Photo Essay: Route 66

U.S. Route 66 ran from Chicago to Santa Monica from 1926 until it was decommissioned in 1985. Known as "The Mother Road" and "The Main St of America", Route 66 defined what we have all come to think of when we think of the road trip. It came along at just the right formative time to leave an incredible impression upon generations of people.

Every couple of years I try to make a pilgrimage to retrace part of the trip. One year we met up with the route in the southeast corner of Kansas, which is only 13 miles long but pretty well restored. Oklahoma has a number of good little bits of road. Texas has the exact middle point of the road, and caddilac ranch. New Mexico is where it gets epic though. All the things that you think of when you imagine road trip start in Tucumcari. The neon motel signage, oddball side of the road shops, the weirdo roadside attractions like giant rabbits and concrete wigwams, and the ever-present abandoned gas station.

Arizona is really proud of its bits of route 66 thanks in part to two brothers, Angel and Juan Delgadillo of Seligman. Angel runs the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, and Juan runs the Sno-cap drive in where they love to prank the guests. Arizona is my favorite part of America's Main Street, including the wigwam motel, Gigantus Headicus is pretty much what it sounds like, The Jackrabbit Trading Post is a huge rabbit and some great signage, The Meteor Crater is a massive hole in the ground caused by a meteor 40,000 years ago, Twin Arrows Trading Post, Two Guns, and Oatman is a ghost town with a large herd of wild burros.

California has some nice bits as well, barstow has a giant thermometer, Amboy has the Roy's cafe sign and hotel, Ludlow has some great stretches of road in the desert, and some excellent abandoned gas stations and of course Santa Monica has the end of the road at the Santa Monica Pier.

If you are looking at taking a road trip, why not start with the road that started it all.