cover every inch of it.
Question 3: How much time do I budget?
The short answer is as much as you can. The guided tours run two weeks, and I guarantee there are things they skip over to make that timeline. While Dad and I had a great time on the trip, every stop included a discussion about allotted time, and we often felt we were rushing through museums and other sites. If you budget six days or less, you’re going to spend most of your time behind the wheel rather than touring sites along the way.
Question 4: Where to start?
Don’t feel compelled to start in Chicago or Los Angeles. People living in Kansas City, Denver or Dallas would be better served to start at a mid-point city (Albuquerque, Amarillo or OKC), and head toward a terminus. This approach also allows you to break the tour into multiple trips.
Question 5: Which Route 66?
This question will come up every day. There is no definitive map of Route 66–over its life, it evolved from a patchwork of existing roads into a limited access highway that bypassed town centers and straightened convoluted pathways. Because of this, you’ll constantly encounter alternative pathways, all of which are marked Route 66.
For example, here’s a picture of the path through Illinois. The blue line represents the original route from Chicago to LA, while Route 4 represents the later straightened path. Which route is correct? Both, since they were both signed as Route 66 at one point in their life.
Route 66 Alignments in St Louis Over the Years
Then issue gets worse when you hit a major city. You’ll find multiple paths through town, based on alignments from the thirties, forties, and fifties. Bridges that used to carry thousands of cars a day have been torn down or downgraded to foot and bike traffic. You’ll find that many of the older choices lead into dead ends, due to missing bridges or a limited access bypass cutting across the right of way of the older road. Dealing with these changes, and deciding on the preferred path affects both travel time and available viewing options.
Alignments in New Mexico: The Newer Green Path Bypasses Santa Fe
The biggest route question you’ll face is to whether or not to Santa Fe. Up until 1937, Route 66 angled north of Albuquerque and ran though Santa Fe. Following the pre-’37 alignment adds over 90 miles to the trip, but takes you through plenty of breathtaking New Mexico landscape.
Example 1: Old Alignment in Illinois Countryside (Road Width: 10′)
In my view, there is no wrong choice. We explored several of the older alignments and determined that one narrow, winding path from 1930 is much like the next one. Based on that, we typically used the newer alignments. While we used the two lane alternatives when available, it didn’t always make sense.
Example 2: Pavement on an Old Alignment
When the original path runs alongside an interstate highway, you can see all the same sights from the four lane, while maintaining a much higher average speed. I can guarantee that dogmatically following the initial Route 66 path will significantly slow your progress. As these pictures show, these early roads are narrow (about ten feet wide in the case of the concrete path), with eighty year old, pockmarked surfaces (or in the case of the second path, paved with bricks).
Question 6: Where to stop?
Ah, the fun question. The answer could be anywhere you want. While there are plenty of great car sites to see (check out my write ups on The Pontiac-Oakland Museum and Cadillac Ranch), Dad and I checked out many other sites including the St Louis Arch (the elevator is both claustrophobic and fascinating) and the National Western Heritage Museum and Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City (the most impressive museum we visited). During your planning, check out ALL the options, and be sure to look North and South of the main road. We took a short drive south of Amarillo to see the Palo Duro Canyon (very impressive), and folks traveling west will pass the Grand Canyon a mere sixty miles to the north. Though obviously not automobile-related, they offer spectacular views nonetheless.
My Recommended One-Stop Route 66 Reference Map
Final Question: When will you get off your butt and go?
Yep, I’m talking to you. Today is a great day to start planning, and I’ve only got one specific suggestion: obtaining one of the laminated maps sold by Global Graphics. It features multiple Route 66 alignments and includes detailed paths through each big town. The ISBN number is 0-918505-40-2, and you can order it from www.mapbiz.net. I bought my copy in Texas on the fourth day of travel, and regretted not having I found it sooner. I plan to use it for future tours of the Mother Road, since placing all road information on a single sheet makes navigating much simpler. In addition, the map also includes information on major sites along the route.
That completes my list of recommendations, but I’m sure many folk will weigh in with their observations, advice and tips. Let the posting begin!
Great advice. When I did 66 from Joliet IL to almost Texas last year I used Jerry McClanahan’s EZ Guide and it’s almost turn by turn directions. The route is well signed in IL, pretty well signed in MO and KS, but sporadically signed in OK. That book saved my bacon in OK.
I probably should have included a section on Route Markers-
It’s a bit of a challenge when two legs of an intersection are posted “Historical Route 66.” Thanks to the multiple route issue, this can happen a couple times a day.
Either route will work, but with a map you can choose the more interesting option.
In a few years I’m retiring from Texas back to California. I could go I10 but it’s pretty boring so why not Route 66? I’ll head up to Midland to check out the Chaparral race cars, then Roswell for the aliens, then Albuquerque after that I don’t know. Too bad you didn’t go farther, would of made my planning a little easier.
There is a meteor crater in Arizona between Winslow and Flagstaff which is interesting. Well its just a big hole in the ground…
Interesting stuff. I am close enough to Chicago that it would not be a big deal to start there. Even going to St. Louis then heading home would be a fun short trip.
But there is one burning question: Did you have the Nat King Cole Trio’s record of Route 66 playing on your ipod or in your CD player? It is sure playing in my head right now. 🙂
Dad brought along the Four Freshman version, becasue he’s Old Skool…
Nothing wrong with the Freshmen. Local boys who made good. 🙂 Got their start as actual college freshmen at Butler University in Indianapolis, if I am remembering correctly.
When I moved from Pennsylvania to California, I took I-40 most of the way from St. Louis into CA. I-40 parallels old 66 for much of the trip.
Anyway, I crossed the country in three days so I didn’t have time to sightsee. However, I spent the night in the kitschy motel attached to The Big Texan in Amarillo. Probably the best steak I’ve ever eaten, and a good value, too.
One can definitely skip the California portion of Route 66 from the AZ/CA border to Victorville. You can see sections of the road from US 40 as it winds it’s way in the same general direction. However, this is the flat Mohave Desert and there isn’t anything to see here except flat land, low hills and desert scrub. I found 40 in itself to be a boring drive but at least it was fast compared to what the narrow two lane cracked Route 66 is.
I’m not sure I agree:
There’s an interesting stretch to the east of Barstow that deviates from the I-40 alignment- Take the exit marked “National Trails Highway”, and follow it through Amboy and back to I-40
The old route between Barstow and Victorville moves west quite a few miles. I’ve only driven it at night, but it’s a completely different path than I-15.
Finally, there’s a two lane stretch into San Bernadino that parallels I-15, but drops below the freeway and runs along the river south of the Cajon Pass.
I agree the view is generally flat desert, but it gives you a feel for what two lane travel was like back in the thirties, forties and fifties.
“The old route between Barstow and Victorville moves west quite a few miles. I’ve only driven it at night, but it’s a completely different path than I-15.”
I did see that. Interesting that instead of a straight line from Barstow to Victorville Route 66 goes further west before hooking back towards Victorville. This certainly wouldn’t have been a road I would like to travel in the summer back in the 30’s and 40’s though.
We started out in Chicago, where the official sign says Route 66 begin. Had a rental car, which we booked from at home already. Having three weeks of time and a friend in LA who wanted us to speed up to have more time to spend with her. We did not plan on any day how far to go. In the later afternoons we decided how far still to go (we had the last two weeks of october and first week of november 2013) and look out for a motel until then. This worked pretty good, we had real good stays (Blue Swallow in Tucumcari, NM and Canyon Lodge in Seligman AZ, and one really bad one in Needles.
Those parts of the route, wich now only are used as service roads to the 4 lanes, made us use the faster one. Especially there where there wasn´t anything interesting to be missed.
All in all, we are planning on doing this once more for the complete 2.100 miles, using more time. We already have seen parts of the Mother Road some years earlier, like between Kingman and Oatman, AZ. Wich I liked most. Very fascinating if you think about that all traffic had to use this one road to the west!
By the way, did any one of you ever see a crushed Edsel? It felt like each and everyone ever made is parked on or near the Route.
To finish up: Our 3 week trip totalled to 4.000 miles including visits to some National Parks on our way, detours to Palm Springs and Santa Barbara.
I love to travel by ground and I try hard to just get up and _GO_ every morning , then begin looking for a Motel near sunset .
For me this is easy because Farm Habits die hard , I vault out of bed by 04:30 7 days/week .
No real plans other than stop to see whatever catches our fancy , we meet all manner of nice folks this way and often go WAAYYYY off the main highway to discover some thing or place we saw an old sign for or heard about from a fellow traveler .
Rushing just makes you miserable so don’t do it .
Unless you really enjoy the heat and smell of gasoline , brake fluid and hot asbestos , I highly suggest a modern vehicle , one with good AC .
Me , I’m too old/stubborn/stupid so I sweat my way across this wonderful land of ours , time after time , year after year , complaining the whole way and loving every minute of it .
Take the kids ! .
-Nate
Rt 66 is on my bucket list and it will be in an old car, at least one older than my Fairmont. Wish I still had my ’59 Edsel Ranger…
Poor Muffler Man the stainless steel exhaust systems in modern cars has put him out of the muffler hawking business and now he’s been reduced to selling hot dogs. 🙁
The Giant I’ve posed with started life as Paul Bunyan, and initially held an axe, not a muffler. An entrepreneur in Cicero, Illinois purchased it for his restaurant, and renamed the place “Bunyon’s” to avoid any liability issues.
There are two other giants in Illinois, described in this link:
Bunyan Statues
Well you cut off the top of his head to verify the molded on wool style hat or not but he definitely does not have the molded beard of the Paul Bunyan model. I found this picture that appears to be the same statue which confirms that he in fact is the classic version of Muffler Man w/o any hat and not the Paul Bunyan. Here is a page detailing identifying the various versions of Muffler Men. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/muffler/types.html and the page on that particular Muffler Man. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/6930
Here is a video of the subject and details on identifying him. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/video/39430 ID starts around 5:00
Now that I look a little closer it does appear that he has the Bunyan pants, and “the Classic” Muffler Man head. From the pictures in the video of him early on and the research from the people who made that video it appears he has always held a hot dog, never a muffler or axe.
Hey, don’t forget Vanna Whitewall! (not on R66, though).
http://www.plazatire.com/vanna.htm
A Uniroyal gal, fairly rare, surprising that she doesn’t have a tire since she is still at a tire store.
Here she is before/after her skirt was added and then removed again, and her history. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11385
I remember seeing the ‘End of route 66’ sign at the Santa Monica pier. Would be an interesting trip. Living in the PDX area now, not sure if I’ll ever get a chance to try it or not. Would be fun. Glad you enjoyed your trip, had fun reading about it and looking at the great pictures.
“And the fish I caught was THIS BIG!”
Sorry, couldn’t resist. 🙂
A guided tour is intriguing. We recently spent a week in DC and used a few guided tours. Some overlapped our own efforts (and my wife is an excellent trip planner). The guided tour of Arlington National in particular brought a great deal of information and interest.