Route 66 highway journey planner: The perfect stops alongside the best way

Chicago, Hinsdale and Joliet, Illinois

The symbolic begin of Route 66 is Buckingham Fountain in Chicago’s Grant Park, but it surely’s probably not a highway journey till you are headed southwest out of town.

An ideal jumping-off level in your journey is the Route 66 Welcome Middle on the Joliet Space Historic Museum, with its glorious exhibit on the Muffler Males, enormous fiberglass statues that have been used to promote automotive restore retailers.

Eating places nonetheless sustaining Route 66’s traditions of roadside hospitality embrace the Wealthy & Creamy ice cream stand, Joliet Kicks on Route 66 and Dell Rhea’s Rooster Basket, specializing in fried hen served below the slogan, “Get Your Chicks on Route 66.”

For the final word all-American feast, Al’s Steak Home has been serving up prime cuts to weary highway trippers for 60 years. As you head farther southwest on what right this moment is Freeway 55, cease for photographs on the completely preserved Ambler’s Texaco Fuel Station in Dwight, the place the fuel pumps are painted gleaming pink.

The place to remain

Pontiac, Illinois

Pontiac’s pleasure in its Mom Street heritage may be seen in its 23 colourful out of doors murals and its two museums devoted to America’s love affair with the auto. The Pontiac-Oakland Museum and Useful resource Middle shows a rotating assortment of uncommon Oakland and Pontiac fashions, whereas the Route 66 Affiliation Corridor of Fame & Museum showcases classic adverts, indicators and a traditional Volkswagen hippie bus housed in an outdated fireplace station.

Litchfield, Illinois

This one is a fast cease, however you do not wish to miss the Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Middle (sure, one other one!) with its assortment of nostalgic paraphernalia.

Close by, the uber-retro Ariston Cafe is likely one of the oldest repeatedly working Route 66 institutions, serving up a melting pot of American, Southern, Greek and Italian fare since 1924.

Springfield, Missouri

Crossing into Missouri, do not miss Chain of Rocks Bridge, now open to pedestrian and bicycle visitors solely, famed for its dramatic dogleg bend midspan.

Springfield’s classic Route 66 institutions are preserved alongside two downtown streets: St. Louis Road, east of downtown, and the Chestnut Expressway on the west facet. The Route 66 Automotive Museum is the massive attraction right here, due to its assortment of greater than 70 uncommon and collectible classic automobiles.

Considered one of Springfield’s most recognizable historic buildings is the Abou Ben Adhem Shrine Mosque. This flamboyantly Arabesque outdated theater was inbuilt 1923 and continues to be owned by the Shriners, who use it as an auditorium and live performance corridor. Close by, a plaque tells the story of Wild Invoice Hickok’s homicide of fellow gambler Dave Tutt, supposedly as a result of Tutt flaunted a watch he’d gained off Hickok.

The place to remain

Galena and Riverton, Kansas

The Kansas part of Route 66 is simply 13.2 miles lengthy, but it surely contains a few key stops. These embrace the city of Galena, a should for the outdated Kan-O-Tex fuel station that now homes Vehicles on the Route, a tribute to Pixar’s animated film “Vehicles.”

Housed contained in the outdated Missouri-Kansas-Texas practice depot, Galena Mining & Historic Museum is crammed with classic furnishings, instruments and historic data documenting life in a mining boomtown.

Simply west in Riverton, cease for lunch or snacks on the Eisler Brothers Outdated Riverton Retailer, a highway journey staple because the Nineteen Twenties. This deli serves up traditional sandwiches, and the proprietor, who occurs to be president of the Kansas Route 66 Affiliation, shows his memorabilia.

Much less well-known, however beloved by locals, is the white-painted Rainbow Bridge that arches over Brush Creek roughly 2 miles west of Riverton.

Clinton, Oklahoma

Oklahoma has extra unique and still-driveable miles of Route 66 than some other state and takes nice pleasure on this heritage. This contains the important thing position Route 66 performed within the Thirties Mud Bowl migration.

Nowhere is that this pleasure extra on show than within the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton. The museum has used its important state and native funding to tug collectively a complete assortment that even contains the possibility to sit down in a re-created Fifties diner.

Those that’ve traveled this route earlier than will mourn the lack of the traditional Commerce Winds Inn, which till not too long ago sat throughout the road from the museum and was a favourite of Elvis Presley, who stayed there 4 instances. Clinton additionally has an indoor water park often called the Water-Zoo that makes an ideal highway journey break for drained youngsters.

The place to remain

Tulsa, Stroud and Chandler, Oklahoma

Tulsa is the meals capital of the Route 66 highway journey, boasting a lot of eateries with some variation on a Mom Street theme, chief amongst them El Rancho Grande, which has been serving up Mexican meals for greater than 60 years below a photogenic neon signal. Trying precisely as a classic Mom Street diner ought to, Tally’s is a should for breakfast all day lengthy.

You will discover one thing tasty for everybody at Mom Street Market, the place you’ll be able to select from Rooster & the Wolf, Bodhi’s Bowl and even Brazilian meals at Physician Kustom, then eat on a family-friendly out of doors patio full with Route 66-themed murals and a minigolf course.

Do not go away with out testing the eclectic retailers at Mom Street Market, the place you will discover books, toys and impressed souvenirs. Make a last cease on the Desert Hills Motel to snap a photograph of its beloved neon signal.

Departing Tulsa to the west, the primary landmark to observe for is Rock Creek Bridge. At simply 12 ft large, it gives a vivid sense of simply how slender highways like Route 66 have been again within the early days of the Mannequin T. You will discover one other nice instance of Route 66 neon in Stroud, the place the Skyliner Motel beckons guests with a towering pink arrow.

Now, again to the film “Vehicles.” The Rock Cafe simply west of Stroud — which is created from native stone quarried within the Nineteen Twenties — is a must-stop for followers due to its affiliation with director John Lasseter. He visited quite a few instances as he wrote and directed the film, forsaking signed posters, napkins and graffiti.

Chandler is dwelling to the Route 66 Interpretive Middle, which is a little bit of a departure from different Mom Street museums for its emphasis on schooling.

McLean, Texas

Stretching throughout the pancake-flat plains of the Texas panhandle for nearly 200 miles, Route 66 in Texas has largely been instantly supplanted by Interstate 40, with outdated Mom Street companies left behind on the varied cities’ enterprise loops.

The primary of those, from east to west, is the outdated ranching city of McLean. It wasn’t bypassed by the interstate till the early Eighties and has made spectacular efforts to protect its historic buildings.

Cease for a photograph op with the large neon Texas signal and one other on the completely preserved Phillips 66 station, the place the pumps nonetheless listing a worth of 19 cents a gallon.

Properly value a cease is the Satan’s Rope Museum. It is devoted to barbed wire, known as the “satan’s rope” by cowboys, and holds one of many whole Mom Street’s greatest collections of Route 66 memorabilia and souvenirs.

Amarillo and Cadillac Ranch, Texas

The meat business nonetheless reigns supreme in Amarillo, which handles 2 million head of cattle a yr, offering loads of that outdated Wild West vibe, regardless of its booming inhabitants. Route 66 follows Sixth Road by way of what’s now known as the Outdated Jacinto District, so head there to browse boot, saddle and Western retailers and antiques shops.

Again on I-40, you’ll be able to’t miss the large steer head marking the Large Texan Steak Ranch, which was positioned on Route 66 when it opened in 1960. Households will just like the outdated false-front Wild West-themed constructing, kitschy decor and the big parts at cheap costs.

Nevertheless, the Amarillo space’s most photographed road-themed attraction is Cadillac Ranch, simply off I-40 and about 10 miles west of city. Right here, 10 rusting Cadillacs are buried nostril down within the filth, their finned backsides rising towards the sky and demonstrating iconic American midcentury design so as from 1949 to 1964.

Cadillac Ranch was created by a collective of San Francisco-based artists in 1974 on the behest of eccentric millionaire Stanley Marsh III, who moved them within the late Nineties to place them farther exterior town’s sprawl. Since Marsh’s demise in 2014, the set up’s future has been much less safe, however filmmakers use the day-glo-painted automobiles so often for commercials and picture shoots that the set up appears more likely to survive awhile longer.

The place to remain

Tucumcari, New Mexico

Tucumcari arguably has extra time capsule picture ops than maybe anyplace else on Route 66, due to the abundance of cool classic indicators lining aptly named Route 66 Boulevard. Many adorn traditional motor lodges and diners, together with Del’s Restaurant, which includes a large cow on its signal.

The opposite factor you will discover is the murals — almost 100 of them — which stretch down facet streets and adorn retailers, eating places and grocery shops. Be sure to see the Mom Street-themed mural on the nook of Second Road and Tucumcari Boulevard and in addition search out the Magnolia fuel station adorned with Route 66 indicators and memorabilia.

The place to remain

Santa Rosa, New Mexico

Identified for its preservation of retro indicators and buildings, Santa Rosa can be dwelling to the Route 66 Auto Museum, which you’ll be able to’t miss due to the brilliant yellow automotive perched atop a pole excessive within the air.

Along with traditional automobiles relationship again to the earliest days of the auto, the museum has a superb assortment of classic fuel pumps that say Route 66 higher than the rest. Santa Rosa’s different declare to fame, the Blue Gap, is an astoundingly deep spring-fed lake common with scuba divers.

The place to remain

Williams, Arizona

“Final city bypassed by I-40,” reads the mural on the wall as you drive down Williams’ major road. It is no shock that Williams celebrates its twin identification as each a shoot-’em-up Western city and a nostalgic Fifties cruising strip.

Retro-chic picture ops are aplenty right here, together with the sky-blue signal for the Arizona 9 Motor Lodge and the neon cow beckoning diners to Rod’s Steakhouse. The Coca-Cola-red automotive on the roof of Cruiser’s 66 Cafe is seen for blocks.

Seligman and Hackberry, Arizona

Full of a string of classic cafes, shops and fuel stations, now colorfully painted and festooned in antiques rescued from the encircling desert, Seligman is one massive picture op — and what a photograph op it’s. From right here, Route 66 diverted from I-40 by way of Hackberry, the place the Hackberry Common Retailer has the gritty Mom Street vibe so most of the extra cleaned-up museums lack.

Kingman and Oatman, Arizona

A key cease on the Route 66 pilgrimage, Kingman homes the unusually complete Arizona Route 66 Museum. Within the Powerhouse Customer Middle, it traces the historical past of the westward route again to when it was an Indian path, wagon practice route and railroad line earlier than it carried highway trippers. Reveals embrace a lined wagon and a attribute Mud Bowl truck, in addition to brightly painted Fifties roadsters.

The sharp jog north to go to the outdated mining city of Oatman is effectively well worth the detour to see a city with a major road that seems to be frozen in time. Its sidewalks are nonetheless fabricated from wooden, and burros nonetheless wander among the many outdated storefronts.

Barstow, California

A number of quirky landmarks pay tribute to Barstow’s former significance as a rail hub — together with a McDonald’s created from outdated railroad automobiles. Nevertheless, Barstow’s massive lure for Route 66 followers is the Route 66 Mom Street Museum, positioned within the pale glory of the Casa del Desierto, a Fred Harvey lodge.

Outdoors Barstow within the Mojave Nationwide Protect, the Kelso Depot has develop into a guests middle, bookstore and museum, with its former baggage room ticket workplace and dormitory rooms refurbished to their Thirties glory. The Desert Gentle Gallery has pure historical past and artwork reveals.

Barstow is a standard in a single day spot for drivers on the best way to San Francisco or Los Angeles, in addition to the desert nationwide parks of Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon.

The place to remain

Westward to the coast

Route 66 was rejiggered so many instances because it handed by way of California that it is not at all times straightforward to hint the route and even discover the remnants that exist. They’re in small zigzag patches, some now not even related.

Victorville, California, has one quick part, marked by an optimistic over-the-road welcome signal and the California Route 66 Museum. In all-but-abandoned Newberry Springs, the Baghdad Cafe had its quarter-hour of fame due to its namesake movie, a Eighties art-house favourite.

However if you’d like a real sense of instances lengthy gone, these stretches of Freeway 66 are excellent. Listed here are miles upon miles of lonely vacancy, the place tumbleweeds blow throughout the pockmarked pavement. Motel indicators stand deserted, and classic fuel pumps behind chain-link fences nonetheless beg for consideration from motorists lengthy gone.

The place to remain