Drew Knowles - Route 66 Adventure Handbook: High-Octane

Serving hungry travelers in Amarillo, Texas.

Copyright 2017 by Drew Knowles

All rights reserved.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part or in any form or format without the written permission of the publisher.

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Santa Monica Press LLC

P.O. Box 850

Solana Beach, CA 92075

1-800-784-9553

www.santamonicapress.com

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This book is intended to provide general information. The publisher, author, distributor, and copyright owner are not engaged in rendering professional advice or services. The publisher, author, distributor, and copyright owner are not liable or responsible to any person or group with respect to any loss, illness, or injury caused or alleged to be caused by the information found in this book.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Knowles, Drew, 1956

Title: Route 66 adventure handbook / Drew Knowles.

Other titles: Route sixty-six adventure handbook

Description: High-octane fifth edition. | Solana Beach, CA: Santa Monica Press, 2017. | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016059903 (print) | LCCN 2016055734 (ebook) | ISBN 9781595807977

Subjects: LCSH: United States Highway 66--Description and travel. | United States Highway 66--Guidebooks. | West (U.S.)--Description and travel. | West (U.S.)--Tours. | Automobile travel--West (U.S.)--Guidebooks. | West (U.S.)--History, Local. | United States--Description and travel. | BISAC: TRAVEL / United States / General. | TRAVEL / United States / West / General. | TRAVEL / United States / Midwest / General. | TRAVEL / Museums, Tours, Points of Interest.

Classification: LCC F595.3 (print) | LCC F595.3 .K67 2017 (ebook) | DDC 917.804/33--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016059903

Cover and interior design and production by Future Studio
Photographs by Drew Knowles. All other images and graphics were culled from the authors personal collection.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Lots of Route 66 roadies are also classic car buffs.

This book is dedicated to all of those individuals who, by setting out to explore even a small portion of Route 66, have kept its mystique alive. May that spirit of adventure never fade.

Drew Knowles

At the Lake Overholser bridge, west of Oklahoma City. GPS: 35.51462,-97.66260

L ike so many people who have traveled it in recent years, Drew Knowles fell in love with the Mother Road. I dont mean love in the popular, overused sense, but a real love and respect for something very dear. Yet he is not just another enamored router. Far from it. He has spent many years on and off the road digging into every nook and cranny so he could write this important guide.

As Drew takes you down Americas most legendary highway, he tempts you with just enough historical details to make you want to search for more. He shares his secrets for finding unmarked stretches so you can become an informed explorer. He challenges you to travel beyond the route itself so you can enjoy even more of our countrys texture.

If you read and use this guide, there is a very good chance you will change your attitude towards motoring. Rather than simply driving to a location, your trip will become the destination. In fact, this attitude is relatively new in our country. When I was growing up, nearly every trip we took was a series of dots and dashes. You dashed from one dot to the next, then bragged about how quickly you got there. The advent of super highways was our dream come true. So were franchise operations because you could always count on them to be the same. This was what we wanted and it was what tourists from other countries came to see. But today, every country in the civilized world has more than its share of these modern conveniences.

Nothing but vacancies at motels like this one in Seligman, Arizona.

Enter the Heritage Tourist. These foreign and domestic tourists are more interested in experiencing the roots of America than the rides at its theme parks; and what better way to do that than to travel Route 66the route to our roots. As it passes by vintage motels, bustling cafs, colorful trading posts, and through picturesque villages, three time zones, dozens of cultures, and numerous geographic and weather changes, the old road is a microcosm of historic roadside America that every age can enjoy.

So, its time to do something different. Pack up the car, put this guide in the glove box, strap that water bag on the front, and get ready for a serious love affair.

David Knudson

Executive Director

National Historic Route 66 Federation

I was fortunate to grow up in the 1950s within easy striking distance of Route 66. Throughout the heyday of that fabled highway that Steinbeck appropriately dubbed The Mother Road, my family, like so many others, used the artery of concrete and asphalt to our advantage.