Some call Route 66 the “Mother Road,” “Main Street of America” this 2,448-mile long road from Chicago to Los Angeles. It is considered one of the classic road journeys through small-town America and the symbol of freedom of the road.  Established in 1926 as one of the original, all-weather, US Highways, Route 66 runs through eight states — Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In its heyday it carried refugees from the Dust Bowl, traveling in their old jalopies across the Great Plains to a land of new opportunity. in the ’50s and ’60s, it was seekers and vacationers who took to it.

John Steinbeck best captured the exodus in his novel “Grapes of Wrath,” detailing the story of the Joad family traveling across Oklahoma on Route 66 during the Depression. It was Steinbeck who coined the moniker “Mother Road,” writing, “and they came into Rt 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and rutted country roads, 66 is the mother road, the road of flight.”

But then a new Interstate Highway system was built and Rt 66 was largely replaced by I-40. In 1985 Route 66 was decommissioned, as it was no longer relevant to the US road transportation system. However, the road did not die. You can still see it paralleling I-40 across the desert and the High Plains. Sometimes it merges into the business loop of I-40 in small towns that dot the road. Other times it completely disappears into the grassland. You can’t drive it end-to-end but you can certainly explore it.

Entire books have been written, detailing every relic and remnant of what remains on the road, which is no longer listed on many maps. It is certainly not our intention to provide an exhaustive list here. Part of the mystic of Route 66 is to find these hidden treasures. How long you spend doing so is entirely up to you. However, you might consider downloading a specific Route 66 map and guide. There you will find indications of the gas stations, bridges, motels, cafes, diners and trading posts that once lined the length of the Route.

We pick up the trail of Route 66 just outside Weatherford, Oklahoma, where we break our journey, come 69 miles west of Oklahoma City. This is home to Astronaut Thomas Stafford, commander of Gemini IX and Apollo X space flights. An Air and Space Museum bearing his name is housed in a building on the airport grounds on Route 66. The museum contains exhibits beginning with the Wright Brothers all the way through the space shuttle program. It is an interesting juxtaposition of old and new.

There are so many places to stop and see.  Some of our favorites are in Oklahoma and Texas, although you will find many more in New Mexico and Arizona. Just before Weatherford, OK, look for the tiny town of Hydro off I-40. Next to the road is Lucille’s Service Station, built in 1929. Its thrust-over porch (one of only two remaining structures in Oklahoma) covers two old-fashioned gas pumps. Imagine the weary travelers stopping to fill up the car and to chat with Lucille who ran the business for 60 years. Her nickname was the “Mother of the Mother Road.”

Further down the road, Clinton, OK houses a delightful Oklahoma Route 66 Museum where the journey of so many millions is documented in sounds, photographs and objects. There is even a 1950s diner, typical of those that once lined the Route. Travelers needed places to stay and the remains of motels and hotels are found everywhere along the road. The Casa Grande Hotel in Elk City, OK, was once the largest hotel on the entire Route. Although in some state of disrepair, today it is the Anadarko Basin Museum of Natural History. Down the street, you can wander through the Old Town Museum Complex complete with an old-fashioned Coca-Cola freezer.

Another classic place on Route 66 is the 1936 U-Drop Inn and Cafe of Shamrock, Texas, which has been restored to its lime-green original color. Nearby is an old Conoco service station with its old-fashioned pumps. This is the town that takes its Irish history very seriously. Green is everywhere and on St. Patrick’s Day, all the men are required to wear a beard.

These are only some of the sites waiting to be explored. So pack your bags, gas up the car, put on your shades, load up some classic Route 66 music (Bobby Troup “Get Your Kicks on Rt 66” or The Eagles “Winslow, Arizona”) and start exploring.

IF YOU GO
Oklahoma Route 66 Museum (2229 West Gary Blvd, Clinton, OK; Tel 580-323-7866;
Old Town Museum Complex, Elk City, OK (2717 W 3rd St, Elk City, OK Tel 580-225-2207;)
Some useful websites are:
www.oklahomaroute66.com
www.historic66.com
www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/route66

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