Historic Route 66 Turns 100
 

Historic Route 66 turns 100 this year. I traveled on part of it in New Mexico, Arizona and California when a kid. Route 66, called "the most famous highway in the world," stretched 2,500 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. “U.S. Highway 66 — popularly known as Route 66 — holds a special place in American consciousness. Its name commonly evokes images of simpler times, mom-and-pop businesses, and the icons of a mobile nation on the road…Route 66 become a symbol of the American people's heritage of travel and their legacy of ...” (National Park Service website).
About 1/3 of the road is still in existence. Also, many original buildings such as gas stations, motels and curio shops are extant. Remember: "Get your kicks on Route 66"
https://apnews.com/projects/us-route...rks-100-years/

By 1965 most travelers were using the interstate system which was faster but less interesting.

There was a popular Route 66 TV series that ran from 1960 to 1964. Americans and Europeans saw it and reruns and a mystique arose for the road. Beat writer Jack Kerouac traveled on the road in the late 1940s.

For those interested in general or very specific topics regarding Route 66, the National Park Service has a wealth of information. I know this because my late husband, Harold Brown, was a park planner for the NPS & was a member of a team that worked for months driving the road in the mid ‘90s. Harold’s primary duty was to illustrate the reports, one of which, with his drawings on the first page, I found & have attached below. A search on the NPS website will produce information on any subject having to do with Route 66 that you can think of, quite an amazing resource.

Attachment 9615

There is a section of it south of Kingman AZ that goes west over a “rise” which as several hairpins, no guardrails and through the town of Oatman. Oatman was a gold mining town back in the day, now it has tee shirt and leather goods shops etc, along with free range donkeys.

i always think about the folks in their model Ts loaded with all their worldly goods making that trip when we head out there. We just have to worry about oversized campers coming down taking their half of the road out of the middle while we try to not go down the cliff while driving up.