Route 66 - Start to Finish! (Chicago to Santa Monica)

For those of you who were waiting patiently for the Route 66 Road Trip report, your wait is over.  Alan and I spent 22 nights on the road, leaving home at the end of August and returning in mid-September.  With 2,758 photos, I can assure you that there is still much to see along Historic Route 66.

Eight states, three time zones, 2,448 miles.  Traveling the entire length of Route 66 had been on our bucket list for years.  For a variety of reasons, this year was the perfect time to add this trip to our travel calendar.  Route 66 officially opened in 1926, and cities and towns from Chicago to Santa Monica will be celebrating “The Mother Road’s” Centennial next year.  While Alan and I would have liked to make the journey next year to take advantage of the many events being planned, we believed we might have less hoopla, but a more realistic experience traveling Historic Route 66 this year without the fanfare.  Honestly, though, anyone who is considering this trip should do it sooner rather than later, in my humble opinion.  As time goes on, we’re losing more and more pieces of this historic road – both literally and figuratively.  Some of the oldest sections of Route 66 are no longer accessible, and more businesses are succumbing to the curse of tourists being diverted by interstate highways and air travel.  That part is sad to see, but there are plenty of communities and businesses that devote time and resources to keeping Historic Route 66 not just alive, but vibrant.  Come along with us on this epic road trip . . .

Historic Route 66 - Enjoying its Delights Along the Way (National Parks Trip #3)

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course of five and a half weeks during the months of July and August.

It’s no secret that Alan and I are road-trippers at heart.  I absolutely love our home, love being at home and love coming home to our home.  After varying lengths of time, though, I start to miss life on the road.  Decades ago, when we started traveling together, vacations were a string of truck stops, tent sites, mom and pop motels and fill ups of cheap gas.  We cruised up and down the east coast so often that nearly every interchange on Interstate 95 became familiar.  So, what could possibly make two die-hard road trippers happier than including stops along historic Route 66 in their travels?  Not a thing.