Jessica Dunham - Moon Route 66 Road Trip

JESSICA DUNHAM

Road trips are both blessed and burdened by the mythology of the open road. We have high expectations when we pack up the car and hit the pavement. We want to see places that charm, attractions that inspire, oddities that surprise. But more than that, we want to be transformed by the freedom that comes when we feel in charge of our own destiny.

Theres a reason that Route 66a beating heart of blacktop running 2,448 miles (3,939 km) from Chicago to Santa Monicalands on bucket lists of people from around the world. Its the only journey that lives up to our grandiose vision of a road trip. Thats because its spirit was paved by pioneers, risk-takers, disruptors, poets, rule-breakers, and adventurers.

Theres Joy Nevin, a woman who trained as a pilot during World War II before traveling Route 66 as a saleswoman in a truck she retrofitted herself. Theres Victor Green, who created the Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide to help Black motorists navigate Route 66 safely during the Jim Crow era. Theres writer John Steinbeck, whose novel The Grapes of Wrath encapsulated the desperate hope of emigrants who fled west during the Dust Bowl.

From Route 66s birth in 1926 to now, the decades have carved out an identity for the road that shifts depending on where you are. Cosmopolitan cities like Chicago and Los Angeles stand in stark contrast to the laid-back pace of small towns like Seligman, Arizona. A shifting landscape changes with every mile, from rolling prairies to remote deserts to the crashing ocean. And abandoned ghost towns, like Glenrio, Texas, sit as reminders of all that is unknowable about the past.

To travel all of Route 66 requires endurance and grasping its long history necessitates perspective. Meeting the routes residents calls for compassion and slowing down to see each and every sight demands patience. If you dont possess those qualities when you begin your drive, you will by the end. A trip on Route 66 will transform you.

The mythology is real.

Route 66 crosses eight states and three time zones. Some of the best-preserved sections of the road include the stretch between Springfield, Missouri, and Tulsa, Oklahoma; the road west of Seligman, Arizona; and the Oatman Highway through the Black Hills of Arizona.

Chicago: Its here in Americas third-largest city that the Mother Road begins. It snakes southwest through Illinois and into St. Louis, Missouri. Though much of the route has been replaced by I-55, theres still plenty of two-lane blacktop to explore. From Chicago, Route 66 heads to Pontiac. Make your first stop the Route 66 Association Hall of Fame & Museum, one of the best Route 66 museums on the journey. In Atlanta, eat like a local at the Palms Grill Cafe. Youll learn about the 1908 Race Riots on a walking tour in Springfield, and in Funks Grove, stop for sirup at Funks Grove Pure Maple Sirup.

Route 66 through Missouri gives you your first glimpse of Ozark countrytree-covered hills that gently rise and dip, and lush valleys that spread before you. This leg of the trip starts in St. Louis, where youll stroll the unusual Chain of Rocks Bridge, get interactive at the fun-for-everyone City Museum, and taste a custard concrete at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. Take a break from the car with a walk around Laumeier Sculpture Park in Kirkwood, visit the Trail of Tears Memorial in Jerome, and spend a day in Springfield, the official birthplace of Route 66.

The Mother Road only covers 13 miles (20.9 km) through Kansas, but you should still make time to visit Cars on the Route in Galena and stop for sandwiches at Nelsons Old Riverton Store in Riverton.

Oklahoma has more drivable miles of Route 66 than any other state. Youll cross early roadbeds and one of the longest bridges on the Mother Road, plus youll learn about some of the most significant racial events to shape our countrys history. In Catoosa, you can check out an oddball roadside attraction, the Blue Whale. Spend a few hours in Tulsa soaking up the art deco architecture before paying a visit to the Greenwood Cultural Center, which details the Tulsa Race Riot. In Weatherford, you can tour real rockets and spacecraft at Stafford Air & Space Museum.

Route 66 runs directly west across the Texas Panhandle, parallel to I-40. The drive is peaceful and solitary, punctuated by rusting grain silos that jut out of the horizon and tiny towns set in the middle of nowhere. Dont miss the art deco marvel, Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Caf in Shamrock. In Groom, get pictures of the Leaning Water Tower before continuing west to Amarillo, where the famed Cadillac Ranch shows off 10 vintage Caddies buried nose-deep in a field. A slice of pie at the MidPoint Caf in Adrian marks the halfway point of this road trip and is a must-do.

From Texas, Route 66 crosses into the luminescent landscape of red rocks and eternal sunsets that is New Mexico. Tucumcari, a former outlaw town, boasts plenty of retro neon signage, while artsy Santa Fe beckons travelers to browse the galleries and stay for a traditional New Mexican meal. The route slides south to Albuquerque before winding past Acoma Pueblo, which offers a fascinating look at American Indian history and culture. In Gallup, youll meet the nicest townsfolk ever as you traverse the sidewalks on the Mural Walking Tour.

I-40 is the present-day Route 66 in eastern Arizona. It takes you along the high desert and through quirky Southwest towns such as