A Route 66 Wrap Up-Did You Know seems the best way to wrap the series on Route 66. It’s a special roadway, and part of a generation that lived a simpler life, and enjoyed a slower pace.
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Route 66 and Me
I love Route 66, I love the kitsch, the charm, the nostalgia, the small towns, and all the stories. The reason I love Route 66 is that I love road trips, and finding new adventures. I love to travel and see history, and Route 66 gives all of that, and more! Route 66 is the ultimate story of how small businesses brought a big change to small towns.
Route 66 also reminds me of a time when life wasn’t as complicated as today and a family traveling on The Mother Road had everything they needed right along the route.
One day I’d love to start from Chicago and drive all the way to Santa Monica! I’ve never been able to drive it straight thru.
Resources
No series on Route 66 could be comprehensive. There is just too much information. Fortunately, we have so many resources to browse so we can find all the stories. Writing this series I used several websites as resources. Some posts I linked the reference, but I wanted to list them here, so you can find them all easily. I hope one day my series will become a valued resource as well.
Historic Route 66 Travel Guide, Historic Route 66, and Route 66 News.
A great resource is also the individual state association pages click here to see more.
Did You Know?
I have included some fun facts about Route 66 that didn’t make it into the articles. Not because they weren’t important, but because if I included everything this series would never end, and you would stop reading! LOL
The last time Route 66 was on a map was in 1985.
A piece of The Mother Road is in The Smithsonian Institute.
Route 66 crosses 8 states and 3 times zones. States include Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona and California.
Elvis Presley used to like staying at the Best Western Trade Winds Motel in Clinton, Oklahoma.
The Corvette has become the Route 66 car.
Tucumcari, New Mexico has the only Texaco Station that has operated continuously through the Route 66 era to the present.
Cyrus Avery, the father of Route 66, was the first to refer to Route 66 as “The Main Street of America” in 1927.
Bobby Troup wrote, “Get Your Kicks on Route 66”. Later he starred in the 1970’s TV show “Emergency.” He played Dr. Joe Early. His wife, Julie London, played Nurse Dixie McCall.
Route 66 plays “America the Beautiful.”
Route 66 has several nicknames, The Mother Road, The Main Street of America, The Will Rogers Highway, and sometimes The Great Diagonal Way. Today the official name is Historic Route 66.
Berma Shave was a company that originally produced a brushless shave cream. Currently, the company produces a brush and soap shaving kit. They are most known for their advertising signs. In Illinois, on Route 66 is Dead Man’s Curve. Along the curve are funny Berma Shave signs. No, that’s not dangerous!
Final Thoughts
If I could take only one more trip in the United States in my lifetime, without a doubt I’d travel Route 66. Even with much of the asphalt gone, but the spirit of Route 66 will live forever.
Have you traveled Route 66? Leave me a comment and tell me about it! I love hearing other people’s stories!