The Route\u2019s Roots<\/p>\n
Once upon a time, you could drive from the Loop to Santa Monica on one long street. That was Route 66, established in 1926, part of the first batch of numbered interstate freeways. When intact, the two-lane highway was 2,400 miles long, starting its westward path in Chicago (along Ogden Avenue) and carving through Illinois to St. Louis, then across Missouri, a sliver of Kansas, Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico, and Arizona before finally landing in California. John Steinbeck dubbed it \u201cthe mother road\u201d in The Grapes of Wrath, as it was a major migration route out of the Dust Bowl during the Depression.<\/p>\n
Postwar, car culture boomed in America, and suddenly road-tripping was all the rage. Route 66 went from functional to fun. Nat King Cole released \u201c(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66\u201d in 1946, because if you\u2019ve got a voice like that, simply naming locations can sell records. A whole economy of motels, diners, and novelty attractions sprang up along the route, dotting the cross-country path like kitschy neon breadcrumbs. Route 66 wasn\u2019t just a highway; it was a drivable piece of Americana. It wasn\u2019t just a means to a vacation; driving it was a vacation.<\/p>\n
Leave it to a guy named Dwight to ruin all the fun. President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, establishing a (more useful, admittedly) grid of cross-country superhighways. The 1926 roads were left underfunded and undermaintained, and Route 66 was finally decommissioned in 1985.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s Still Got It<\/p>\n
Decommissioning never stopped intrepid road-trippers! You can still drive a cobbled-together version of the old Mother Road today\u2009\u2014\u2009and have a bizarre blast doing it. Here are just a handful of highlights:<\/p>\n
\u25a0 Start at the \u201cBegin\u201d sign, right across Michigan Avenue from the front steps of the Art Institute. A meal at Lou Mitchell\u2019s<\/strong> has been a popular sendoff since the route began.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Catch a flick at the charmingly retro 66 Drive-In<\/strong> in Carthage, Missouri, which opened during the route\u2019s mid-century heyday. You didn\u2019t want to get out of your car, did you?<\/p>\n \u25a0 Thar she blows! The Blue Whale of Catoosa<\/strong>, a giant public art piece (closed for remodeling until spring) in Oklahoma, is one of the route\u2019s most recognizable icons.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Cadillac Ranch<\/strong> in Amarillo, Texas, has wowed passersby since 1974. The large-scale art installation features 10 vibrantly painted Caddies, apparently diving nose-first into the earth.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Arizona\u2019s stunning topography is a must. The road passes through the Petrified Forest National Park\u2019s Painted Desert<\/strong>, which looks plucked from a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Dine at the wonderfully kitschy Clifton\u2019s Republic<\/strong> (there\u2019s a fake redwood tree inside) at the original terminus in downtown L.A. Then drive into the sunset to the \u201cEnd of the Trail\u201d<\/strong> sign at the Santa Monica Pier.<\/p>\n Centennial Celebrations<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to floor it all the way to California to honor the route\u2019s big 1-0-0. Here are some events closer to home:<\/p>\n \u25a0 Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor:<\/strong> As they do each year, 15 Illinois towns, from Joliet to Bloomington, will form a 100-mile \u201clinear museum\u201d of festivals, car shows, craft sales, and more, this time from May 2 to 3.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Main Street of America Route 66 Centennial Caravan:<\/strong> Merge in for as much or as little as you\u2019d like with a group of enthusiasts trekking eastbound along the full route June 5 to 24. The Illinois portion is June 23 to 24.<\/p>\n \u25a0 Illinois Route 66 Mother Road Festival:<\/strong> Mid-century nostalgia (think vintage vehicles) overtakes downtown Springfield September 25 to 27 for this annual event, which includes live entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Route\u2019s Roots Once upon a time, you could drive from the Loop to Santa Monica on one…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":532134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[235854,235851,235857,46016,5229,74142,5643,187484,9831,80241,235859,276,25960,22861,960,235863,6017,235852,235856,5386,1818,235866,235850,6390,19785,6276,9814,187471,235865,222570,9540,235853,11198,235849,5847,235861,235860,235855,22376,235864,9503,72612,10427,23993,181958,235858,25436,235862],"class_list":{"0":"post-532133","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-get-your-kicks-on-route-66","9":"tag-the-mother-road-the-grapes-of-wrath","10":"tag-66-drive-in","11":"tag-amarillo","12":"tag-america","13":"tag-americana","14":"tag-arizona","15":"tag-art-institute","16":"tag-bloomington","17":"tag-caddies","18":"tag-cadillac-ranch","19":"tag-california","20":"tag-carthage","21":"tag-centennial","22":"tag-chicago","23":"tag-cliftons-republic","24":"tag-depression","25":"tag-dust-bowl","26":"tag-federal-aid-highway-act-of-1956","27":"tag-il","28":"tag-illinois","29":"tag-illinois-route-66-mother-road-festival","30":"tag-john-steinbeck","31":"tag-joliet","32":"tag-kansas","33":"tag-l-a","34":"tag-loop","35":"tag-lou-mitchells","36":"tag-main-street-of-america-route-66-centennial-caravan","37":"tag-michigan-avenue","38":"tag-missouri","39":"tag-nat-king-cole","40":"tag-new-mexico","41":"tag-ogden-avenue","42":"tag-oklahoma","43":"tag-painted-desert","44":"tag-petrified-forest-national-park","45":"tag-president-eisenhower","46":"tag-route-66","47":"tag-route-66-red-carpet-corridor","48":"tag-santa-monica","49":"tag-santa-monica-pier","50":"tag-springfield","51":"tag-st-louis","52":"tag-texas-panhandle","53":"tag-the-blue-whale-of-catoosa","54":"tag-two-minute-guide","55":"tag-wile-e-coyote"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}