It's impossible to pack every hotel, motel and Route 66 mile into one 114-page guidebook, but for anyone planning a driving holiday along Main Street America, Avalon Travel's Road Trip USA: Route 66 is a good place to start.
Author Jamie Jensen (who also wrote Road Trip USA: Pacific Coast Highway) is an enthusiastic and friendly traveling companion. Jensen has a knack of finding the most interesting and quirkiest stories along the road that winds more than 2,000 miles, all the way from Chicago to LA.
Get Your Kicks on a Route 66 Road Trip
Half the book covers Route 66 as it makes its way through the Southwest USA, passing through all those places name-checked in Bobby Troup's famous song – Gallup, Flagstaff, Winona, Kingman, Barstow and San Bernardino. Those who know their Southwest geography will spot which one of those is out of order in the song lyrics.
Route 66 Holiday on the Mother Road
Route 66 comes to a halt in Santa Monica, where a plaque not far from the Santa Monica Pier marks the spot. By the time it got to Santa Monica, it was known as the Will Rogers Highway, and the humorist's connection with the road is explained in several places in Road Trip USA: Route 66.
Author Jensen tells the stories of the road's many names and how it became known as Main Street USA. Route 66 is also called the Mother Road, thanks to John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath.
Quirky Cafes and Museums on a Route 66 Driving Vacation
All along the way, the author picks out the quintessential Route 66 stops, from roadside cafés to Route 66 museums. These include the official National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, Oklahoma, as well as the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton, and the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville.
Roadside quirks that make this Route 66 road trips a lot of fun include the World's Largest Catsup Bottle (in Collinsville, Missouri) and the Rattlesnake Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Route 66 Hotels and Motels
While this small book can in no way be a comprehensive guide to every hotel and motel along Route 66, author Jensen does pick out those that have strong Route 66 connections, or a Route 66 theme, or are just plain different. Drivers might consider such Route 66 accommodations as:
- The Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino, California
- The Wigwam Village in Holbrook, Arizona
- The El Rancho hotel in Gallup, New Mexico
- The Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico
- The Route 66 Rail Haven Motel in Springfield, Missouri
- The Old Log Cabin Inn in Pontiac, Illinois
Road Trip USA: Route 66
Despite its small size, the book does manage to pack in guides to places drivers might want to take a look at along the way, like St. Louis and Santa Fe, as well as the start and end cities of Chicago and Los Angeles. There are also tempting diversions off Route 66 to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
There are driving maps throughout the book, but drivers will still want to buy full-scale maps if setting out on this classic US road trip. Color photos, vintage postcards and other memorabilia illustrate the pages, and for its modest price this is a good pocket Route 66 guide for anyone planning a holiday trip.
Road Trip USA: Route 66 by Jamie Jensen is published by Avalon Travel at $9.95 in the USA and £6.99 in the UK, and is also available on Amazon.
Further Reading on Route 66
Read about Route 66 in the Southwest
Read about Historic Route 66 in New Mexico
Read about Historic Route 66 in Arizona
Read about Historic Route 66 in California
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Donna Dailey - Donna Dailey is an award-winning travel writer & photographer. Her work appears in newspapers, magazines, websites and guidebooks ...
