Historic Route 66 Facts

• Current maps do not include old Route 66.
• Route 66 is 2448 miles long. (about 4000 km).
• Route 66 was commissioned in 1926, picking up as many as possible bits and pieces of existing road.
• Route 66 crosses 8 states and 3 time zones.
• Route 66 starts in Chicago, and ends in L.A. (Santa Monica).Some people think driving it in the opposite direction is historically wrong, but it's mainly a lot harder as all available documentation goes the "right" way. (Please note that our adventure was not only going the “wrong way” but in OK we deviated off the path for a more direct route back to VA. Did you expect us to follow the norm?)
• In 1926 only 800 miles of Route 66 were paved. Only in 1937 Route 66 got paved end-to-end.
• You can only drive parts of Route 66 these days... it has been replaced by the interstate highways I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15 and I-10, but still a surprisingly high amount of old road is waiting to be found by the more adventurous traveler.
• Route 66 is also know as "The Mother Road", "The Main Street of America" and "The Will Rogers Highway".
• During all of its life, Route 66 continued to evolve, leaving many abandoned stretches of concrete, still waiting to be found by the more adventurous traveler.
• Route 66 was also the title of a TV series playing from 1960 till 1964.
• Cyrus Stevens Avery from Tulsa Oklahoma can be called the father of Route 66
• In 1985 Route 66 was officially decommissioned, but for daily use it was replaced far earlier by the Interstates.
• Beginning in the late 1950s and continuing gradually over the next 25 years, old Route 66 was bypassed section by section as the high-speed Interstate highways were completed. Finally, in 1984, when the last stretch of freeway was finished, Route 66 was officially decommissioned (in 1985); the old route is now designated "Historic Route 66."
  
  For more information visit www.historic66.com (among may other websites)

Road Trip Stats

All the things you wanted to know...

Miles Driven ~ 3100
Gallons of Gas Used ~ about 180 gallons

# States Driven Thru/In ~ 8 CA – VA (with a brief stop in Mississippi)
# Hotel stayed in ~ 6
Needles, CA
Grand Canyon, AZ
Albuquerque, NM
Elk City, OK
West Memphis, AK
Knoxville, TN
# of Natural Wonders of the World ~ 1.5
# of huge roadside crosses ~ 2
# of times on old Rt 66 ~ at least 8
# of dry counties visited ~ 1
Postcards sent ~ 23
Rolls of film ~ Gretchen - 7 Candi – 10 or more
Hours of Video ~ 2
Bags of M&M’s ~ 6 or so
Beef Jerky consumed ~ 1 pound
Bottle Cap Candy ~ 100+
Bags of Fritos ~ 3
Bison Burgers ~ 1

Animals seen ~ squirrels, chipmunk, fox, coyote, goats, cows, horses, buffalo, elk, burros, and long horn steer

Lessons Learned:
~ It always takes longer than you thought.
~ Plan for multiple days in an area you really want to see.
~ Unforeseen complications like construction, weather, and road detours will reduce your average speed.
~ Mad Libs are very entertaining and help pass the time.

~ Dramamine is your friend.

The Home Stretch

Saturday – Knoxville to VA
7:28 – We go to check out and have a bite before heading out. It is dark outside, similar to what it looked like last night when we checked in and went to bed.
Bristol is next – AKA Tennsay, Virnasse, or Tengia. It was much cooler in TN as well as in VA. Fall has taken hold and colored a handful of trees – the leaves are tipped in gold and russet. The peak of the change isn’t far off.
12:26 – So the Natural Bridge isn’t a go due to the $12 fee to go see it. After 7 days of sites and expenses we have become a bit frugal. And after seeing the Grand Canyon for $5 each it is hard to cough up $12 for the Natural Bridge. In the spirit of adventure we tromp down 137 steps to see if we can catch a glimpse of the bridge. There isn’t much to see at the bottom besides a lot of trees and a cranky ticket puncher. Its pretty lame that they charge you to see a naturally occurring phenomenon.
So I pay 35 cents for a fallesque postcard of the bridge after dragging my arse back up the 137 steps. I can still feel it in my chest, pretty sad huh?
1:30 – We stop in Charlottesville for lunch. We are all fairly spent and ready to be home. We stop at the first restaurant we find downtown. Northern Exposure Café, which actually has a New York City theme. After I dump a Diet Coke all over the table and narrowly miss my leg we eventually get our food,
Little did we know it was “Family Weekend” at UVA – this made getting out of town fun. Who knew that “Don’t Walk” signs were optional in college towns?
5:45 – about 2 hours after we escaped Charlottesville we rolled into Manassas. It was chilly and drizzling – the only difference from when we left is that it is brighter than it was at 5am, but not by much.
As we go thru our postcards (purchased for scrap booking of course), the trinkets we bought, and the brochures from various sites we stopped at little bits of memories flood back. I can only hope I caught most of them along the way.

Elvis Lives?

Friday – almost to TN
8:00am – The Ramada Inn is the first decent continental b-fast we have had. The highlight being the biscuits. Bill taught me the trick of nuking then for 20 seconds before applying butter ~ yum!
8:30 – We gas up and head to the legendary home of Elvis.
8:45 – Hello Tennessee!
10:00am – Ok, so Graceland wasn’t what we expected. $5 gets you into the parking lot. A minimum of $22 will get you a tour of the house – blah!!
We took pics from across the street and perused the gift shop. After sending off a few post cards we hit the road.
Bill mentioned that we were 5 miles from Mississippi. We figured that if we were that close we might as well add another state to our trek. So we buzzed down the road to MS, which was rather uneventful and headed back up Elvis Presley Blvd to get some covert shots of the famous house and gates. I wonder what they would have done if we hopped the stone wall?
Onward to Nashville; we are planning to lunch at the Hard Rock Café and buy more crap… I mean schwag.
11:40 – Alex has conquered the 1lb bag of beef jerky ~ it only took AZ-TN to do it!
1:00 – We stopped in Jackson, TN at Casey Jones Town. It has a train museum and a little strip mall with a cute “old town” façade. After taking some video footage and fun pictures posing as train engineers we went over to the Old Town Restaurant. Our visit was complete after noshing on “Kracklin Corn Bread”. About 100 miles to Nashville. 4:48 – We had a late lunch in Nashville at a Hard Rock Café. They has very yummy mac & cheese – it was twisted and had roasted peppers in it. We then bough the required schwag – Alex bought me the pink ribbon pin I was eyeballing. After picking up several glasses and fun t-shirts we were ready to go. We checked out the decorated guitars on the water front (similar to the fish in Baltimore and cats in Fredericksburg) before heading out of town.
4:53 – We passed the “Original Bigfoot”. After taking a few more pictures we hit the road and promptly get stuck in traffic. The notion of leaving Nashville near rush hour didn’t strike us. The last 5 days of driving along a ½ empty interstate has skewed our prespective.
There was a garland of bras lining Broadway as we made our way to the highway – must me some kind of event. Candi is bored and makes a variety of faces at Bill who is very intent on the road.
7:29pm – We cross over into the Eastern Time zone and loose another hour. At least it is for the last time. 48 miles to Knoxville ~ more fun with elevation & popping of the ears.
10:00pm – We get into Knoxville and crash for the night. Tomorrow will be an early start.

Rt 66 Museum & More

Thursday – Elk City, OK
8:00am – Denny’s has Tabasco Sauce on the table! We are going to the Rt 66 museum after scooping out the Flamingo Inn for schwag (that’s Brenda’s word) and taking a photo in front of the old time gas station.
The Flamingo Inn was a bust – no café. But the Rt 66 Museum was awesome. Three mini museums on one property ~ Rt 66, Old Town, and The Farm & Ranch. We were less than thrilled with the gift shop but that is ok, its not like we haven’t spent money is every other state so far. The woman who rung us up was a bit “off” and was challenged by using a register.
The woman that greeted us at the Old Town museum was thrilled to see people and have a warm body to talk to. She was quite animated and had been working there for ages. Among many other things she swore that the inmate that came in to clean the bathrooms just sprayed Lysol in the air and left.
We got great footage of all the museums including a very informative tour of The Farm & Ranch museum. The gentleman giving that tour had a lot if interesting stories and personal notes to add to his tour.
We headed out of Elk City around 11am after cruising thru town on old Rt 66.
We stopped in Weatherford for a picture of the welcome sign for Candi’s grandmother. Then we sped on to Hydro to hunt down and old gas station. Once off the exit I blew thru a stop sign and nearly did it a second time on the way out.
We found the old time pump in front of a closed café. At least we got the picture. We stopped for gas at an Native American Trading post. After acquiring some souviners (aka junk) we hopped back on the road.
Around 200ish miles down the road Candi and I made the executive decision to stop at Sonic for drinks. It was a fabulous idea! We got yummy crème slushies in lime, watermelon, and blue coconut ~ tasty!
Back on the road I again discover that I am good for about 4 hours and then I have to get out of the car to move around and wake up. We stop at a “no facilities” rest stop, which equals a road that loops off Rt 40. After stretching Candi takes the helm.
As we make our way thru OK we pass thru many Native American Nations. Also trees have sprung up and we are thrilled to have more than a vast open plain to look at. It is a bit warm but fall is here and is coloring the leaves brown, red, and gold.
4:36pm – Approaching the AK border – picture time!
5:01 – AK is lush and green. We are starting to gain elevation again.
Car games – Mad Libs are still keeping us in stiches. Now it is time for “The first person to spot…” game.
Lake Dardanelle – very pretty and I managed to got some video footage of it between the trees.
Dinner is yummy and we are surprised to find ourselves in a dry county. All I wanted was some lime for my diet coke. The waiter was very nice and explained that there was no bar. I talked Alex into a Bison Burger so that I could have a bite. It was quiet good. Similar to beef, but leaner.
10:30 – We roll into a Ramada Inn for the night. Its off to Graceland in the morning.

The Journey Continues

Wednesday – NM, thru TX and to OK
8am – we locate a Starbucks - yum! – and hit the road. We cruise along old 66 thru Albuquerque to see all the kitchy old buildings – video and snapshots complete this leg of the trip. Next stop – Kline’s Korner.
The mountain views leaving Albuquerque are awesome – some are rock covered – others covered with forest and vegetation. Some are so tall their peaks are hiding amongst the clouds.
Random side note - Everyone in Albuquerque thinks we are freaks for being in t-shirts and shorts.
Cline’s Corner – 7200 ft – kitchy stuff for cheap. Candi models a sombrero. Gretchen buys crap (but it is fun crap).
10:54 – We plat Ripley’s Believe it or Not trivia as we roll on towards TX.
12:11 – Tucumcari (its real!) – 4000ish ft. Very cool Rt 66 sign… many pictures to be had.
12:50 – Hello TX! Hello new time zone… it is really 1:50 now.
2:37 – Texas is really flat. The boys are napping. Amarillo is 30 min away.
2:45 – Passing lot-o-cows… one is pooing – Bill and I commiserate on the view. A cowboy is out rounding up his herd.
3:10 – “Look at that!” says Candi and we all look to the right as we almost miss the Cadillac Ranch. We bee-line to the next exit, make a crazy u-turn and head up the access road to the Caddy Ranch entrance. The cars are out in the middle of a windy-arse field. They are covered in the graffiti of time and visitors. After capturing the site on film and video we head to find some lunch.
While eating lunch there is a roller coaster of emotion for Candi & Bill as they debate the decision of a new job for Candi. The news is wonderful as Candi is able to accept the job – Yea! *Glamour Horoscope ~ too freaky~*
4:45 – We leave Barnes & Noble – armed with Mad Libs and magazines – and are off to find the Bug Ranch. Then off to OK City – 250 miles away.
5:24 – Exit 110 – The Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere. We grab a few pics – it was big but we bypassed the gift shop.
Random side note - The Bug Ranch was a bust… we think we missed it while passing a truck.
And then there was nothing (after passing a funny leaning tower).
5:29 – We break out the Mad Libs – Monster Madness Edition – absolutely hysterical. We have to make copies for our scrapbooks.
6:05 ish – we are approaching the OK border.
6:14 – finally pass the sign for OK. Candi says “Oklahoma is OK!”
6:18 – Alex turns down a rest stop ~ unbelievable.
6:35 – We hop off at the OK Rest Stop and Visitor Center (despite Alex’s lack of need which still mystifies me) but the center is lame because they closed at 5pm. We pick up a motel guide for options later that evening. Some playtime on the sing set, spinny thing, and monkey bars help us stretch and unwind. Candi and I give the boys one last spin before hitting the road. 136 miles to OK City… crap, that is like 2 hours!
6:56 – We hop off Rt 40 to visit Elk City. There is a Rt 66 Museum but sadly it closed at 5pm. The time change and losing an hour per day is challenging.
8:00pm – OK, change of plans! We are drooling over the museum and decide to spend the night, relax, have a real breakfast, and hit the museum in the morning. Hopefully Jeff and Jennifer can drive west and meet us in OK for a bite to eat before they head home. Unfortunately this means no high pointing in AK, but we are pretty excited about the museum.
After checking to a Days Inn we are planning to hit El Charro for dinner. Alex attacked the toilet, requiring the need for a snake/plunger. Hopefully dinner will go better.
10:10pm – Dinner was so yummy! Candi had her 10th cheese based meal (it might be more than that actually) and Bill’s dish had more zip than anticipated. Hello yummy cheesecake desert! The waitress (who started off with a negative value tip but got better) is amazed that we would be in the town of Elk City during an adventure like our road trip. I felt like telling her “You know, Rt 40 cuts thru OK and by Elk City” but the effort would have been futile.

Random side note I don’t want to forget – Hippie’s begging for gas at the uber expensive gas station – we were after fuel ourselves so we moved on to a cheaper location. We left the hippies with their dreads, tie-dyed t’s, and beat up bus but we saw them at the next exit.