‘Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me’: 6 essential stops along Route 66
Winslow
By Joe Yogerst, CNN
(CNN) — Route 66 is just one of the highways that features in “On The Road,” the Jack Kerouac book that introduced so many people to white-line wanderlust.
More than anything written about the iconic highway, it’s a quote from that book that personifies the almost mystical allure of America’s most famous road: “Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me.”
That’s exactly what Route 66 has meant to millions of travelers who have cruised all or part of the highway since its birth 100 years ago — freedom to make a fresh start, reinvent yourself, and leave your troubles in the rearview mirror.
“Route 66 came along when the idea of a road trip was just getting started,” says Sean FitzGibbons, executive director of the History Museum on the Square in Springfield, Missouri. “It encapsulated so much of 20th-century Americana and over time it just kind of gained this mythical resonance within the zeitgeist of the world.”
The highway’s roots stretch back to the early 1920s and it’s an early example of government-private sector cooperation.
When the federal government decided to number the main cross-country highways — an attempt to make it easier for motorists to navigate what was then a willy-nilly naming system — they created a route from Chicago to Los Angeles that became U.S. Highway No. 66.
Hoping to stimulate tourism along the new route, a pair of enterprising businessmen in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Springfield, Missouri, created maps, brochures, billboards and advertising campaigns to promote the road. Their goal was boosting tourism in their own cities, but they inadvertently made driving the entire route a bucket-list adventure.
Their efforts coincided with the advent of motoring vacations in the United States and iconic roadside services like diners, motor lodges, service stations and curio shops.
Route 66 took on a whole different meaning during the Dust Bowl environmental disaster of the 1930s, when tens of thousands of disenfranchised farmers and their families used the road as their pathway to the promised land of California.
The highway was soon immortalized in the novel “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, who called Route 66 the “Mother Road,” and in the Woody Guthrie song “Talking Dust Bowl Blues.”
The biggest boost to its legendary status came in 1946 when Bobby Troup recorded “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66,” a song that epitomized the spirit to break free and live a little after so many years of the Great Depression and World War II.
All these years later, the Mother Road continues to symbolize the wind-in-your-hair freedom of a cross-country road trip. Here are six essential stops on Route 66:
St. Louis, Missouri
Route 66 starts its westward run at the intersection of Adams Street and Michigan Avenue among the skyscrapers of downtown Chicago. Several signs mark the spot, but it’s a rather modest debut for such a famous road, which cuts across the Windy City’s sprawling suburbs onto the rolling prairie of central Illinois.
Most of the original roadway was replaced by Interstate 55. But many of the communities along the way offer reminders that the Mother Road once passed through their town. Like the Blues Brothers dancing beside the “Kicks on 66” sign atop the Rich & Creamy ice cream stand in Joliet, the Gemini Giant Muffler Man in Cicero, and the Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum in Pontiac.
Eventually, the highway leaps across the mighty Mississippi River from Illinois into St. Louis, Missouri. Over the years, Route 66 has entered the city on various spans, including the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. No longer open to motorized traffic, nowadays the one-mile span carries pedestrians and cyclists across the river, passing several vintage Route 66 signs along the way.
Route 66 followed several alignments through downtown St. Louis over the years, including a Tucker Boulevard route that includes the French Renaissance-style city hall and a view down Market Street to the Gateway Arch and the domed Old Courthouse.
Before exiting the city, the highway passes one of the great Route 66 taste treats — Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. Opened in 1941, the roadside stand is renowned for its thick “concrete” vanilla custard mixed with a variety of ingredients.
On the outer edge of St. Louis, Route 66 State Park preserves a classic 1930s roadhouse converted into a visitor center museum and gift shop selling Route 66 swag.
Springfield, Missouri
The first president of the National U.S. 66 Highway Association, Springfield businessman John T. Woodruff, was a longtime advocate for better roads and one of the original movers and shakers behind the creation of the Mother Road.
Sean FitzGibbons explains that when the federal highway folks announced that the Chicago-Los Angeles route would bear the number 62, “Woodruff stepped in and said, ‘You know, that sounds kind of second rate. I think we should do 66.’ He just thought it sounded better. It was pretty much a marketing decision.”
FitzGibbons’ History Museum on The Square is celebrating the centennial with a Route 66 “Miles of Memories” exhibition (June 1-September 20) and the burial of a public school time capsule slated for opening in 2126 on the Route 66 bicentennial.
The museum overlooks Park Central Square, which will host the Birthplace of Route 66 Festival on August 7-8, an event that includes live music and a classic car show.
Springfield is also home to the Route 66 Car Museum and two vintage motor hotels that served early travelers along the Mother Road — Rockwood Motor Court (opened in 1929) and the Route 66 Rail Haven motel (opened in 1938).
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Often called the “Father of Route 66,” Tulsa businessman Cyrus Avery was another true believer in the future of motor travel and often partnered with Woodruff to make the route a reality and encourage people to drive it.
Fully embracing its highway heritage, Tulsa has preserved an array of original Route 66 attractions. Named for a neon sign that has loomed high above the highway since 1934, the Meadow Gold District flaunts more than a dozen other vintage signs and a souvenir shop called Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios with its giant “Space Cowboy” muffler man statue.
Downtown Tulsa is home to the Woody Guthrie Center, an interactive museum that celebrates the life, legacy and music of the man who helped make Route 66 famous. The Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza & Route 66 Neon Sign Park offers a whimsical Route 66-inspired bronze statue and the flags of all seven states the highway passes through.
To celebrate the highway’s 100th birthday, the city hopes to set a Guinness World Record for the largest-ever classic car parade via an event called Tulsa’s Route 66 Capital Cruise on May 30. With live music and food trucks along the route, the cars will rumble down 11th Street through the Meadow Gold District and past the new Mother Road Market food hall.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Texas Panhandle stretch of Route 66 features photo ops like the Cadillac Ranch art installation near Amarillo and the Conoco Tower Station & U-Drop Inn Café in Shamrock (opened in 1936).
Three hundred miles farther west in New Mexico, Albuquerque offers a treasure trove of “Pueblo Deco” architecture along Central Avenue, the original path of Route 66 through the city. The KiMo Theater (opened in 1927), El Vado Motel (1937), and Monte Vista Fire Station (1936) reflect how Southwest Native American culture influenced the travel experience along the Mother Road.
Alicia M. Romero, head curator and curator of history at the Albuquerque Museum, says the rise of the modern shopping mall in the 1950s saved many of the classic buildings. “In an inadvertent way, that helped to preserve the architecture because people were focused on building new, bigger and better in different areas of town that people were moving to.”
Three of the city’s Route 66 classic gas stops have been repurposed. The Andy Johnston Service Station (1946) is now the Fan Tang Asian fusion restaurant, Jones Motor Company was converted into M’Tucci’s Bar Roma, and Sam’s 66 Service Station has morphed into the retro 66 Diner.
The Albuquerque Museum is launching “The Other Route 66: 100 Years of People, Identity, and Place in Albuquerque” (June 6, 2026-January 3, 2027), an exhibition focused on New Mexicans who built, traveled and lived on or near the route.
“That’s our contribution to celebrating the centennial,” Romero adds. “But Albuquerque is also doing other events throughout the entire year — outdoor concerts and different kinds of festivals. So, yeah, the city is very much geared up to all things Route 66.”
Winslow, Arizona
“Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” is one of the most iconic lines of ’70s rock-n-roll. That corner is Kinsley Avenue and Old Highway 66, an intersection that didn’t have any particular significance until Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey wrote a catchy tune that became an Eagles signature song.
Nowadays, the corner boasts a bronze statue of Frey, a flatbed Ford similar to the truck in the song, and two Route 66 gift shops. The best place to “take it easy” is the Turquoise Room martini lounge in the historic La Posada Hotel, which opened in 1930 to serve motorists driving the Mother Road.
“When Interstate-40 was built, the classic Route 66 through downtown Winslow got bypassed,” says Winslow mayor Roberta “Birdie” Cano. “It was really a detriment to our community. So many shops closed down. A lot of people left town. If you were in Winslow in the ‘80s and ‘90s, it was a ghost town. The whole scene had just kind of fizzled away. But Standin’ on the Corner brought people back off the 40 into our downtown Route 66. And we’ve been having a little revival for quite a few years.”
Among the many ways that Winslow is celebrating the centennial are a Roper Romp on Route 66 pub crawl inspired by the “Three’s Company” sitcom character Mrs. Roper (June 6), the Standing Horse Route 66 Powwow with Native American groups from around the Southwest (June 27-28), the Sittin’ Low on 66 lowrider car show (August 15), and a Jams at the Route 66 Plaza concert series on Saturdays in June and July.
“We get that Route 66 was part of our history, part of our growth, part of our existence,” says Cano. “With that in mind, we’re looking at this whole year as a celebration. Let’s bring people together, give them a reason to come to Winslow.”
Amboy, California
Set along a rare original section of Route 66 in the Mojave, Roy’s Motel & Café attracts Mother Road aficionados to the remote desert town of Amboy (official motto: “The Ghost Town That Ain’t Dead Yet”).
Roy’s was a popular stop on the cross-country journey until the early 1970s when Interstate-40 opened and travelers bypassed Amboy. Somehow the place hung on for another 30 years before finally shutting its doors.
Philanthropist and restoration guru Albert Okura came to the rescue by purchasing the entire town and starting the gradual restoration of the cafe, motel, gas station, gift shop and towering neon sign.
A classic example of whimsical mid-century Modern “Googie” architecture, Roy’s reopened in 2019. Although Okura passed away in 2023, the revival continues under his son, Kyle Okura.
“We have many visitors a day from people all over the world to come see our famous 50-foot neon sign, which we restored in 2019 and light up every night at sunset,” says Kyle Okura.
Roy’s offers one of California’s only remaining full-service gas stations where employees trot out to fill your tank. Although the restaurant isn’t operational yet, there’s a convenience store inside the original cafe with merch, supplies, snacks and drinks. Okura hopes to get the refurbished motel cottages reopened soon.
Over the years, Roy’s has provided a moody setting for numerous movies, television shows and music videos. There’s a huge Cruisin’ Car Show every year that features live music, outdoor movies, an ironic “Miss Amboy” contest, and hotrods from around Southern California.
Those who don’t want to drive to Roy’s can actually fly into the desert landing strip behind the cafe (which was apparently one of California’s first airfields of any kind).
From Amboy it’s a 200-mile drive across the Mojave, down the Cajon Pass and through the urban sprawl of Los Angeles to the Santa Monica Pier, where Route 66 finally reaches the beach.
Erected in 1941, the pier’s famous blue-and-gold sign — the subject of endless selfies — marks the end of an epic journey that for many motorists is far more than just another road trip.
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