Route 66, overhyped, maybe?

Just got back from a long vacation, and almost all of the return trip, we drove the freeways that largely parallel R66 from Gallup back to Chicago.

Back in the 00's, we took Rt66 from just outside of Chicago to Tulsa, and had a fun time.  From an interesting drive standpoint, probably Illinois is the best, as you do go through a lot of smaller towns and there are still some interesting small Motels on the way.  So we thought it would be fun to take our classic car on the road all the way to the coast.

Until we did what we just did.  The parts we did see, the road is hardly perfect, so we know that the road quality out west isn't all that great.  Add that to the endless miles and miles of nothing, I can't really think it would be either fun or interesting to take Rt66 from just outside OK City all the way until past Gallup NM.  Out west, there's just nothing there.  Especially from OKC to about mid New Mexico.  Barely interesting geography and almost no towns to stop in- just empty road.  For two of of the stops, we did Rt66 hotels.  Meh on one- Elk City OK has a handful of what seems to be original Motels, but they are quite a bit by themselves, and you still have to drive to get food- not fun after a long day of driving.  The one in Springfield MO was better, as it's older and has some cool theme rooms.

But be clear, the motels available do leave some to be desired in terms of comfort relative to big chain hotels that are at least consistent.  

Maybe I'm too old to think that driving in an uncomfortable way is fun.  Then again, I never really thought it was that fun.  It's interesting to watch Roadkill and see them struggle driving- but have you noticed they are always in big chain hotels on their drives?

Anyway, what seemed to be an interesting thing to do during retirement has been officially taken off our "to do" list.  Sometimes just taking the freeway is the better option- smoother and faster.

I've driven sections of it and once a full run to take junior to Grad school in Irvine.  I enjoyed it. 

The Corvette was cool.

I don't think "over-hyped" is the right word. The kids movie about Route 66 being dead is almost 20 years old. I think it is a little like saying that, after all the years of hearing about Ozzy Osborne, you finally went to see him play last month, and you don't get it.

I have been on sections so rough that streetbike suspension was not good enough to go over 50 MPH. It was a neat thing, once, but it's gone.

In April of 2010 I drove it from Tulsa to Chicago. There were some dull spots and tourist traps but overall I thought it was awesome. I remember it fondly to this day and I hope to take the wife and kids on that journey one day. I can't speak to west of Tulsa, it may be a waste land but I would absolutely do the run from Chicago to Tulsa again. One thing I would probably change is hit the interstate when you get to the big cities, taking the old road through the major cities takes a long time and I didn't see anything I would consider historic 66 in them. 

We did a short section of 66 east of Gallup as part of our trip to NM earlier this year. While it's true that there's not a lot in terms of civilization, to me that was exactly the point. If I wanted to be in the middle of a bunch of tourist attractions, whether modern or historic (nostalgic?), there are better places to do this, but for the experience of the western portion of Route 66 in its heyday, this was exactly what I wanted. Driving less-than-perfect roads at slower-than-modern speeds through the high desert, watching mile after mile of open country unwind before us, seeing miles-long Union Pacific trains emerge from the distance, pass, and fade into the western horizon, the road bounded by distant snow-covered mountains and imposing, alien buttes looming close, never knowing what might be past the next rise  - this was the same thing that drivers in years past experienced on that road and others like it.

02Pilot said:

We did a short section of 66 east of Gallup as part of our trip to NM earlier this year. While it's true that there's not a lot in terms of civilization, to me that was exactly the point. If I wanted to be in the middle of a bunch of tourist attractions, whether modern or historic (nostalgic?), there are better places to do this, but for the experience of the western portion of Route 66 in its heyday, this was exactly what I wanted. Driving less-than-perfect roads at slower-than-modern speeds through the high desert, watching mile after mile of open country unwind before us, seeing miles-long Union Pacific trains emerge from the distance, pass, and fade into the western horizon, the road bounded by distant snow-covered mountains and imposing, alien buttes looming close, never knowing what might be past the next rise  - this was the same thing that drivers in years past experienced on that road and others like it.

This. I've done portions here and there from LA to the Petrified Forest and further East. It's an experience of being off the beaten path and not feeling rushed on a normal highway. It's like taking US1 or the PCH vs. I-95 or I-5 to transit the nations coastlines. 

I have never been east of Gallup on Rt 66 (I don't count I-40 as Route 66). I lived along 66 for 12 years in Flagstaff. Big chunks of 66 are everything stated above, though perhaps not as nice as Highway 1.

I would love to travel the whole length, just to do it. I love back roads. I love not being on the interstate. I love going through little towns I have never heard of. I will travel on rutted dirt roads and head over washboards. Route 66 near places with even a little bit of money is idyllic.

Riding through places with original 66 and no local money (surprisingly narrow, by today's standards), going along patches that don't go anywhere but forgotten 3 building towns can have so many heaves in the road that I wished I was on a dual purpose bike. 5 inches of travel was not enough to go faster than 45, even though no potholes.

I've only been on Rte 66 in a small town in AZ. It was quaint, we ate at old diners. We enjoyed it. 

Your tales of 66 remind me of my impression of the Blue Ridge Parkway. While Skyline Drive to the north of it is beautiful, the BRP gets boring, after a few miles. My buddy and I ended up hoping onto I-40, too get further down the road, getting back on the BRP around Asheville, where it gets pretty again. 

I did a short stretch from St. Louis to Oklahoma. There was a lot of nothing but every so often i lost a time taking in something fun. At some point I'd like to have enough time off to see all of it. 

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

I thought we had a pic of the same gas station. I went and looked, my pic is different, similar vibe.

In reply to 02Pilot :

Like I said, we really thought doing all of Rt66 would be fun and interesting and a real experience.  Especially in a cool old car.  But while driving I40 between Albuquerque and OKC, almost all of Rt66 is between the rail road and the I40, which means you see it the entire time (either 66 or the freeway).  

And at some point, seeing people drive by me 30mph faster- I'm not really sure it would be that fun.  Moreso when you understand that you are getting bounced around on a not so hot road.  There are better places to take a long time to get from A to B.  For all of the small towns that look really neat to see, you can also get off the freeway.

The snow covered mountains don't show up until California.  And to get to them, you have to drive many hours along just sage brush.  Thinking about it, I'm not even sure you even get to see those, because the route is south enough, going through Kingman AZ.  

The other thing I realized while driving a long side it, almost all people driving R66 were doing exactly what we were doing, but with more purpose- trying to get to California for a better life.

US20 and US26 are a whole lot more spectacular in the scenery.  One driving through the Tetons, the other through Yellowstone.  Heck, you can go from Boston all the way to the west coast on US20, seeing some cool parts of Mass, NY, OH, IN, IL, IO, SD, WY, ID, and OR.   It's also far less traveled than the mostly parallel freeways.  

Again, we really wanted to do Rt66.  It was going to be a cool and epic drive with our Alfa.  But the Escape would be a better vehicle to do it and still being able to enjoy it.  And we saw exactly the same stuff, and doing 80mph isn't stressful at all out there.  

matthewmcl said:

I have never been east of Gallup on Rt 66 (I don't count I-40 as Route 66). I lived along 66 for 12 years in Flagstaff. Big chunks of 66 are everything stated above, though perhaps not as nice as Highway 1.

Things haven't improved much. 

Williams has seen a revival, Winslow blares the Eagles all day long, but Seligman, Joe City, Holbrook are all kinda dead. 

Even here in Flagstaff Rt 66 is fading away. So many of the old motels are crumbling, seemingly always in a state of disrepair. Land is so expensive that many owners of such establishments have to charge MORE than a brand new hotel room down the road. There are few diners like the Crown and Galaxy that cling to life, but they aren't thriving with tourists anymore. 

It's just funny how in undesirable towns, Rt 66 isn't enough to keep businesses along it alive, and in desireable towns like Flagstaff, Rt 66 can't compete with newer development. 

Tucumcari, New Mexico is a neat place. I have been through there a few times...

My honeymoon was the entirety of Rt 66 from Chicago to the Santa Monica Pier.

I didn't think it was overrated at all.  There are sections in MO and OK that are now just the feeder for the interstate, but there are parts of it that are pretty much nowhere near a highway.  There are also parts where they changed the route in the 50s or 60s, and there are directions that let you take both of them without wasting a bunch of miles.

We did every inch.  We took three weeks.  We stopped at every stupid, kitchy place along the way, and loved every one.

Overhyped?  not anymore than any other tourist attraction.      

I drove the part from St. Louis to Chicago area on  a work trip.  Pontiac Illinois being the highlight.   

But then again, I love motorcycle trips that take you off the beaten path to towns time forgot.

Like I said, Tulsa to Chicago is nice.  You are just as much away from the Rt as you are driving along side it.  It's the west of OKC where you are always close to the freeway and there are few towns to really speak of to go by, where you are constrained by the condition of the road where we draw the line.  Especially for a cool car.

Maybe if it was a nice and smooth piece of road, it would be better, but being beaten up and having to go slow because of that to really experience nothing additional to taking the freeway right next to you... yea.

And some of the Motels are exactly what you see and expect.  

I've driven most of it.  My experience with hotels was very mixed- some good, some very, very ugly.  While I'll go out of my way to eat at an indie food place over a chain, most chain motels beat the pants off of the indies.  There are some exceptions, of course - I've left a terrible Super 8 before and I've also stayed in some really good indie motels - but you have to be a lot more discriminating.  

As for the rest of it....yeah, there's parts of 66 that are pretty much just access roads for the Superslab, and other parts where 66 was buried under it.  It all depends on what you're looking for.  I particularly liked the bits once you get east of the greater Santa Monica area and into the deserts of CA-AZ-NM.  The terrain is just so foreign to an Easterner like myself, and you really get a feel for the harsh conditions folks had to deal with. 

My first time was in a Corvair, driving West to East, in early July, and included a detour down to Lake Havasu for some since-forgotten reason.  Lake Havasu gets legitimate, not-exaggerating, 110 degree heat in July.  With the top down, and black vinyl interior.  I recall buying cheap white towels to throw over the bottom seat cushion, putting white t-shirts over the back cushion, and having a soft-sided cooler in the back seat full of ice and white washcloths.  The washcloths were to put around your neck to cool off.  Every few minutes you tossed the washcloth in the cooler and took out a fresh one.  There were also a couple of gallons of water in the cooler.  I recall drinking like 2 gallons of water a day, and hardly ever peeing.  The cool rags were like the greatest feeling in the world.  I'm pretty sure I got heat stroke, I think I lost about 10 pounds and was woozy for like a week after I got home. 

I mean, it sorta sounds miserable and dangerous in retrospect, and I guess it was, but it was that sort of miserable/ dangerous that's right on the line of being awesome.   

The second major trip I did on Rt 66 was documented here.  This time the vehicle was only 15 years old and posessed functioning A/C.  It was still an adventure.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/taking-the-clan-cross-country-in-a-jimmy-named-luc/108254/page1/