going to vegas end of april week after viva las vegas bummer, going to gm award deal. me and my wife are going to rent a car and drive back to alabama and want to try to follow as much of route 66 as possible. any good maps or books that would be good to get and look at. also know of any treasure(junk) yards close to it looking for some old cadillac parts like right front fender for my 59 coupe. and what ever else i can fit in a rental car thanks jimmy p.
Here's a good site to get some info. Route 66 is one of 11 covered in detail http://www.roadtripusa.com/
jimmy p: If you are going to Vegas at the end of April and are interested in Route 66 stuff you should think about the 66 fun run. It starts the last weekend of April / first weekend of May. It is a two day thing (actually you register on friday and it starts Saturday morning in Seligman. Then you drive down the old 66 and end up in Kingman AZ, where there is a car contest. They judge the entrants cars and win prizes the next day. Speaking of Sunday, this is the best part, you start out in Kingman, then go up the "really old part of 66" to Oatman, where you have lunch, and they have gun fight show. After that you go on down to Topac/Golden Shores, where the run ends and the entrants are given their prizes if they won in the car judging show. (They are favoring Corvettes, probably because of the old TV series). Really alot of fun, did it in 04 with my Willys Aeroeagle. Check it out: http://www.azrt66.com/
Thats a pretty cool event!! we checked that out a couple of times when my wife and i lived in Kingman Az. Oatman is a pretty cool drive too. It's totally worth the trip.
thanks laroke great site any junk yards on the way thru, can't go to show will be in ark. by friday to see brother before going home. he lives in the ozark mountains up near harrison
The BEST info book out there is by micheal Wallis called rt66 the mother road...Ive done rt66 end to end a few times and can tell ya alotta the road is still there IF ya know what to look for some looks like a frontage road next to the superslap Micheal was a tech consultant on the movie cars based on RT66 he was also the voice of the police car.if you have seen the movie watch for some buildings you have seen in the movie.when in arizona dont miss Selgman and the Delgadios family true history in his barber shop, remember.......life begins at the off ramp!
Make sure you look for stuff from the CARS movie while on the road. Even my wife was picking up on differant things she remembered from the movie.
Add to that 'Greatest Hits Maps' 'Route 66 The Best of the Mother Road' and you're all set. I got mine and the Michael Wallis book at my local AAA.
Instead of the nearly non-existent and less historical U.S. Hwy 66, consider touring the less publicized but more important and more historical Southern "mother road"...U.S. Hwy 82, which is still almost completely intact, mostly on the original road bed, from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Alamogordo, N.M. Unlike what used to be U.S. Hwy 66, it is still a U.S. highway and fully maintained. I *think* it continues to run west from Alamogordo to LA, but may be renamed now or merged with another U.S. hwy (70? I-10?). You can get on the highway in Tuscaloosa (or get off since you are driving back to Alabama). Coming out of LV, get on U.S. 93, that merges with U.S. 60. 60 merges into 70, and I think at that point 70 is 82.
I just took the whole trip from IL to CA last June. Totally worth the trip!!!! Some places it's hard to navigate the old road, but even when you get off track it's still fun. I went to randmcnalley.com and did a search for "route 66". I found some very good maps worth buying. And, like others have already said for me, go to Oatman, AZ. I LOVE THAT TOWN (hehe)!!!!! Make sure you take the route on the east side of the town <grin>.
Rte 66 would not be a good bet to get to Alabama from Vegas. It runs from Albuquerque to Chicago. It would take you continuously further north from Alabama as you drive east.
We'll be driving from California out to Tulsa this fall so have been doing some research also. Route 66 News is a great site to find out just about everything going on along Route 66 as far as cool events. Also lots of restaurant and motel info. Route 66 News
Also, if you're don't have anything against MySpace, sign up (if you haven't aready) and do a search for "historic route 66". These people are great and can help you out too.
82 runs way farther east than Chicago...all the way to the Atlantic Ocean...and 82 runs all the way to the Pacific, but may no longer be marked as 82 past N.M. It is the coast-to-coast southern route. The part of 82 that I'm familiar with (was raised on) follows the old East-West Indian trail, and was used for westward exploration by the so-called "white men" as early as 1818! The Father Road?
Amen !!! 66 is alright, but is wayyyy to publicized and focused on, everyone tries to make money off of it and people seem to think it is the only old road out there. Though, I have never been on US 82, but have been on several otehr old roads for great distances through several states.
Check out www.historic66.com and www.themotherroad.com. very helpful links too. Did the whole trip last year with these sites as help.
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