Mighty pretty
Route 66 turns 100 with celebrations stretching across eight states.
It’s mid-day at the Missouri Hick, a barbecue restaurant on Route 66 near Cuba, Missouri. The lunch rush is almost over when the staff springs into action, moving tables together to form a spot for what is obviously going to be a big gathering.
Soon the restaurant walls vibrate with the two-cylinder thump of a dozen Harley-Davidson motorcycles. The door opens and the happy sound of a group that’s experiencing the time of their lives resounds — in Swedish.
Scenes like this play out every day along the remains of the most famous highway in the world. It’s called the Mother Road, Main Street America and the Highway That’s the Best. It traversed eight states along 2,448 miles stretching from the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago to a pier at the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, California.
Its official name is Route 66, and it’s about to get busier than it’s been since it was decommissioned in 1985.
This year Route 66 fans from around the world will be looking for new kicks as the celebrated road turns 100 years old.
On April 30, Springfield, Missouri, will be in the spotlight as it hosts the national kickoff of America’s Route 66 Centennial Celebration.
The Queen City of the Ozarks earned that honor through a competitive process, but also due to its status as the birthplace of Route 66. It was here on the same date in 1926 that a telegram was sent by Tulsa’s Cyrus Avery to Washington, D.C., asking that the new road be named Route 66. The idea for the road didn’t originate here, but its iconic name did.
“This recognition is a testament to Missouri’s deep roots in the history of America’s most iconic highway and the vibrant spirits of the communities that keep that legacy alive today,” said Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe.
He shared that his farm is on Route 66 in Jerome.
“We have some of the original roadway in Pulaski County that you can still drive on. People come from all over the world to drive on that. This roadway is so historic, and it has made millions of memories for not just Americans but for people all over the world.”
Kickoff festivities will include five satellite cities: Joliet, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Albuquerque, New Mexico and Santa Monica, California.
In preparation for the celebration, communities all along the historical route have been sprucing up their landmarks, planning events, relighting neon and prepping for a major influx of visitors who plan to motor west.
“I struggle to make a specific prediction, and part of that is because it’s really hard to track specific routes,” says Rhys Martin, president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, “but I would be surprised if traffic didn’t double just because of the attention and the people planning their trips.”
Arizona’s Nikki Terlesky, director of the state’s Historic Route 66 Association, agrees they are coming in a big way.
“I think Route 66 is on a lot of visitors’ bucket lists,” she says. “And I think whenever there’s a big milestone to be celebrated people want to be a part of that and come experience Route 66 as it’s turning 100. I know a lot of Facebook groups I follow are just buzzing with people voicing their travel plans.”
While Missouri can claim its birthplace, an Oklahoma man is known as the Father of Route 66. Cyrus Avery, known for his oil and gas lease business, saw the need for a roadway from the Midwest to the West, connecting small towns and cities along the way. Appointed to the Joint Board of Interstate Highways in 1925, Cyrus managed to steer the route south from Illinois through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California instead of a more northern route through Las Vegas.
Along with Missouri’s John Woodruff, he also helped launch the U.S. Highway 66 Association in 1927 to encourage use of the new roadway.
“One hundred and thirty-seven delegates from 32 cities of the Southwest, meeting here today, organized the National Highway No. 66 Association and elected John T. Woodruff of Springfield, Mo., its first president,” read a story from the Springfield Daily News. “From Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico the delegates gathered in Tulsa today determined that Highway 66, which runs from Chicago via St. Louis to Los Angeles, shall in fact become the ‘main street of America.’ ”
In the beginning, the route joined various existing state roads, with many of them still gravel. Besides paving the highway, the association’s leaders also saw the need to encourage drivers to choose Route 66 over other transcontinental routes.
One of the first efforts to popularize the road was an epic foot race, “The Bunion Derby,” that followed Route 66 from its start in California to Chicago, then on to New York City. The distance was 3,400 miles over just three months. It started with 275 runners, but 77 dropped out on the first day. Only 55 runners finished the race, with 20-year-old Andy Payne, a Cherokee from Foyil, Oklahoma, the winner.
Through publicity like this, the nation learned of the new route, and traffic grew exponentially. Truckers favored its flat terrain, with elevations measured in hundreds of feet instead of thousands crossing the Rocky Mountains.
In the 1930s it became the road of migration as the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl forced displaced Midwesterners to seek a new life in California.
When World War II gripped the nation, it became a strategic route for moving men and materials to support the war effort. This led to a major effort to rebuild the roadway for Fort Leonard Wood, an Army base located at St. Robert, Missouri.
The highway was no match for the heavy trucks supplying the base. So, a four-lane “superhighway” was planned from Rolla, Missouri, to the base. And a deep cut would bypass a steep grade near Devil’s Elbow. Hooker Cut became the deepest highway excavation in the nation to date, and the four-lane, divided highway was the first of its kind. Ironically, it was completed in September 1945, the same month the war came to an end.
Other improvements included a reroute around a series of dangerous hairpin curves in Arizona dubbed The Sidewinder. This 8-mile section has 191 curves with no guardrails and 12% grades. Today it is often visited by adventurous Route 66 travelers.
By the 1950s, Route 66 was the byway of a nation in love with the automobile. Cabins, motels, roadhouses and all manner of highway kitsch sprang up to lure motorists off the pavement. Along came the first fast-food restaurant with a drive-through, believed to be Red’s Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri.
Route 66 came to represent everything Americans hold near and dear: freedom, adventure, nostalgia and small-town values. Those themes were shared in the 1960s TV series “Route 66,” which helped fuel today’s nostalgia for the road.
Championed in songs such as Bobby Troup’s “(Get Your Kicks) On Route 66” and the Eagles’ “Take it Easy,” immortalized by John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” and introduced to a new generation through Pixar’s “Cars” movie, the Mother Road continues to fascinate those who prefer life in the slow lane.
Its demise came when the new interstate highway system — including Interstate 55, Interstate 44, Interstate 40, Interstate 15 and Interstate 10 — replaced it. Small towns where Route 66 was the Main Street were bypassed and many businesses couldn’t survive as traffic moved away.
Mother Nature and the wrecking ball have taken their toll, but if you know where to look you can still find the remains of the old route. New businesses have sprung from the ashes of those long-gone oases on the road.
So “get hip to this timely tip, when you make that California trip,” and make this the year to get your kicks — on Route 66.
The ultimate Route 66 playlist
| 1: Departure: Chicago → windows down | 5: Dusk, Motels & Long Thoughts |
Sweet Home Chicago – The Blues Brothers Start Me Up – The Rolling Stones Good Times Roll – The Cars Real Gone – Sheryl Crow Life Is a Highway – Rascal Flatts Born to Be Wild – Steppenwolf Runnin’ Down a Dream – Tom Petty Drivin’ My Life Away – Eddie Rabbitt On the Road Again – Willie Nelson | Fast Car – Tracy Chapman Angel From Montgomery – John Prine Into the Mystic – Van Morrison Gypsy – Fleetwood Mac Landslide – Fleetwood Mac The Mother Road – Alan Rhody Here I Go Again– Whitesnake Peaceful Easy Feeling – Eagles Take It to the Limit – Eagles |
| 2: Heartland Miles: Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas | 6: California Arrival |
If You Wanna Get to Heaven – Ozark Mountain Daredevils King of the Road – Roger Miller Boys From Oklahoma – Cross Canadian Ragweed Oklahoma Smokeshow – Zach Bryan Carry On Wayward Son – Kansas Dust in the Wind – Kansas Ain’t Going Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up) – Garth Brooks Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma – Luke Combs Cadillac Ranch – Chris LeDoux |
California Dreamin’ – The Mamas & the Papas Hotel California – Eagles Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac California Girls – The Beach Boys Everyday Is a Winding Road – Sheryl Crow Beverly Hills – Weezer |
| 3: Open Country & Freedom | 7: Sunshine, Celebration & Letting Loose |
Follow Your Arrow – Kacey Musgraves Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show Copperhead Road – Steve Earle Midnight Rider – The Allman Brothers Band Ramblin’ Man – The Allman Brothers Band Blue Sky – The Allman Brothers Band Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen |
Hot to Go – Chappell Roan Paradise City - Guns N' Roses Getaway Car – Taylor Swift Good Time - Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen Born in the USA – Bruce Springsteen |
| 4: Desert Stretch: Texas → New Mexico → Arizona | 8: The Meaning of the Journey (Closing Stretch) |
I’ve Been Everywhere – Johnny Cash A Horse with No Name – America Ventura Highway – America Take Me to the River – Talking Heads Running on Empty – Jackson Browne Take the Long Way Home – Supertramp Drive – The Cars |
Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver Kyrie – Mr. Mister The Long and Winding Road – The Beatles Traveling Thru – Dolly Parton Running on Empty – Jackson Browne What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong End of the Line – Traveling Wilburys |
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