(Get your kicks on) Route 66 🚘

(If you’re interested in the history of Route 66 read on; if you just want to read about my adventures following the road, skip to the break line)😁.

Road trips across states/countries are a popular way to travel, and there is no one route more famous than America’s Route 66. It has been romanticised in music, films, and American pop culture since the 1920s. Its purpose was very different when first established in November 1926 – farmers used the road to travel between states to source work. In the following years, many Americans took to the road for some fun and light relief after the Great Depression years. Why was Route 66 beloved by so many, and attracted its unprecedented popularity? It could take Americans and tourists from the east to the west side of the country, via a scenic route. Eight states were served by the route in all, beginning in California and ending in Illinois, nearly covering 4000km in all!

The history of the road is complex at best. Throughout the 58 and a half years it officially existed for, it underwent many alterations! So its actual length and direction changed multiple times. What made it special never changed however, despite it adapting over time. The final nail in the coffin for Route 66 however was approval of an act which gave permission for Interstates to be constructed. Route 66 is what we in England would call a single-carriageway, with one lane either side for vehicles travelling opposing directions. The population of the USA is much larger than my homeland’s (England’s is estimated to be around 55,000,000+ compared to the 328,000,000+ currently living in America). A higher population leads to roads needing to accommodate larger traffic demands, thus Interstates were put forward to increase traffic flow on one road at a time. Some Interstates has as many as seven lanes on either side 😅. Due to the high costs of the Interstates, radical changes were made to the highways, consequently affecting Route 66. Parts were intertwined into the new Interstates, leaving other parts closed forever, untouched for many more years to come.

People were naturally gutted to hear sections of the once great road had just been left to overgrown and receive no love and attention at all. Even as I have been researching into the road, I was shocked to find out parts have still received no repair for decades. For a Highway still embedded into American culture, I assumed it would be looked after extensively. Until I visited America, I never imagined roads like Route 66 could close, given how regularly people talk about driving along it and ticking it off their bucket lists, this side of the pond! Thankfully, several projects have been launched, designed to preserve the road and re-link towns to reap the economic benefits from their associations with the Route. Some sections now form a ‘national scenic byway’ and are labelled as the ‘Historic Route 66’. A handful of states have named roads networks as ‘State Route 66’, so tourists can still experience the rush of coasting down the road.

Long before we went to the States, my dad had marvelled at the wonder of Route 66 and like so many others, dreamed about cruising down it. A stop off at Santa Monica Pier gave Dad his first encounter with the road; he was more optimistic than ever that he would see sections of the Route with his own eyes. This is our experiences with Route 66:

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Santa Monica ~ 21st December 2018

It makes complete sense why Route 66 ended here. The funfair on Santa Monica Pier is totally fun and who doesn’t want to wind up and relax on the beach after hours of driving! I’m not sure if any of us realised the connection between Route 66 and Santa Monica before we got there. Santa Monica is one of the defining features of Los Angeles, and because at this point we did not know we’d be back in LA in 11 months, this famous beach was a priority stop. Pacific Park, the oceanside theme park at Santa Monica Pier, is very recognisable to Brits due to its use in TV shows and movies, including the Hannah Montana Movie. It was wonderful to see how happy my dad was upon seeing the ‘Route 66 End of the Trail’ sign! It is a huge comfort knowing that if anything ever happened to him, he would rest peacefully knowing he on this trip accomplished his lifelong goal of driving the same surface as Route 66. We stayed long enough to play on a few pinball machines and take photos by the Route 66 sign (which there was unsurprisingly a queue for!) Little did we know whilst we were home between trips, my parents were planning a road trip through four states, incorporating the I-Highways which cover the original Route 66.

Barstow, California ~ 29th October 2019.

Our road trip consisted of driving from Buena Park to Las Vegas, kipped in Vegas for the night, drove from there to Monument Valley on the Arizona/Utah border, went back to Vegas via the Grand Canyon, then headed to Newport Beach from Vegas after spending the day exploring Sin City. I have outlined on a map the roads we travelled on, on each leg of our four day trip. This will illustrate which parts of the Route 66 we covered over these days☺️.

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Barstow, situated between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, has shopping outlets full of well-known brands, plotted cunningly to draw drivers in wanting a break in the form of retail therapy. It sounds a pretty ordinary place from this, but Barstow also has another outlet, albeit completely abandoned. We knew something was unusual when we pulled up and only one other car was there, but we did not know the magnitude and scale of the shopping centre until we walked inside the complex. You could still head into the square area surrounded by shops, most which still hadn’t been entirely emptied. Old flyers were still on the floor, as were pieces of bashed and broken furniture. It was a place completely frozen in time.

Williams, Arizona ~ 30th October 2019.

We only ventured into Williams because we needed to refuel the Jeep, but we left having fallen in love with the small old town, because of its traditional stores and treasure trove of train carriages. I later discovered after our holiday that these carriages were not abandoned, but rather at the depot where there is a daily service to the Grand Canyon! It takes just over 2 hours to reach its destination, and you pass Navajo towns and villages along the way – this definitely made this an interesting stop on the Route 66 path. As is often the case with many of the major navigation systems, including the UK’s infamous A1 road, Route 66 was a dusty track road running through the middle of town. Doesn’t that paint a picture! Now it is one of the settlements which the West Historic Route 66 meets. Unfortunately we did not have the time to properly walk around the town, but if you ever were to follow the same route as us, I would recommend making Williams one of the towns you do stop off at.

Kingman, Arizona ~ 31st October 2019.

The whole point we choose to drive the way we did to Monument Valley was to pass Kingman. The city has built its economy around the road, with a variety of Route 66 tourist attractions the public can visit. It hosts the Arizona Route 66 Museum, which is one of the largest of its kind and decades worth of Route 66 history and memorabilia. Again, annoyingly there was just not enough time to look around! I think if I had known what I know about Kingman now, I’d have convinced my parents to allocate one less day of the trip to California, and instead use this day to walk around Kingman. They also have plenty of gift shops, attractions, and eateries themed all things 66. Our exploring of Kingman was limited to the very cultural McDonald’s for food 😳😂🙃.

Yermo, California ~ 2nd November 2019.

And just like that our four days on/off road trip, which at one point had felt so far away in the future, was coming to an end. For nearly two weeks we stayed put in Newport Beach, and only made one other lengthy journey albeit within California. Finally being able to properly unpack and not wake up ridiculously early was amazing! But whilst having a base brought its benefit, I could have happily endured the early rises and tiredness more to keep the road trip going. One of our last stops on this last leg ensured the final leg was unforgettable. On the way to Las Vegas I spotted a turn-off for the Peggy Sue’s Diner. Sadly I spotted it too late & driving in rural California, there was not another exit for a while😩😪. The plan was to drive a different way back to Newport Beach, so I thought my chance to go was fleeting.

Peggy Sue’s Diner was more than just another Route 66-side restaurant to me; I get very nostalgic for the ‘spiritedness of the 1950s’ (I know the hardships of the era were certainly tough but I love the how the era is portrayed in movies), and much of the rock n roll music on old-school diner jukeboxes is what I listen to. It also shares its name with a legendary song by a 50s legend taken way too young at the age of 22, Buddy Holly❤️. My parents changed their mind last minute on the way we’d take back into California, resulting in passing the town and diner. We took the exit onto the Ghost Town Road to get to the diner, and I was so pleased to see the tens of cars and motorbikes parked up. It can be tricky for diners to survive, and I hope they have pulled through the past few months…

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Based on my experiences of travelling along the Route 66, and what I did/did not do, here are my tips if you ever decide to road trip in a similar way to us💫:

• Video the places you encounter! A picture cannot record sounds, bustling streets, chatter between people, precipitation and wind – but a video captures these senses and so much more.
• Never rush your time on the Route 66! We were so worried about arriving at Monument Valley in time for sunset we just drove, without taking it in. Spend time walking around the towns lining the route, and (if safe!) take a photo at one of the Route 66 road markings for the full authentic experience.
• If you DO decide to cover long distances in one day, I’d recommend timing your road trip for the late spring / summer / early autumn! That way, you have maximised daylight to take advantage of, although be way of time zone changes too. Unlike the UK, across the USA there are four different time zones.
• And… buy a Route 66 passport! This is something I wish we had done before our trip began, as it’s a really fun way to mark off everywhere you have been, and you could stick in mementos from places too!