Route 66, also colloquially known as the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways within the U.S. Highway System. Route 66 was established in 1926 and officially removed from the Highway System in 1985, after it had been replaced in its entirety by the Interstate Highway System. Route 66, which became one of the most famous roads in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending at Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles.. It was of course recognized in popular culture by the hit song “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” in the 1960s.

Route 66 served as a major path for those who migrated west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and it supported the economies of the communities through which the road passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway, and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive in the face of the growing threat of being bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System.

Route 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic Byway given the name “Historic Route 66”, which is returning to some maps. Several states have adopted significant bypassed sections of the former US 66 into the state road network as State Route 66.

About The Trip

A few years ago I was chatting to a photographer friend about Route 66 and how we both had a lifetime passion to take that famous trip. Well we decided to go, so we planned it to coincide with the Chicago Blues Festival. Indeed our plan was to fly to Los Angeles, hire a car and drive Route 66 the ‘wrong way round’, i.e. from L.A. to Chicago, arriving in Chicago the day before the blues festival was due to start. Many weeks of planning ensued to make sure we took in as much as possible en route. This meant a four week drive with plenty of free time to explore towns and attractions along the way. Well, we did the trip, everything went to schedule and we arrived in Chicago on the Thursday just in time to attend the opening ceremony of the Chicago Blues Festival at Buddy Guy’s Legends Club.

Our trip covered the entire 2,448 miles of Route 66, plus quite a few small detours along the way, taking in all the roadside attractions, motels, gas stations, diners, museums, advertising signage, and a variety of other ‘oddities’ unique to the most famous road in America, if not the world. Of course it’s not possible to drive the whole of old Route 66 and various sections have now closed, due to worn out road surfaces, unsafe bridges or just that the original road has now been built over by the new Interstate road system. Whilst the original route started to decay after it was de-classified as a US Highway Route in the 1980s, there have since been many associations, local communities and individuals in the eight states that host the route that have restored various old buildings and attractions to keep the magic of the Mother Road alive.

To put the trip into context, here are three annotated maps showing:

1 – the whole trip from Los Angeles, California to Chicago, Illionois
2 – the first half from Los Angeles, California to Tucumcari, New Mexico in more detail
3 – the second half from Tucumcari, New Mexico to Chicago, Illinois

About the Photographic Exhibition

Since going on the trip I had produced several photographic exhibitions and associated talks, mainly with a blues music theme. I had frequently refered to the Route 66 trip during these sessions and with much interest was asked if I would produce a Route 66 exhibition. ‘Route 66: Oddities Along The Mother Road’ was the resulting exhibition and series of presentations based on the trip. You can see an on-line version of the exhibition here:

Route 66: Oddities Along The Mother Road