Anyone have a current map of what's left of route 66? I would love to drive as much of it as I can next time we head out to Chicago from SoCal.
just drove 66 back in sept. from vegas to oklahoma city then up to neb. going to finish the rest this summer. and there is alot more left from oklahoma to cali than there is fro ok. to chicago. so much fun. hey ray was the guy in the honda civic from hawaii. was the car blue. might have met the same guy
and to all that are wanting to travel it and want maps. the best info i can give is to look up as much as you can on the net. also we had a couple of books but most are about 10 years old so its hard to follow whats out there as most is not up to date. we just used what we had as kind of a guideline and wong it from there. alot more fun that way, we found parts of the roads that said were gone or not suitabe to drive on, but turned out to be fine. so my best advice is to go with it. it will be way more fun that way. oh and dont forget the extra gas can to take with you.lol.
I'm taking the family this year too, somewhere from mid- Ok to mid Arizona. I've picked up one book, but I'm hoping to hear from some recent travelers about must see places. It looks to me that the coolest stuff is in N.M. and Arizona, but feel free to help me out with specific destinations. And, sorry to disappoint, but this trip is in the new Trailblazer...I hope to take my boy in the model A someday down 66 and to Bonneville, but he's only 3 at this point, and it doesn't sound to enjoyable right now.......
OK is where the 66 museum.also in olkalahoma is a very cool 4 lane stip far from I40, erick to texola is the 4 lane. also in OK there is a pretty cool underground passage for pedestrians. thats in sayre...... ya know what i will just type out my journal,lol. that i took the whole time on the trip. ABOMB it would be good for you since you going from ok to az. ill try and do it over the weekend. its got all the spots we took and the sections we drove on. hope it will help
I think the museum is where we'll start ( or end) ??? I'll either drive right down Hwy 83(where I live in KS) to 66, or I'll find a likely spot in AZ, take the most direct route there, and follow 66 back to Hwy 83, then head North for home. I would appreciate your tips, but you don't really have to type out your whole journal for me. I took 2 weeks off starting in mid June, we could drive it all, but that would definatley try everyone's patience in the car... My son will be almost 4 by this time. We're not "planning" anything...We'll stop for the interesting stuff, stay where we feel like stoping, and generally not impose deadlines on our trip. Thanks, Chris
I still cruise it every chance I get. The wife and I did the Needles Ca. to around Sedona, Az. last year. Very nice. Got some nice pics I'll try to post later. Very nice chunk of American history along there.
Once the Chev is ready (hoping this summer) the girl and I are driving from Canada down to Cali, then heading East on the 66 for a week. We'll get where we get, and see what we see. going to be a super coolio trip I'm sure!
Hey'Dog, you're exactly right! Anything within 10 miles of 66 is now trying to cash in on the name. There are some really nice roads that are just the way 66 must have been, and you've named 3 of the best! Drove 54 and 56 a couple years back, lots of real home cooking cafes, nice folks, cool scenery and lots of old iron stashed around. US 60 from NM to AZ is super nice, just don't try it at night or you'll get a trophy elk or mule deer for a hood ornament...Keep a full tank of gas, too.
I traveled Route 66 MANY times when I was a kid in the 50's and early 60's. I have a lot of great memories like the Burma Shave signs, all the hokey souvenir places and cool period motels. We were in a 60 Starliner for a few of the trips. My dad helped build a section of 66 in the late 20's with a team of horses. This was in Western Oklahoma, near Elk City. He told me they needed all the help they could get, even a teenager, as long as he knew how to handle his team of horses along side a Carerpillar. My dad was also a pretty hardcore car guy, but ONLY Fords.
Look what I found on that Internet thingy. If you have Google Earth (it's a free download), go here and download this map for "Route 66" (this is free too) seams to fill in some of those missing spots/roads. Let me know how accurate you guys think this map is. http://earth.google.com/ig/director....com/data/gadgets/mapplet1033.xml&output=html
well,hopefully myself,the better half and a mate will be coming over the pond again this year,n this time hiring a ride n doing some proper travelling.....i know for the missus 66 is high on the agenda,but these other highways intrigue me.............especially as we wanna see some cool scenery,visit some small/independant type cafes and motels,and preferably find the odd place to score some cool clothes (her) or parts etc (me) lol.... There was recently a documentary programme on the tv here in the UK,featured a guy called dave gorman who bought a 70-odd ford torino wagon(?!!) in cali,n then attempted to travel from coast to coast (whilst attending places called 'independance')whilst only using independant gas/food/motels etc etc....it was a hellova journey to follow,he made a real good go of it too.......and 'off the beaten track' america was all the better for being just that.Cool programme.
I've been fascinated with Route 66 for a long time. I was about 10 years old when Hot Rod magazine had a feature for a few months of two staffers taking the trip in a 62 vette. I think this was 1988 or so. Anyways, I couldn't wait to see where those guys wound up with each installment. In 2006 after my first trip to the Hunnert Car Pileup I finally got to travel a bit of the Mother Road. This year we started in Chicago and had breakfast at Lou Mitchell's. We made it as far as Atlanta, IL. but managed to eat at the Launching Pad and the Dixie Trucker's Home as well. Ths summer Luckysgal and I are planning to try and make it to St. Louis some weekend and at least have Illinois under our belts. I seriously think about Route 66 every day. I don't know what it is but each time I get on that road I just want to keep on driving.
When I was out in New Mexico a couple years ago on Rt66, I bought a very good book on the whole length of the route. It is called Traveling Route 66 by Nick Freeth and is published by the University of Oklahoma Press www.oupress.com. Four hundred pages with thousands of pictures both old and modern of places all along the route. Also recipes from many of the places, internet links, bibliography, list of Rt6 groups. A great little book. It takes you mile post by mile post from Chicago to LA. I recommend it as a fun read or a great guide.
That link will allow you to download the route 66 map, you will see a line of text "Open in Google Earth" click on that, it should download that file to your desktop, open/install that file, then open Google earth you should then see it under the My Places folder. If all else fails, buy a map of the USA and a red pen....
I'm bringing this back 'cause we are going! My wife, David (8) and Kristen (11). First week of April. Taking the rebuilt minivan (61 chevy Brookwood another time when it is operational) and heading out. Gonna start in Chi town and try to get through Ill. beginning 4-5-09... Wish us luck! Maybe we will get through Missouri with any luck
My grandparents moved to So Cal, with my 10 year old dad, in 1941 by driving from Lincoln NE to LA on route 66. Dad used to talk about the journey all the time. For some reason I seem to remember a 1939 Packard. When I was a kid we owned a Slot Car Store on Route 66 (Huntington Drive) in Duarte from 67-69
In 1957. 66 was a narrow 2-lane highway. I was driving my 52 Willys Aero from AZ. to Colo. In the mountains west of Albequerque, on west of Gallup, around Hollbrook I think, on the AZ side. Average speed was probably 20 MPH, some of those hair-pin curves were down to 15, speed limit was 45. I had a slow leak in a tire and had to stop every couple of hours and air it up. At this little gas stop in Navajo country I stopped, encountering the first air-hose with a pressure gauge-meter I had ever seen. It had a big gauge on it, reading the pressure to the hose. I hooked it up, and it went ding-ding-ding, until the tire was up, and the meter read 40 and started dinging a lot slower. I was a kid, like I said it was the first one of that kind I had ever seen, and I thought it read 40 cents, not realizing it was reading pressure! Picture this, a dumb kid, pissed-off that air cost money, slapping down 40 cents and grumbling about it as I left! I remember it well because it was probably in the top ten of the dumbest things I ever did, paying more for 40 pounds of air than a gallon of gas cost! I always wondered, after I discovered that the thing was simply a fancy air gauge, what that Navajo that took my money thought! See the map, http://www.historic66.com/
In 1951, after Earl "MadMan" Muntz moved his car factory from Glendale, California to Illinois, he personally delivered many of his Jets from Chicago to his sales office on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. He often bragged he could drive it in less than 36 hours, and of course, it was Route 66 all the way........Heck of a way to break in those Lincoln flathead engines!
This is a cool place we stop to eat at once in a while on rt66. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/IL-Wilimington.html
Myself, Diamond49,and Tigermark are takin 66 to Viva Las Vegas. we are leavin 4-4-09 maybe we'll see ya on the road!
I was probably about 13 years old when my family went out west in a huge Dodge Sportsman extended Van, Mom , Dad, 3 Sisters, Me, and a 180# St Bernard..what a thrill. I still remember some of the sights along the way
Last October we drove Route 66 across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. We wrote a roadtrip blog along the way that covered over 50 historic businesses, ongoing preservation projects, and other fun things to see. It was a great trip. We really enjoyed the Oklahoma section. The book we used the most was the Route 66 EZ Guide by Jerry McClanahan. It's now in a second edition so I'd hunt that one down. It's spiral bound and takes you turn by turn through every piece of 66 still out there. He also lists attractions, historic buildings, and other things. You can also use the book from either East to West or vise versa. It's a great trip that seems to be a little different every time you go.
The EZ book is one of the best. I have alot of Route 66 books, but thats my fav. The map set were hard to follow at first, but by the third or fourth turn around,(mostly in MO.) I figured it out.That was before GPS. We're leaving on our roadtrip in 8 days.
I agree the maps take a bit to get used to, but like you mentioned once they sort of "click" with you they're great. We also had GPS for a backup but rarely used it.
The Jalopy Journal
