By Jim Farber
"It winds from Chicago to LA, more than 2,000 miles all the way. Get your kicks on Route 66." — Bob Troup.
From its official dedication on Nov. 11, 1926, until the infamous day of its official decommissioning on Oct. 19, 1984, U.S. Route 66 has played a crucial role in U.S. history while becoming an internationally recognized icon of American pop culture — to the point that last year's Wagner festival in Bayreuth, Germany, featured a production of "Das Rheingold" that presented the Rhine Maidens frolicking in a swimming pool at the Golden Motel on Route 66.
The highway has been immortalized in the song "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" by Bob Troup, in the stark Depression-era photographs by Dorothea Lange and in the pages of John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath." It was the star of the 1960s television series that bore its name, played a principal role in the Disney/Pixar animated classic "Cars" and now, in the form of Cars Land, Route 66 (aka Radiator Springs) is attracting record crowds to Walt Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim.
The truth is that Route 66 is very much alive and a major vacation destination for Americans and visitors from around the world who want to experience what it's like to drive the Mother Road for themselves. If you're someone who is itching to have this experience, whether you choose to go from east to west or west to east, in a car or on a motorcycle, the result is a truly American experience you will never forget. You'll see an America connected by Main Streets instead of shopping malls and chain stores. You'll drive through landscapes where the road rises and falls with the terrain rather than cutting through it like a knife.
Route 66 travelers support the much-needed tourism economy that allows landmark motor courts and eateries such as the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Mo.; the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, N.M.; the Wagon Wheel Cafe in Needles, Calif.; the Snow Cap Drive-In in Seligman, Ariz.; the El Rancho Motel in Gallup, N.M.; the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, Ill.; and the Rock Cafe in Stroud, Okla., to stay open for business and celebrate their Route 66 heritage.
Along the route you will also want to stop and visit the wonderful Route 66 museums in Joliet and Pontiac, Ill.; Chandler, Elk and Clinton, Okla.; Kingman, Ariz.; and Barstow and Victorville, Calif. And when you reach Los Angeles, be sure to see the historic exhibition "Route 66: The Road and the Romance" at the Autry National Center Museum opening June 8 and running through Jan. 4, 2015.
Once you've decided to make the trip, it's important to prepare. Driving the entire length of Route 66 — "more than 2,000 miles all the way"— from the corner of Adams and Michigan avenues in Chicago to the road's end on the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles is a challenge. It requires planning and serious navigation since Route 66 has followed multiple alignments over the years. Road conditions vary greatly and directional signage is less than consistent from state to state.
And it's not cheap. By the time you add up the costs for food, gas and lodging, as well as visits to museums and signature Route 66 roadside attractions, you're looking at a trip costing in the thousands of dollars. An option is a Route 66 packaged tour that can be taken by car, bus or motorcycle.
To do the drive properly you really need to devote at least two weeks to the trip. You're not going to be zooming along on the super-slab known as the Interstate doing 80 miles an hour. Instead, you'll be going a lot more slowly, passing through town after town, resting in motel room after motel room, eating at cafe after cafe. And you'll be watching the countryside change from the vast green cornfields of Illinois to the densely wooded Ozarks of Missouri to the rolling plains of Oklahoma and Texas to the red rock landscape of New Mexico and Arizona, the Great Mohave Desert of California, and finally the Pacific Ocean.
If you plan on driving Route 66 between May and September (the most popular period), you'll want to plan and book ahead, especially so you can savor the experience of eating in cafes and staying in vintage motels that celebrate their past. You'll appreciate the welcoming atmosphere of the family-owned establishments that give the road its true personality. You'll sleep in a Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Ariz., explore the depths of Meramec Caverns near Stanton, Mo., and walk across the Chain of Rocks Bridge where old Route 66 crossed the Mississippi River.
Preparations include building up a library of maps and guidebooks, though much information (including a new Route 66 app) is available online. My favorite book is the "EZ 66 Guide for Travelers" by Jerry McClanahan that provides extensive information mile by mile and turn by turn, including "Giant Alerts" so you don't miss such Route 66 landmarks as Muffler Man and the Gemini Giant.
The great American philosopher Alan Watts (whose voice recently appeared in the movie "Her") used to say nothing will happen to you if you never get lost — the idea being that simply following one path (or in this case the Interstate) leaves no room for the unexpected. When you drive Route 66, expect the unexpected and embrace it. As the noted historian of Route 66, Michael Wallis, loves to point out, "Life begins at the off ramp."
WHEN YOU GO
Good reference materials include "EZ Route 66 Guide and Dining and Lodging Guide" published by the National Route 66 Federation: www.national66.org; "Route 66: The Mother Road" by Michael Wallis, published by St. Martin's Griffin: www.stmartins.com; and "Route 66 Adventure Book" by Drew Knowles, published by Santa Monica Press: www.santamonicapress.com.
A "Road Trip 66" app is available through iTunes. Compatibility requires iOS 7.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Eaglerider (guided and self-driven) Motorcycle Tours: 888-900-9901 or www.eaglerider.com.
Jim Farber is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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