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Event Coverage Route 66 trip - realistic miles per day ?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Buddy Palumbo, Feb 8, 2014.

  1. 59 brook
    Joined: Jun 12, 2005
    Posts: 1,016

    59 brook
    Member

    check out the 4 sisters i think its called she has a ton of stories and right across the street is a scene from CARS . also oklahoma had a ton of stuff right of 66 . some of the original 66 exists but it is a little rough now. muscle car ranch is a neat place in ok, and the okc bombing memorial is inspirational. pontiac ill had a few neat museums and the will rogers museum was very nice. also went to the rt66 museum in kingman az ,it was interesting
     
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  2. lc1963
    Joined: Aug 12, 2008
    Posts: 169

    lc1963
    Member
    from iowa

    I did it this past summer and totally loved it. I am already planning to do it again in 2016. I had 350 miles which I found out was too much. My suggestion would also be 150 to 200 a day. I had to jump on interstate occasionally to make up time. My trip included Route 66 and had stop offs in Vegas and Grand Canyon.I ended up doing over 7000 miles in 25 days. I did have too many miles and it made for full days but would do it all over again. Route 66 Maps and Books, HAMB, Roadside America and Internet searches were biggest help.
    Have included my thread if it helps
    http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=808143&highlight=roadtrip+west
     
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  3. desotot
    Joined: Jan 29, 2008
    Posts: 2,036

    desotot
    Member

    Great thread, I'm hoping to do this with my wife in the 49 merc. Been checking out youtube on this topic, keep this thread going.
     
  4. lc1963
    Joined: Aug 12, 2008
    Posts: 169

    lc1963
    Member
    from iowa

    An extra side note on the trip -
    While your planning another thing to consider is recording the trip. I took different cameras on the trip
    A digital SLR of which I took a ton of pictures.
    Sony Camcorder of which I used some.
    A GOPRO camera ended up being just as valuable. I made a magnetic mount with a 95 pound from Harbor freight and a GOPRO tripod mount.
    The GOPRO will shoot 120 degree pictures and I would also put it on parts of the route to video tape. The videos are just as priceless.
    I have gone back many times this winter and checked out the pics. It refreshes my memory (age thing ha ha) and gives me a lot of smiles on a crappy winter day!
     
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  5. lowrpmtork
    Joined: Aug 25, 2012
    Posts: 59

    lowrpmtork
    Member

    If you take Lincoln Highway (US 30), be sure to honk going thru New Haven, IN... I'm just a few miles away!
     
  6. finn
    Joined: Jan 25, 2006
    Posts: 1,280

    finn
    Member

    200-300 miles per day is good. I've done parts of it last year and 3 years ago in Feb / March. had good weather and the only tourists I met wer busloads of Japanese and wacky Germans in rental cars.

    One thing I noticed is that every time I decided I'd start making time by sticking to the newer allignments instead of the old route through the little towns, I'd run into something interesting in some little town---stick to your plan and hit all those little narrow / dead end sections. I plan on doing it again next year.

    Don't succumb to the fast food places either. There are hundreds of lunch counters in the little burgs.
     
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  7. AlbuqF-1
    Joined: Mar 2, 2006
    Posts: 909

    AlbuqF-1
    Member
    from NM

    I've been on the parts in OK several times, lots of local attractions related to it. I'll reiterate what was said about being off the road after dusk (at the latest) -- the critters are all over as it cools. Deer, armadillos, etc will do a real number on you and your car! A guy on a Sportster passed me at early dusk in KS on US 56, I saw on the news the next morning he was killed when he hit a deer a mile past where I saw him...

    Elk City has some good, cheap old motels (The Flamingo is one), and the National Rte 66 Museum, tho curiously there is another "National Rte 66 Museum" about 20 miles down the road...
     

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  8. I'm planning this trip from west to east in 2015, will make the return trip on 30. Thanks to all who posted.
     
  9. Sixness
    Joined: Nov 10, 2008
    Posts: 137

    Sixness
    Member
    from Cen Tex

    I was 5 days from Ok City to Albuquerque..[​IMG]
     
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  10. oldpl8s
    Joined: Apr 11, 2007
    Posts: 1,487

    oldpl8s
    Member

    They made several of those Wigwam motels. I stayed in one in Kentucky last year. More roomy inside than you would think.
     
  11. HOXXOH
    Joined: Feb 10, 2014
    Posts: 3

    HOXXOH
    Member

    My first post, so I'm happy if it'll help your trip.

    I've traveled 66/I40 many times, but usually too fast. Take your time and investigate stuff on the way. If you only get part way one year, it's an incentive to do another section the next year.
    Coolest most memorable places (some not exactly on 66) were in AZ and OK.
    AZ - Painted Desert/Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Walnut Canyon, Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon Cavern, Oatman.
    OK - The Coleman Theater and the original ribbon road (preceded 66) both in Miami, an old ex-gas station/museum in Afton, Darryl Starbird's Rod & Custom Hall of Fame museum.
    I'm sure there are many other hidden gems along the way.
    If dad is a senior, get a lifetime pass to National parks for $10.
     
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  12. 911 steve
    Joined: Nov 29, 2012
    Posts: 678

    911 steve
    Member
    from nebraska

    I plan on driving my 40 Ford sedan from Omaha, NE to Petaluma, CA in May 2015 for the American Graffiti reunion. So far the idea is to go out on the Old Lincoln Hwy, down the Pac Coast Hwy, and back on Rt 66. I told the wife to plan for at least a 3-4 week trip.
     
  13. 911 steve
    Joined: Nov 29, 2012
    Posts: 678

    911 steve
    Member
    from nebraska

    He doesn't often show rt 66, but on the "fordbarn.com", a poster named "old henry" takes lots of trips in his 46 and always post great pic's of the southwest.
     
  14. Mazooma1
    Joined: Jun 5, 2007
    Posts: 13,598

    Mazooma1
    Member

    I did it from L.A to St. Louis when I was 16 in 1967 in an Olds powered T-bucket.
    But my trip was different than yours.
    While mine will always be considered (by me) as one of those epic memories in my life, it was a make-shift trip thrown together when a friend asked if I wanted to go visit his uncle in St. Louis. Just two kids and young enough not to bother with details.

    You are planning a very personal trip with your best buddy, ever.
    Yes, see all the sights and don't push yourself. Never put "mileage" over "pleasure".
    If you see something interesting along the way, STOP and check it out.
    It doesn't have to be a well know monument or famous place, but if something looks like it's cool and offbeat, STOP!
    To say the least take hundreds if not thousands of photos. Try to take a laptop so you can let us all join in on the trip, daily.
    Do yourself a huge favor and just you and your dad have lunch at some little funky park somewhere. Just the two of you. No waitresses, no clanging coffee shop kitchen, just grab some sandwiches at a local deli, not "fast food" and find a old wood table and bench under a tree and eat.
    And talk. And talk about "stuff". Tell your Dad you love him. That's something that some of us found hard to express as we aged.
    Avoid the 7-11's and fast food chains and aim for the mom and pop stores and coffee shops. You can eat at McDonalds anywhere. That's mundane. You are NOT planning a mundane trip.
    Two years ago on the way to Bonneville I spent a few hours sitting in the little ancient cemetery in Caliente, Nevada. I was filled with the history and acquired so much respect for the souls that were laid to rest around where I sat. I read each and every grave marker and tombstone.
    Why am I telling you this?
    Because I wish I had been wiser and more mature when I took my Route 66 trip, but I was a young hot rodder and I didn't know "wisdom" from "shit".....
    Make sure you have all the comforts, too.
    A cooler, handwipes, paper towels, grub, tunes for your dad, not tunes for you. You know what he likes in the way of music. Load up on that.
    We ran into some wicked thunderstorms in Texas and and to hunker down under an interstate bridge for a few hours. Plan and equip yourself with those disposable rain coats from Harbor Freight.
    Collect those neat decals from each state you go through. You know, like the ones we used to see on station wagon windows. Use those and assorted postcards that you can buy to supplement your photos for an album to give your dad (and yourself) once you get home. You can make a cool hardbound book of your trip. I've made several. If you don't know how, I'll walk you through it.
    Take some pillows and soft blankets ......and Windex and paper towels to keep you glass clean. You are going to travel through America's heartland, so clean glass is a must. America the beautiful is not just a song.
    I could go on and on, but this should be the trip of your lifetime.
    Plan well. But don't have an agenda. Have loosey-goosey goals in mind, but be willing to change your mind at the drop of a hat. Talk to the locals. Sit and bullshit with people for a while if you can.
    The trip is looked back on not by what historical bridges and sites you see, but those candid, personal moments when you walk through a local antique (junk) shop or both of you do a double-take at the same time when you spot a good lookin' chick. Hey, us old guys are old, but were not dead.
    This is gonna be soooo cool.....

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2014
  15. Finnrodder
    Joined: Oct 18, 2009
    Posts: 2,970

    Finnrodder
    Member
    from Finland

    Post a roadtrip thread after you and your father have done the trip?
    That could be really cool to thread to see.
     
  16. Mazooma1
    Joined: Jun 5, 2007
    Posts: 13,598

    Mazooma1
    Member

    Better yet, post updates each day of the trip.
     
  17. Willy_P
    Joined: Mar 19, 2011
    Posts: 762

    Willy_P
    Member

    Dang Mazooma, have you been reading my PM's? :)
    X2 what you said. We refer to those times as "carefree moments", the stuff memories are made of. We work to have that quiet atmosphere you described, and watch/listen/chat for a bit, maybe 5 minutes, maybe 30, whatever the occasion seems to present.
    Sometimes I remember it was so quiet and peaceful I can remember hearing the wind blow. My folks have been gone for many years, and we did things like short trips, but I would love to have had the time with my dad that Allen is preparing. Good stuff.


    Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
     
  18. model.A.keith
    Joined: Mar 19, 2007
    Posts: 6,279

    model.A.keith
    Member




    Always a good time when 'Prof's' on the road


    http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57511


    .
     
  19. oldsjoe
    Joined: May 2, 2011
    Posts: 2,604

    oldsjoe
    Member

    Ya know I said I have planned this trip a million times in my head! Now it's a million PLUS! After reading all these GREAT suggestions!I'll probably have to go it alone Dad is gone wife want's nothing to do with spending 2 weeks or more in a hot car driving an old highway! So I'm pretty much the only one in the family with "THE VISION"! I'm going to do it just a matter of when!
     
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  20. My late wife and I did this trip every year, and I have done it solo every year since she passed in 2011. Going on 13 trips now.
    Her brother lives in Santa Maria Cal, and every year I do some Rt.66, and I40 mixed. It never gets old. The aura of the mother road is still out there in the desert.
    From DFW, it's up 287 to Amarillo, or north to Ok City to pick up 66/I40 there.
    Try to time your trip late enough in the year that you don't encounter snow in Flagstaff, but early enough that the heat doesn't overwhelm you in the Arizona desert.
    Great mexican restaurant in downtown Kingman Az., by the way.
    Lots of 66 is gone forever, but enough still exists that you can have a journey that you'll not soon forget.
    Sometimes going, I'll skate off onto old 66 to explore. But then, coming home, I'm always ready to get back to Texas, so it's Santa Maria to Kingman Az. the first day, Kingman to Santa Rosa New Mexico the next, and into Dallas on the third day.
    It's like dirt track racing, it just never gets old!
     
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  21. 48fordor
    Joined: Jan 16, 2009
    Posts: 143

    48fordor
    Member
    from York, PA

    Look up the Rt66 association for each state. If you search you can find more of the old road than you think. Officially the road is bypassed but the old concrete became access roads, etc. We had a book by Jim Ross for the Oklahoma section and it was very good. I am sure there are equivalent books for other states. Lots of online sources as well.

    If you are driving the Old Lincoln Highway there is an association for that road as well.

    My best advice is to follow the "no chains" rule. Don't eat anywhere that is a national chain. Limited exceptions are allowed for interesting regional chain food if there is none anywhere near your home. We've had a few poor meals, but MANY great ones doing this. You will miss half the fun if you don't interact with the people along 66. I'm from PA as well, so I know you will be surprised how friendly people can be. One example - We pulled into Lucille's gas station well after dark one night in Hydro, OK to get a photo. The place was dark, but she came out and invited us inside and talked about 66 as long as we wanted to stay. She will be missed.:(

    Make sure you find the one lane sections in OK, the Blue Whale, the Rock Cafe, and all the other fun. Try to stay in the "Elvis Room" in Clinton, OK. I think the OK section we could have traveled 100 miles a day and kept busy! I miss living there. Some day I want to drive the entire thing. I've seen about 2/3 of it but only in small trips.

    Have fun and let us know where you will be posting the photos! Can't begin to say how jealous I am - Rt66, a cool car, and a father/son trip - wow.
     
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  22. Buddy Palumbo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,871

    Buddy Palumbo
    Member

    Cool pic , Mazooma .

    Mike Britton - sorry to hear about your wife . It's cool how you've kept up your trips . It's a good way to keep the happy memories around .

    I'm sure we'll take lots of pics on the trip - I'm a bit of a shutterbug . My pop's more into the tech crap than me , so he'll be in charge of in-progress pics - he can upload stuff with his smartphone . I'll start a trip thread and take my laptop for sure . Maybe we'll do an instagram thingie as well . The trip might be a good excuse to get a go pro - it could make for some cool vids to put on youtube .

    The old Lincoln highway is a darn old road too - don't know how much of "the feel" is left there though . We'll see .
     
  23. Drove the old Lincoln Highway (US 30) from west to east back in 66. They were still working on 80. There's a lot of it running parallel to 80 still in tact through the western states.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2014
  24. 911 steve
    Joined: Nov 29, 2012
    Posts: 678

    911 steve
    Member
    from nebraska

    Last summer the Old Linc Hwy Assoc held a big show in Kearney,NE which is the halfway point between the coasts. Tons of old cars including some that were being driven from west to east on the full hiway. COOOOL SHOW
     
  25. Willy_P
    Joined: Mar 19, 2011
    Posts: 762

    Willy_P
    Member

    A few side trips/photo ops/dining to consider...( OK, not a few, a LOT)
    This is just stuff we got to do, TONS more we missed - you can never see it all, and it changes all the time - Café On the Route in Baxter Springs KS closed in 2013 as an example.
    Did I say I'd like to go again?

    Previously mentioned, but at the start
    ILLINOIS
    In Chicago
    there are two noteworthy signs marking the beginning and end of route 66 - cool photo ops at
    Michigan/Adams=start, Michigan/Jackson=end
    Navy pier

    lou mitchell's - breakfast donut holes + milk duds


    Rad Rides by Troy
    Side trip about 50 miles south of Chicago on us 57 Manteno, IL home of Rad Rides by Troy-Troy Trapenier built Bonneville car Blowfish 69 barracuda

    Find the 3 muffler men in Illinois
    Del Rhea's chicken basket: world famous fried chicken
    Willowbrook Il
    http://www.chickenbasket.com/
    Shirley, IL, Funks grove pure maple sirup
    Braidwood, IL , Polk-a-Dot drive in - 50's style drive in
    Raymond,IL, Shrine of our lady of the highways,
    Springfield Il,Cozy Dog Drive Inn , birthplace of the corn dog
    -Bob Waldmire history here too
    Staunton IL Country Classic cars
    -A great looky loo stop in 2011, had over 100 COOL cars and was building lots of storage buildings.
    I've read some HAMBers had purchase issues here but it doesn't cost a dime to look at nice cars

    MISSOURI
    St Louis
    -chain of rocks brudge
    -Ted Drewes concrete custard
    -Pappys BBQ
    -Sweetie Pie's
    Meremec caves, Stanton, Mo
    You followed the painted barn signs, at least go take a look.
    Cuba. Mo, great painted murals.
    -Wagon wheel motel
    Lebanon Mo, Munger Moss motel
    Springfield
    Carthage Mo 66 drive in theatre
    Joplin
    -Dale’s Ole 66 Barber Shop, corner of Euclid Avenue and Utica Street,an old Shamrock station.
    Was there before the 2011 tornado

    KANSAS
    Riverton, Eislers grocery store
    Galena - Tow mater truck - 4 women on the route Kanotex gas station
    Baxter Springs
    -The bank has a great brick relief mural on the wall of the American bank.
    Also plaques on businesses and buildings robbed by Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde.
    -Baxter Springs City Cemetery Soldiers' Lot
    2 miles west of town, the soldiers lot is located within the city cemetery
    and is marked with vertical mounted cannons.
    Civil war soldiers and citizens were buried here.
    http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/trave...axter_Springs_City_Cemetery_Soldiers_Lot.html
    -Marsh arch bridge between Baxter springs and Riverton
    look for the plaque between the guard rail and bridge

    OKLAHOMA
    Miami, south of Quapaw, "ribbon road" 9-feet wide route 66 narrow alignment
    Foyil, Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park,is about 3 miles off route 66 and has a 90 foot totem
    with a sort of folk art look .
    The base is cool and looks like a huge turtle with a teepee on its back.
    -Fiddle collection-about 60.
    Catoosa, blue whale, look for the ark next to the whale site.
    Arcadia, round barn,a fun stop.
    And Pop's drive in fuel stop. Neon Soda pop sign is 66 feet tall,
    66 redbud trees were supposed to be planted out back, and choice of about 400 different sodas.
    Tulsa
    -Tally's good food cafe
    1102 s Yale Tulsa Ok
    BIG cinnamon rolls
    -Blue dome service station
    http://www.tulsapeople.com/Tulsa-People/September-2012/Whats-old-is-blue/
    -the Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza at the east end of the Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge
    (a.k.a. the Eleventh Street Bridge) in Tulsa
    Stroud ok, the rock cafe
    Chandler - Jerry McClanahan, EZ 66 book author and R66 Gallery
    http://mcjerry66.com/visit.php
    Yukon, hometown of Garth Brooks and of a giant “Yukon’s Best Flour” grain mill.
    Huge sign lights up the night sky
    El Reno, look for murals on underpass - 3 classic cars
    site of a motel seen in the movie Rain Man.
    (In the movie, the motel was in Amarillo, but the “real” one,
    called the Big Eight, sat along old Route 66 at the east edge of El Reno.)
    hydro, - lucille's, stop for a drink/souvenir
    http://roadtripusa.com/routes/route66/oklahoma/r66_hydro.html
    -pony bridge at the canadian river
    Over 3900 feet long, 28 trusses.
    Dedication plaques on end of bridge, but watch for traffic - don't ask me how I know
    Beckham county courthouse, Sayre Ok is the site of some of the filming
    In the 1940 film Grapes of Wrath.
    clinton, Oklahoma Route 66 Museum
    Elk City, National Route 66 Museum 30 miles west of Clinton
    Erick, Sand Hill Curiosity Shop run by Harley and Annabelle - the Mediocre Musicians.
    -"windmill museum garden, about 1-2 miles east of town on the north side of the road.
    In 2011 there were a bunch of cars in a field just west of the windmills
    -Roger Miller Museum (King of the Road)
    Texola, cool old jail for photo op

    TEXAS
    Shamrock,Tower Conoco Station
    -The U-Drop Inn Cafe
    McLean
    -restored 1929 Phillips 66 gas station
    -Devil's rope museum - barbed wire
    Groom - 190 foot cross, leaning water tower
    Amarillo - Big Texan Restaurant
    - cadillac ranch
    Vega - dots mini museum
    Adrian - midpoint cafe - "half way point", and fran H's ugly crust pie
    Glen Rio - no town sign, Motel - first in texas/last in Texas

    NEW MEXICO
    Tucumcari
    66 tailfin monument at chamber of commerce
    - butte for Cars movie radiator springs
    -Blue Swallow Motel
    -TeePee Curios
    -Buckaroo Motel
    Lowes mural
    -Lizard lounge

    SantaFe,
    -History Santa Fe Trail
    -oldest church in the USA
    -Loretto Chapel helix-shaped spiral staircase
    -Art center
    -El Rey Motel - very cool
    -Tune up cafe
    -Harry's Roadhouse - great breakfast

    Santa Rosa, R66 Auto Museum

    Albuquerque
    -lots of murals
    -KiMo Theater
    -Standard Diner
    -66 Diner
    -Sopha's place
    -cecilia's cafe

    Continental Divide about 25 miles east of Gallup

    Gallup
    -El Rancho hotel
    Blue Spruce Motel
    Chamber of comerce Sign -
    http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1AA4_Here_We_are_On_Route_66_Gallup_NM_Neon_Sign
    If you make it through Santa Fe NM, there is a church with a helix-spiral staircase that has no center support. A LOT of history in this town.
    Breakfast at Harry's roadhouse was first class. I bought a thermal coffee cup there to replace the one I left out front of Fran's Midpoint cafe in Adrian, Tx. Too much ugly crust pie and then going out gawking at the signs. Cool photo op if you have tail fins is to take a low angle photo of the fin with the cafe sign centered sticking out the top.
     
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  26. Buddy Palumbo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,871

    Buddy Palumbo
    Member

    Thanks again , Willy !
     
  27. Davyj
    Joined: Jul 11, 2011
    Posts: 442

    Davyj
    Member

    We did it in 2012, left on Friday june 1 from Chicago and got to the pier in Santa Monica on Tuesday June 12. We used this planner
    http://www.historic66.com/
    it was very useful. we had a laptop and downloaded pics every night. Did lots of cool stuff from standing on the corner in Winslow,AZ to sleeping in the wig wams. Also took in the petrified forest.Did many cool museums and side trips. Our 38 Chev ran great and we ended up in LA just in time for the LA roadster show. I would recommend this trip to anyone who has the time and enjoys rural America!
     

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  28. Buddy Palumbo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,871

    Buddy Palumbo
    Member

    I've been spending a buncha time going over suggestions and following links people posted ... WOW ! I'm going into info overload , LOL !!

    I'm really grateful for all of the replies without a doubt .
     
  29. Me too, planning west to east in 2015, be on the road for as long as it takes.
     
  30. Buddy Palumbo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,871

    Buddy Palumbo
    Member

    Man , I'm envious . I've got a time limit & have to make the best of it & make the trip in pieces over a couple years . Sucky part is , I'm 750 miles or so from the start , then the next year I'll be much farther away to start the next section & so on (and then drive back each time , obviously) . Darn , I might have to sell a kidney so I can afford to stay on the mother road till I'm done , LOL !!
     

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