The Mother Road Route 66

Started this rant in answering another post.. then got to thinking that I have seen anything mentioned about old Route 66.
For those of us the like to wander I found that I could easily spent several months exporing Route 66.  Meeting Gary Turner
of Ash Grove MO. was a stroke of luck. Not only did he sell me Dave Wickline's  book IMAGES OF ROUTE 66 but we parted as friends.

So the Question is for anyone who travelled the Mother Road, what is your best spot?   

Ted Drewes Frozen Custard in St Louis ranks high for best desserts.
Driving on the sidewalk highway in the Oklahoma way the craziest.

Being from the area, my favorite was Red's Giant Hamburg (sic) on the outskirts of Springfield, Mo.  I say "was" because it is no longer there, but this was the first place I got a burger at a drive-through.  Red's was actually just an old motel office building he had converted into a burger shop and made a drive-through with an existing window.  The burgers and fries were delicious and only 25 cents as I recall, handed out the window in a grease soaked brown paper bag.  Um, um!

Took your girl with some greasy burgers, fries and shakes to the Holiday Drive in theater on Kearney St. north of town...
now didn't ya?

One of my dreams has been to take our old VW Vanagon on a trip from Chicago to LA. It's on my 'bucket list' ... some day.

Wendy

Wi1dBill said:

Took your girl with some greasy burgers, fries and shakes to the Holiday Drive in theater on Kearney St. north of town...
now didn't ya?

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Naw, we usually went to the Sunset on east Sunshine.

Greetings,

I'd like to see more comments about the old Route 66. For those wanting to do some travel along that way here is a link of some campgrounds.

http://route66news.com/campgrounds/

The Route 66 museum in Kingman was a interesting stop. Met on of  the developers and had a great tour and some extra behind the scenes info.
Jim

We had an "Interesting" Route 66 stop just outside Oatman: here.

Several years ago we traveled the section of route 66 west from just south of the Grand Canyon to where it merged with the high way crossing the Hoover dam. Just a few miles, but very interesting. A lot of the old style service stations, restaurants  and several antique shops that had a lot of the old route 66 memorabilia.

A very interesting side trip.

Jerry

The National Park System has a web page on Route 66 with a map and links to notable locations along the way.

As a kid and long before the Interstate system, Route 66 came down from St. Louis through Springfield and on to Joplin in its trek across Missouri (where I lived).  The route came into town on what is now Kearney Street, cut south on Glenstone then west at St. Louis Street, through the Public Square and on out of Springfield on College Street towrd Joplin and all points west.

I remember going to St. Louis and experiencing the 3-lane highway just south of St. Louis (along about where 6-Flags is now).  The 3rd (center) lane was referred to the "suicide" lane as it was a passing lane for both directions - often with unfortunate results as one might expect.  By the time I was old enough to be turned loose on the public, Kearney Street had been developed and widened and a by-pass built on the west side of town so Route 66 switched to follow Kearney to the west side of town then south on the by-pass back down to College street.  In the late 50's, I-44 came through from St. Louis, skirting Springfield.  Just as I-44 was being constructed, my dad took us to Los Angeles via Route 66 while essentially at its peak.  Shortly after that, things went downhill rapidly as the Interstate system took over and bypassed most all the history.

In March as we returned home from Quartzsite, AZ we spent a night east of Holbrook AZ in a small very old RV park just off of the interstate. Where we was parked the front bumper of our pickup was only a few feet from the old 66 road bed. While driving a truck I have driven every mile of old 66 from Chicago to LA so it was great to sleep so near the Mother Road 66.

Thanks for the link for the campgrounds along RT 66. 
Surprisingly, we found 5-6 on our own along the way that are on the list.
I'm sure I'll be checking it out on our next 66 road trip.

The cafe at Shamrock, TX.  Great food.

In 1959 my father loaded up mom, both of my teenage sisters, me, my 3 year old baby brother and our Collie, Daisy into a 1956 Chrysler and we drove the entire Chicago to LA section of route 66. My sister Sue had only had her licence a short time but she got to do the bulk of the driving.

My favorite part of 66 occurs a mile west of the Visitors Center. I was riding along and suddenly I came upon this amazing vista of the Painted Desert. The image really stuck in my mind. 45 years later I was driving on 66 in the NP when that vista swung into view. Talk about de javu all over again. I thought my mind was playing a trick on me so I stopped at the visitors center to find out if route 66 was in the area. It was. The ranger pointed out the route to me and amazingly the view I saw of the painted desert was exactly as I remembered it.

When we were waiting on repairs in Kingman,, AZ this summer we went to the Powerhouse Visitors Center and a wonderful volunteer outlined 14 day trips we could take out from Kingman,, most of which were along the AZ portion of Route 66. What a great experience (Havasua, Oatman, Needles, Seligman, etc). These day trips gave us the opportunity to see/do things we'd never expected or considered up to that moment and we are truly grateful to have traveled just a small portion of this Mother Road!

Steve & Linda said:

When we were waiting on repairs in Kingman,, AZ this summer we went to the Powerhouse Visitors Center and a wonderful volunteer outlined 14 day trips we could take out from Kingman,, most of which were along the AZ portion of Route 66. What a great experience (Havasua, Oatman, Needles, Seligman, etc). These day trips gave us the opportunity to see/do things we'd never expected or considered up to that moment and we are truly grateful to have traveled just a small portion of this Mother Road!

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And hereI thought there was nothing to do in Kingman !

On my Quartzsite trek each year from NCal I most always go from Mojave to Bartsow then to Needles on I-40. If my travel day ended in the Barstow area I used to stay at a KOA just East on the 15 - then drop back down to the 40 and on to Needles. However, I found that about 30 miles or so East on the 40 there was a nice and more inexpensive park in Newberry Springs.

I had previously watched one of my top 5 favorite fun movies, Bagdad Cafe, and had not realized that it was shot in Newberry Springs on Route 66 in the late 80's. It starred a popular German actress and Jack Palance. One of his best roles as an older artist living in a travel trailer beside the motel that was beside the Bagdad Cafe. The TT, motel, and Cafe are still there.

Wiki here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagdad_Caf%C3%A9

Youtube Trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et3JU_5DY0c

    Route 66 runs parallel to 40 in this area - then crosses several times toward Needles. I spent an extra day in Newberry Springs to explore the movie set area and the Bagdad Cafe. The Cafe they used was not called Bagdad, but during, then after the movie that became its name. And is now quite a tourist attraction. The movie was German so travelers from Europe stop there is in that area. Actually, the full movie can be found on Youtube, but it is in German.

Have attached my pic of the Motel used and my Jeep on the stretch of road just beyond the movie set and the RV park I stayed in.  I had posted this one before but couldn't find it - so here it is again.

I am another one with Route 66 from Chicago to LA on my bucket list. I just don't know whether to do it in a sports car or the MH.

We spent a few hours in Williams AZ this summer browsing the Rte 66 memorabilia and had a great time.


In the mid 60s I drove the old 66 route from Chicago to LA while the interstate system was being built so the trip was still 50% on 66. It sure has changed!

We live in Edmond OK and old Route 66 is now State Highway 66 in Oklahoma.  We ride the Harley on it regularly as it's just a few miles from our house.  Many of the old landmarks are still there and some new very interesting things have popped up.  If you travel Route 66 in Oklahoma, be sure and give us a shout.