DRIVE AMERICA’S MAIN STREET TO THE CALIFORNIA COAST

IMPORTANT NOTE: This itinerary includes the most popular sites along Route 66, but is by no means a complete list. Additional stops and points of interest, including possible side trips, will be discussed each morning during the briefing to suit your own interests along a fascinating ribbon of American history.

What determines the itinerary? As a Route 66 traveler, there are many factors between the number of days most people can spend on the road to seeing a true slice of American culture from America’s most fabled highway- from towns where wild burros roam the streets to vintage wigwam motels.

The most important factor in developing the itinerary was the overnight accommodations, providing guests with a real feel of Route 66 by staying at some of the most historic motels along the route. There are a few Holiday Inn type motels, but the Route 66 tour is by far the most vintage with regard to the accommodations provided each night. Unlike other tours that simply drive by the classical motels, we will be either dining and/or staying at the motels that any Route 66 traveler would not want to miss.

Each morning a short briefing will be given highlighting featured sites of the day ahead. During this time I will review key stops included in your Route 66 guide that I have written based on my personal experiences reporting about and traveling the road through the years. Depending on your interests, a proposed schedule will be discussed to make the most out of the day based on your personal interests. Guests will travel at their own pace during the day, but stops will be scheduled at sites included in the tour package.

For featured daily stops along the route, I will be at those sites to present a detailed narrative and stories you don’t want to miss!

* denotes published podcast episodes

^ denotes podcast episodes in production

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DAY 1: Chicago, IL

Guests will meet just steps away from the Route 66 “begin” sign at Chicago’s most historic and America’s longest continuously operating hotel, despite being destroyed just 13 days after initially opening by the Great Chicago Fire.

The evening will include a historical riverboat tour featuring the architectural diversity of Chicago followed by Chicago deep dish pizza and drinks.

Hotel Check-in The Palmer House Hotel
Chicago River Boat Architectural tour^
Welcome Reception/Chicago Famous Deep Dish Pizza

HOTEL: The Palmer House Hotel

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DAY 2: Chicago, IL – Springfield, IL (282 miles)

As you begin your Route 66 journey one of the first stops will be to see the Gemini Giant, an original fiber glass giant that stood at the Launching Restaurant for decades. Despite the restaurant closing, the Gemini Giant has a new home just down the street at a nearby park.

The first feature stop will be in Pontiac, home of the Route 66 Hall of Fame Museum. The museum features many artifacts to give you as sense of the importance of Route 66, in addition to a separate exhibit on free-spirit artist, Bob Waldmire. When Disney was considering the idea of Route 66 for the Cars film, they wanted to use Waldmire’s likeness- but he staunchly refused. In the end, the Cars character Fillmore is based on Waldmire, who lived in a VW microbus. See the artistic talent of Waldmire, in addition to the correspondence between Waldmire and Disney- including the reason why he would not allow usage of his likeness.

Begin sign*
Joliet Rialto Theater
Old Joliet Prison (Blues Brothers)*
Gemini Giant*
Polka Dot Drive In
Ambler Filling Station
Keeley Institute*
Odell Mobile Station/Pedestrian Tunnel Stairs
Dwight Filling Station
Route 66 Hall of Fame Museum^
Pontiac Mural Walking Tour
Sprague’s Service Station
Funks Grove Maple Sirrup Shop
Atlanta American Giants Museum*
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
CozyDog Drive-In

HOTEL: Hampton Inn

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DAY 3: Springfield, IL – St. Louis, MO (105 miles)

Drive an original 1.4 mile section of road that has been replaced with a brick surface. The original Chain of Rocks Bridge (1927) has been closed to traffic for decades, but travelers can walk the 1 mile pedestrian bridge across the Mississippi River. Arriving into St. Louis, the St. Louis Gateway Arch National Park is a scheduled stop, where a tram car will take you 630 feet above the city to the top of the tallest monument in America.

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, Mississippi River

Illinois Brick Road
Ariston Cafe (Meal)^
Mother Jones Monument
Worlds largest ketchup bottle
Chain of Rocks Bridge^
Gateway Arch National Park

Hotel: St. Louis Hyatt

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DAY 4: St. Louis, MO – Carthage, MO (270 miles)

This morning, Meramac Caverns awaits your arrival after departing St. Louis. The vast cavern contains almost 5 miles of underground passages and it is no wonder that Jesse James used the cavern as a hideout with his men. The road today will pass through the lovely Ozarks and nostalgic motels such as the Wagon Wheel, Munger Moss, and Boots Court- where we will be staying for the evening. Red Oak is an interesting community where all the buildings were all relocated from Illinois when a local resident discovered that the Illinois town of Red Oak had become a ghost town and was up for sale.

Route 66 State Park (Times Beach)*
Meramac Caverns*
Wagon Wheel Motel*
Weir on ’66 (Meal)
John’s Modern Cabins
Trail of Tears Memorial
Devils Elbow Bridge
Route 66 Library Museum
Munger Moss Motel*
Gae Parita’s Sinclair Station
Red Oak II
Boots Court^
’66 Drive-in Theater

Hotel: Boots Court Motel

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DAY 5: Carthage, MO – Kansas – Tulsa, OK (145 miles)

Today, the road will cover 3 states- including the mere 13 miles of Kansas. We will visit the Will Rogers Memorial Museum, celbrating the life of America’s most popular personality during the height of the Route 66 years. Sites today will celebrate the committment of people who lived along the road, including a young 21 year old who won a 3400 mile cross country carnival type race that was anything but fair to help promote Route 66.

Bonnie and Clyde Museum
Cars on the Route
Rainbow Bridge
Mickey Mantle childhood home
Coleman Theater tour
RAF Cadets/Francis Hill gravesite*
Waylan’s Ku-Ku (meal)
Sidewalk Road Segment
Pedestrian Tunnel
Totem Pole Park
Andy Payne Monument Statue*
Will Rogers Memorial Museum*
Blue Whale
Bob Dylan Center
Buck Atoms
Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza
Greenwood District*
Golden Driller
Meadow Gold Neon Sign

Hotel: Campbell Hotel

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DAY 6: Tulsa , OK – Kansas – Shamrock, TX (265 miles)

Passing through Oklahoma, we will see a surviving obelisk standing 42 feet tall on a lonesome stretch of dirt road, which was once the Old Trails Road- predating Route 66 as a cross country road. Admission to one of the finest Route 66 Museums, which chronicles the road through the decades with comprehensive exhibits. The U-Drop Inn and Tower Station is an art deco service station is one of the most photgraphed along the route, complete with neon lighting.

Round Barn
Pops (meal)
Auto Museum
Rock Cafe*
Old Trails Road Obelisk
Route 66 Interpretive Center
McJerry’s Route 66 Gallery
Threatt Filling Station
Grocery Bottle
Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum
Fort Reno POW Cemetery*
Pony Bridge

Route 66 Museum^
Parker Drilling Rig
WPA Pedestrian tunnel
Sandhill Curiosity Shop
Tower Station & U-Drop Inn*

Hotel: Western Motel

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DAY 7: Shamrock, TX – Tucumcari, NM (204 miles)

Visit one of the most unusual museums not only along Route 66 but in the world- barbed wire. From the early invention to help ranchers establish their boundaries to modern art, see barbed wire in a whole new way. In Amarillo, visit the historic district, Cadillac ranch, and enjoy a hearty meal at the Big Texan steak house.

1929 Phillips Petroleum Station
Devils Rope Museum*
Leaning Water Tower
Giant Cross
Jericho Gap
Big Texan (meal)
Historic Amarillo District
Cadillac Ranch

MidPoint Cafe (meal)*
Glenrio
Tee Pee Curios
Route 66 Tucumcari Monument*

Hotel: Blue Swallow*

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DAY 8: Tucumcari, NM – Santa Fe, NM. (166 miles)

From Tucumcari, follow an original stretch of ’66 alignment as you head north into Santa Fe. While Santa Fe only included Route 66 during her initial decade of existence, the city is a beautiful example of the southwest culture not to be missed. Lodging will be at La Fonda, the only hotel on the Plaza, which was once the crown jewel of the Fred Harvey empire.

Blue Hole
San Miguel Chapel
Georgia O’Keefe Museum
Santa Fe Square
Palace of the Governors

Hotel: La Fonda on the Square

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DAY 9: Santa Fe, NM – Holbrook, AZ (294 miles)

Travel the road to Albuquerque, where you will ride one of the worlds longest tram cars to the top of Sandia Peak at 10,378 feet for a panoramic view of New Mexico. Enjoy lunch at one of the most nostalgic hotels along the route that catered to all of Hollywood during the golden era of film making, with lots of memorabilia from John Wayne to Katherine Hepburn. Travel through Petrified Forest and appreciate the work of renowned Fred Harvey architect Mary Colter at the Painted Desert Inn. At the end of the day, settle down in your own wigwam for the night.

El Vado Boutique Motel
Tram to Sandia Peak
Rio Puerco Bridge
El Rancho Motel (meal)
Painted Desert Inn
Petrified Forest National Park

Hotel: Wig-Wam Motel

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DAY 10: Holbrook, AZ – Grand Canyon – Williams, AZ (224 miles)

After breakfast at La Posada, a former Fred Harvey railroad station, see one of the most famous corners along Route 66 that pays tribute to the famous song, Standin’ on the Corner. Spend the rest of the day at the majestic Grand Canyon National Park, one of the natural Wonders of the World, with an average depth of 4000 feet and stretching some 18 miles wide.

Jack Rabbit Trading Post*
La Posada (meal)*

Standin’ on the Corner Park, Winslow*
Two Guns
Twin Arrows Trading Post
Grand Canyon National Park

Hotel:

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DAY 10: Williams, AZ – Barstow, CA (357 miles)

You will drive one of the longest, uninterrupted stretches of Route 66 into Oatman- a time forgotten town in the Black Mountains where federally protected wild burros (donkeys) roam free along Main Street. The trip through the Mojave Desert will include a landscape that will make you wonder how travelers made it across the barren land at a time when road travel was in its infancy.