Route 66 Adventure Handbook

AUTHOR’S PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION

I wrote this book because it’s exactly what I need to take with me whenever I travel Route 66, and it is my sincere hope that it can be of similar service to you in your own explorations of the Mother Road.

I began driving, exploring, and photographing what remains of U.S. Route 66 back in 1992. Some might call it an obsession, but it’s a passion that has stayed with me ever since, with no apparent end.

I live a considerable distance from the nearest portion of the Route, and so the time that I spend on the Mother Road is precious and comes at irregular intervals. Over the years, my knowledge of Route 66 has gradually expanded by exposure to many things: books and periodicals; conversations with people who live, work, or travel extensively on Route 66; documents on the world wide web; and of course my own travels, in which I’ve spent thousands of hours and taken thousands of photographs.

The problem I had, which this volume seeks to solve, is this: Each time I get out on the Mother Road, there are many things I’d like to see and experience myself which I might only have heard or read about up to that time. Invariably, while out exploring the Route, there are things which I remember to investigate, but there are others that I lack sufficient time for, or that I simply forget about until after I’ve returned home. This book solves that problem by putting all of that Route 66 information in one volume which I can easily take along and refer to, so that each Mother Road excursion can be as jam-packed as possible.

This latest edition has some features that weren’t included in earlier editions, and which I’m confident you’ll appreciate. More than 80 maps are included to assist you in getting around in some of the more challenging Route 66 towns, and in many cases I’ve added navigational boxes with specific instructions. The majority of photographs you see are new to this edition as well, and are more plentiful than ever—more than 400. And, this new edition includes a special section of full-color photographs, as well as online content accessible with a smartphone or tablet (see the QR codes scattered throughout).

WARNING: Each visit to Route 66 over these last 30 years or so, I’ve seen signs of new life—people starting new roadside businesses to cater to Mother Road traffic. But, I’ve also witnessed—particularly in the past few years—the decay, demolition, and disappearance of some major roadside features. For me, that’s been painful to see, and the process seems to be accelerating. If you’ve been meaning to explore Route 66, but haven’t done so yet, I urge you to get out there as soon as humanly possible.

My hope is that this Route 66 Adventure Handbook will be of valuable service to you as you do your own explorations, and that those explorations cause you to appreciate America’s Main Street as much as I do.

Drew Knowles

Hot Springs, Arkansas

ABOUT THE 1957 ATLAS

Throughout this book, you will see mention of something I refer to as my 1957 atlas. It’s a 12 x 16-inch paperbound road atlas, published by Rand McNally in 1957, and containing individual road maps for all fifty states (plus Canada and Mexico).

It was in 1956 that President Eisenhower signed the bill which launched what we today call our Interstate Highway System, and which also started the slow decline of the old system of interstate highways, of which U.S. 66 was a part. Therefore, my 1957 atlas depicts Route 66 and her sisters at their zenith, just before our nation’s roadbuilding energies were diverted to the creation of a decidedly different type of highway.

I obtained my treasured 1957 road atlas at a local antique mall/flea market, and it has been invaluable to me in my quest to explore everything Route 66 has to offer. To peruse its pages is to take a step back in time, and that’s been a journey well worth taking.

WHAT IS ROUTE 66, ANYWAY?

In the early years of the twentieth century, America was crisscrossed by a collection of disorganized and poor quality roads (often no more than dirt paths). That was considered adequate when most travel occurred via horse-and-buggy or railroad. However, the development of the automobile—and especially its mass production in the 1910s—fueled a demand on the part of the American public for more and better roads.

More and better roads did begin to be constructed, but it occurred at a local or regional level, and so development was spotty and haphazard. Naming and marking conventions also varied considerably, making cross-country travel confusing at best.

In 1926, the now-familiar numbered federal highway system was launched. This facilitated the marking of highways consistently across state and regional boundaries. Furthermore, in order to qualify for federal funding and inclusion in the new scheme, highways had to meet standards for surface quality and other criteria. In the beginning, the U.S. highways—including Route 66—were established as such simply by posting the well-known black-and-white numbered shields at strategic points along preexisting roads to act as guides. The roads thus connected then became part of a route, even though they had not been originally built as such.

Numbers ending in zero, such as 60, were reserved for the major coast-to-coast routes (as they still are in today’s interstate system). The highway between Chicago and Los Angeles, considered to be of lesser importance, was designated U.S. 66.

That highway, which we now commonly refer to as Route 66, began its ascension into America’s cultural lore when John Steinbeck made mention of it in his famous 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath. It was there that he gave it one of its many nicknames, the Mother Road. The highway received another boost in public awareness when, just after World War II, Bobby Troup penned his popular song (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 while driving to California for a shot at a career in show business. At about that same time, Jack Rittenhouse, realizing that the post-war years would mean increased auto travel in America, published his A Guidebook to Highway 66 (see bibliography).

During the late 1940s, and throughout the 1950s, America became a much more mobile society, and lots of people began to have first-hand experience using Route 66 either on business, while taking family vacations, or simply when moving their households. It was during those years that Route 66 experienced its most prodigious growth, and simultaneously gained its reputation for tourist traps such as snake pits, trading posts, and roadside zoos. Countless Americans today still have fond memories of family trips to Disneyland and other Southern California destinations.

Then in the early 1960s a national television series was produced, called simply Route 66. Although the series was seldom filmed on the highway for which it was named, it served to reinforce the highway’s place in popular culture, and in fact is indicative of the status the highway had already achieved.

Beginning in the late 1950s, the United States began building a new set of cross-country highways which would change highway travel profoundly. For a variety of reasons, the new highways (which we now refer to as interstates) were constructed as limited-access freeways, with only a relatively small number of access ramps, and no roadside driveway access whatsoever. This was the death knell for small roadside businesses all over the country, including those flanking Route 66.

The entire length of Route 66 was functionally replaced by a series of interstates paralleling it—in some cases only yards away from the older highway, but in the majority of cases making it next to impossible for the modern motorist to gain access to the multitude of businesses left high and dry.

An adventure on Route 66 is an opportunity to see exactly what those interstate highways cast aside so many years ago.

WHY TRAVEL ROUTE 66?

You’re wearing a pair of tight, ill-fitting shoes. Sure, they’re stylish, and they look pretty sharp with that suit of clothes you’re wearing, but the fit is not right. They’re confining. Furthermore, it’s been a long day and you’ve been in those shoes so long, and become so acclimated to their shortcomings, that you’ve stopped paying attention to them. You’ve repressed your pain, and forgotten what it feels like to be barefoot on a soft, cool carpet of green grass.

Now take off those shoes. Right away, good things begin to happen. The blood vessels in your feet begin to open up, allowing an influx of fresh oxygen and nutrients. The pores of your feet open up and bre-e-e-athe for the first time in too long. Even the rhythm of your own breathing becomes less strained, and your mind is sharpened. You flex your toes with enthusiasm and think: Aaah, now that’s more like it! And you wonder how you could have put up with your discomfort for so long.

If you’ve never driven old Route 66, you’re in for a similar sensation. And the analogy is far more apt than you might imagine.

For decades now, highway travelers—you included—have been subjected to an onerous set of circumstances which are, by and large, passively accepted. Furthermore, this condition has been accepted for so long that many of us have either forgotten that things weren’t always this way, or—even scarier—may never have known anything different.

That set of ill-fitting restrictions I’m referring to is of course part and parcel of today’s Interstate Highway System. Now, before you accuse me of wrongly condemning America’s most ambitious peacetime engineering project in its history, hear me out.

Admittedly, the interstates—like the ill-fitting shoes—are not entirely without practical benefits. They are, after all, designed with graceful, high-speed curves, and enable us to travel from point A to point B in minimal time. We accomplish this with greater fuel efficiency, thanks to the ability to move with unvarying speed. And, a limited-access highway is safer from the standpoint that there are no driveways for irresponsible motorists to pop out of unexpectedly. These qualities are quite attractive, particularly to the long-distance truckers among us.

But what are those features costing us? That snazzy pair of oxfords does have a few important drawbacks. Did you ever stop to think of what a tremendous misnomer the word freeway is? There’s not much freedom in interstate travel. Consider that you are shielded and encapsulated against the world at large. Sealed in your fast-moving mobile cocoon, your perception of the world is distorted. You are cut off from sound and smell by your tightly sealed windows. Open the window, and the buffeting and roaring of the air will cut you off from your senses just as effectively. Visually, the interstate corridor offers only the barest glimpse of the surrounding countryside; your visual stimulation is often limited to mile markers, exit signs of uniform appearance, and perhaps a swath of trees to block your view of anything outside the world of the superslab. This isolation is partly due to the enormous amount of land which America’s interstates have taken as their own. There are enormous swaths of acreage on both sides of the interstate, in the medians, and still more locked up in the countless clover leafs flyovers, and other interstate-grade interchanges. All of that empty acreage contributes to the interstate traveler’s isolation from his or her surroundings.

Furthermore, there are restrictions which make it unlawful to attempt to squeeze a little more gusto from the experience. There are minimum speeds which must be maintained, preventing you from taking advantage of whatever paltry visual stimuli might actually be available. There are also prohibitions against non-emergency stopping or slowing, and against turning your vehicle around. No wonder it’s hard to stay awake.

Ah, but Route 66. Now there’s highway travel for you. Kick off your shoes, because the above restrictions do not apply.

On Route 66, there is healthy stimulation for all the senses, and conditions encourage you to take full advantage. Sensory experience is in no way out-of-fashion on the Mother Road. Smell the new-mown hay and the honeysuckle. Hear the clamor of children playing softball in a nearby park, or the tolling of a church bell. Feel the breeze on your face and know that the coolness signals a change in elevation, or even a new climate zone.

Visually, the difference is even more dramatic. There are schools and stores and mountains and crosswalks and downtowns and trains and depots and rivers and billboards and murals and cafes and menus and humanity.

Don’t forget: You can pull over and stop at almost any time to savor it a little more. You can even travel Route 66 by bicycle, horseback, or even on foot, so as not to miss a single nuance—don’t try doing that on the interstate!

A few words about the concept of efficiency: Efficiency is the maximum of one thing with a minimum of another. For example, an efficient automobile is one that goes maximum miles on minimal fuel; and an efficiency apartment is one with maximum amenities in a minimum amount of space. Significantly, the thing which is maximized ought to be something desirable, while the thing which is minimized should be something either undesirable or expensive. I think that the two examples cited above—the auto and the apartment—fulfill this requirement.

One of the knocks against Route 66 which eventually led to its demise was a call for increased efficiency. The interstates are considered efficient because they transport us with a maximum of speed in a minimum of time. That’s well and good. But my point is this: the interstates have had some unforeseen and undesirable side effects, because at the same time that they minimized the amount of our time in getting to our destination, they also minimized the quality of our time on the road by placing us in an experiential vacuum.

That quality of experience is what you’ll put back in your life when you kick off those shoes and travel Route 66.

GET THE MOST FROM YOUR ROUTE 66 ADVENTURE

Ask several people what you should bring with you on your Route 66 Adventure, and you’ll likely get several different answers. One well-meaning friend might mention such practical travel items as maps, a compass, pen or pencil, notebook, camera, and sunglasses. Another person’s suggestion might emphasize such things as proper footwear, layers of clothing, and sunblock. Someone else might recommend an ice chest with bottled water and plenty of trail mix. Oh—and don’t forget your mobile phone and credit cards.

I travel with most of those things, too. But there is one thing which is far more important than all of the above combined when it comes to getting the most enjoyment out of your trip on old Route 66. And that one thing is a Spirit of Adventure. I never take a road trip without it.

In a nutshell, I urge you not to plan to take charge of your Route 66 experience too precisely; instead, plan for the Adventure on Route 66 to take charge of you.

As much as possible, I encourage you to simply go with the flow. Don’t set an itinerary which requires you to make it to city X by a certain time of a certain day. Keeping to such a schedule will inevitably cause you to hurry through certain portions of your journey, and there’s no way of knowing how much you’ll miss by doing so.

Move as the spirit moves you; pause and take in the sights and the sounds of your Adventure as they present themselves to you. Your reward will be a trip like no other.

Dare to dare. Try new food and drink, meet some strangers, turn down a road just because it looks interesting or because you’re curious what’s there. This is the stuff of which lifelong memories are made.

Things can change rapidly out on Route 66. What you see today might be gone tomorrow or soon after. Keep your camera loaded and ready and use it liberally. Film and processing expenses are cheap compared to the other costs of your trip, such as food, lodging, and fuel. This is even more true if you shoot digital, since digital storage media are reusable. Don’t scrimp, and don’t worry whether the resulting photographs will be worthy of a museum exhibition or not. If you don’t consider yourself an artist, then be a documentarist. Just record what you see that interests you. It’s far too easy to think to yourself: Well, it’s been standing there for fifty years now; I’m sure it’ll be there for a few more. Sadly, too often this is not the case. Don’t fall into that trap. This is a lesson I’ve learned again and again over the years, both on and off Route 66.

Bring this book with you. Your navigator can read aloud from it as various points in your journey are reached. Even if you elect to skip a certain side trip, the modest background information can enrich your trip in unexpected ways, sometimes by giving you an appreciation of other features of the countryside.

Incidentally, I certainly don’t expect you to take in every feature that I’ve chosen to make mention of in this handbook. Just pick out some of the ones which most tickle your own fancy, or which are most compatible with other attractions you intend to visit, and leave the rest for some other time. A continent is not fit for properly exploring in one outing.

Be cognizant of the fact that the information about various features and attractions is not meant to be authoritative. My objective is primarily to whet your appetite for investigation and exploration. If I provide too much detail in this handbook, it may lessen your own desire to find out more on your own. The key is for you to experience things first-hand, not simply to absorb someone else’s research.

Similarly, the lists of attractions and trivia associated with various places are not meant to be complete—they constitute more of a random sampling. How could one hope to compile a list of all of the noteworthy events or personalities associated with Chicago, for example? One of the limiting factors I’ve used is to eliminate some of the more commonly known attractions which are either already familiar to most people or are featured prominently in published visitors’ guides to the areas in question.

Another point about things changing rapidly in 66-land: It took years for me to travel all of the route, and things have been changing the whole time. I have witnessed the disappearance and/or destruction of many distinctive features over the years. Do not be surprised if you find that by the time you use this handbook on your own Adventure, not everything will remain as I’ve described it. Just consider that a part of the Adventure, and let it make the Mother Road that much more precious to you.

A Spirit of Adventure. Please don’t waste your time on Route 66 without it.

Many miles of Route 66 are within the Mojave Desert.

HOW TO USE THIS HANDBOOK

This handbook is here to fulfill one objective—to help you get the maximum possible enjoyment from your Adventure on Route 66. That’s all. With that in mind, here are a few simple suggestions:

Don’t keep your head buried—either in this book or in any other. That’s why it’s not designed as a guide focused on intricate maps and turn-by-turn descriptions that require close scrutiny. I’ve tried to keep the navigational information short and to the point. Most of the time, you can follow what’s left of Route 66 on your own after reading the How to Find Route 66 section of this book. That way, you won’t miss anything due to trying to drive and read at the same time—plus, it’s obviously much safer that way!

Keep this book close at hand at all times. What this book does have is a wealth of information on nearby attractions, historical background, fun trivia, and side-trip ideas. As you approach a new town or other landmark, have your navigator (if you’ve got one) read aloud some of the information from that area, so that both of you will know what to be on the lookout for and can make decisions on whether you’re passing through or want to stop and take in some of the nearby features more fully. Some towns will have simple maps showing where some of those local attractions can be found. If you’re traveling alone, you can just pull to the road’s shoulder or into a friendly looking driveway and quickly read about the nearby attractions yourself. That’s one of the real advantages of Mother Road driving versus interstate driving—on Route 66, it’s okay to slow down, pull over, smell the roses, etc.

You’re the boss, so customize your trip based on your own passions and interests. Don’t slavishly follow anyone’s advice, not even mine. This road trip adventure is all about your enjoyment, right? That means that after you’ve briefed yourself on the area you’re entering, make some personal decisions about the things that most intrigue you. For some people, that’ll mean making it a point to seek out each and every architectural treasure mentioned in the entire handbook. But your own tastes might run more toward historic sites or natural wonders or trivia or folk art or whatever—there’s something for everyone. So spend your time doing what you enjoy the most. Ignore the rest, or save it for your next Route 66 safari.

Immerse yourself. As you travel Route 66, remember that you are surrounded by the remnants of an enormous support system developed for the transcontinental motoring public in the mid-twentieth century. I urge you to make full use of it. That support system included—and still does include—motels, cafes, fuel stations, general stores, and roadside attractions of every description. While this book does not attempt to offer a list of these support system establishments—they are, after all, subject to frequent change—you should nevertheless take advantage as the need arises. Many of those old Route 66 businesses today have a marginal bottom line, and would sincerely appreciate your patronage. The other support resource I encourage you to make use of is comprised of the local residents and business operators all along the Route. Inquire locally for advice or directions to local attractions, and I know you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the helpfulness of the response.

Enjoy!

HOW TO FIND ROUTE 66

U.S. 66 no longer officially exists. The emphasis is on the word officially. The numerical highway designation system adopted in the 1920s was a system in which pre-existing roads were linked together by being given the same number. A traveler could, then, by following signs bearing that number, arrive at any of the destinations on that highway’s route, or gain access to any of the other numbered highways which crossed paths with it. When a given route is no longer needed, for whatever reason, the signs can be removed and the route is no longer recognized as such.

But in most cases, the road itself remains. Although it may no longer carry the federal designation, it is unusual for the pavement to actually be removed and the ground returned to nature. Often, the road is re-numbered by the state or county in which it occurs; other times, the older roadway serves duty as an access road to the limited-access thruway which may have brought about its obsolescence.

Officially, Route 66 ceased to exist when the federal highway authorities ordered the signs removed. But keeping in mind that the route was created in 1926 by the installation of signs marking the way, the only thing preventing a traveler from using the old road today is a lack of knowledge on where to find it without the benefit of all those signs at every turn—thousands in all.

While this book does include plenty of maps and other navigational guidance, it will not tell you exactly where each and every turn ought to be made in order to drive old Route 66. Other writers have already attempted this. As the old adage goes, Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime. Similarly, my objective here is to share with you sufficient basic knowledge to be able to fend for yourself. A significant advantage to this strategy is that this knowledge will apply for years to come, with little or no regard to how local conditions might change over time. Another advantage is that you will begin to see and discover other old routes in your travels which have undergone the same processes of construction, use, upgrade, re-routing, bypassing, and de-certification as Route 66. I think you’ll find that some of those other routes, though not as famous as the Mother Road, are also worthy of exploration, and you’ll be well equipped to do so.

How to Fish

In the broadest terms, Route 66 ran (or runs) southwestward from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles (technically Santa Monica), California. The next thing for you to take note of is which modern-day highways currently carry that same Chicago-to-Los Angeles traffic. Look at a road map of the overall continental United States if you have one. Today’s traffic is borne by a huge network of Interstate highways. It turns out that Route 66 was replaced by not one, but five, modern highways, none of which bears the number 66. The series which supplanted Route 66 is: I-55 from Chicago, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri; I-44 from St. Louis across the state of Missouri and all the way to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; I-40 from OKC to Barstow, California; I-15 from Barstow to roughly San Bernardino, California; and I-10 from there to the Pacific coast at Santa Monica. This is the general corridor in which you’ll be traveling in order to experience 66.

This brings us to the first rule in learning to fish: Be on the lookout for secondary roads which more or less parallel the interstate highways mentioned in the paragraph above. This goes for roads which take us to a destination city—a city formerly on old highway 66—and not necessarily a road which literally runs alongside the freeway within sight of it. The main narrative section of this book points out most of those Route 66 towns. Your strategy, then, in keeping to the old route, should be to avoid the interstate when possible, and move from one town to the next using secondary roadways. In many cases, this is authentic Route 66 pavement.

The second consideration is the simplest and most obvious: the placement of Historic Route 66 signs. In the last several years, the eight states along Route 66 have made great strides in getting the old road marked. Unfortunately, there are considerable gaps in sign placement, so that relying solely on them will get you off-course fairly quickly in many cases. However, you’ll find that by keeping on the lookout for those friendly brown-and-white signs, you’ll more easily keep to the route and be able to enjoy the sights and sounds thereof, without having your nose perpetually buried in a mile-by-mile guide or map. In places where the old road has been buried or otherwise obliterated, and you are forced to use the interstate, quite often the next exit which includes a stretch of Route 66 will have the Historic 66 symbol on the big green exit sign. This enables you to travel a minimum amount of the sleep-inducing superslab before returning to the central theme of your trip.

Very closely related to the foregoing is the third fishing strategy: business loop routes. Again, this is helpful when you have been forced to use the interstate for a distance. In many of the larger cities on Route 66, the old route through town will be designated Business Loop X, where the X stands for the number of the interstate that supplanted 66. For example, in the city limits of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Amarillo, Texas, the path of Route 66 is marked with green signs designating it Business Loop I-40. Similarly, in Springfield, Missouri, Route 66 is marked Business Loop I-44. Keep in mind that in larger cities such as these, the path of Route 66 in most cases changed several times over the years. The alignment marked in this way is typically the last alignment of 66 prior to its demise as an official route. The earlier alignments will go either unmarked, or may bear the brown-and-white historic signs. Exploration is the order of the day.

Some of the rest of my fishing tips are a little more subtle, and will draw upon your powers of reasoning and observation a little more. This makes locating a vintage stretch of old 66 all the more satisfying, however.

For reasons of economy and expediency, most routes of any kind are established along the paths of previously existing routes. Just as immigrant trails often followed older trade routes of Indians or trappers, Route 66 and others like her were constructed along right-of-way corridors established earlier by the railroads. Railroad tracks, then, are often an excellent guide to where the earlier alignments through a region are to be found. Given a choice between two alignments which will eventually reach the same destination, in most cases the one physically following the railroad tracks more closely is the older route. Over time, as the highway has