America's Highway: Oral Histories of Route 66

Angel called the 1987 meeting that would lead to the formation of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. This group successfully lobbied to have 66 designated "historic" - as a result, signs now lead travelers off of the Interstate to stretches of road that were part of Route 66 in Arizona.

Interview questions

David Knudson serves as executive director of the National Historical Route 66 Federation, which works to preserve and promote the road. He founded the Federation in 1994 after completing a trip across the country, when he was unable to locate old sections of Route 66 that he remembered traveling in college.

Interview questions

Interview questions

If you find yourself behind a yellow VW Bus going twenty miles per hour below the speed limit on a stretch of I-40 that has replaced Route 66, you've probably found Bob Waldmire. Bob, who is best known for his hand-drawn maps and postcards of Route 66, likes to drive slowly so that butterflies are blown over his car rather than into the windshield.

Interview questions

Jerry has worked full-time as a Route 66 artist for more than 10 years now. He collaborated with Jim Ross to create the "Here it Is" Route 66 map series, and has done numerous paintings and postcards that focus on the road. We caught up with Jerry at the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, OK where he was exhibiting some of his work.

Interview questions

Interview questions

Interview questions

Interview questions

Interview questions

Interview questions

Interview questions

Interview questions

Abandoned car at the ruins of the West Winds Motel. These Erick, OK ruins have run-down classic cars parked in most of the carports.

Advertisement painted on wall of ruins along Route 66. With fewer travelers passing by to buy food, drinks and souveneirs, shops::text like this one failed quickly after the interstate was built. (Location approximate.)

A few places on Route 66 have the highway shields painted directly on the road. One possible reason: it's much harder to steal these than the metal signs, which tend to disappear.

On the old, winding road to Oatman, AZ, these desert shrubs reminiscent of something out of a Dr. Seuss book abound.

A cloud floats lazily past one of "The Teepees" in the Petrified Forest National Park, one of the natural wonders that can be seen along the route.
Petrified Forest National Park Web site

A sign across the road from the Midpoint Cafe tells you that you're roughly midway on the route between Chicago and Los Angeles, at the center of the old road.
Midpoint Cafe Web site

Once an important fueling stop for motorists travelling through the California desert, Amboy is typical of many bypassed towns on the old road - small (population 20) and forgotten. Just west of town is the Amboy Crater and surrounding lava fields.

California's Wigwam Motel, one of a few places along the old road that offers the chance to "sleep in a wigwam".
Wigwam Motel Web site

The sign of the "U-Drop-Inn Cafe" on Route 66 in Shamrock, TX.
More info

One of the original sections of Route 66 roadway, between Afton, OK and Miami (My-am-uh), OK. This eight-foot section is wide enough for only a single car and is poorly paved... it gives a little glimpse of what driving was::text like in the days of the early automobile.
For instructions on how to find this part of the road, as well as other driving directions, see http://www.route66maps.com

Walk into Oatman and step back in time to the Wild West. You'll even find donkeys wandering the streets.

These two large arrows beckoned visitors to the Twin Arrows Trading Post.::text Like many other Route 66 landmarks, the trading post and restaurant are now abandoned. (More recent photos show that the arrows themselves have fallen into disrepair as well.)

Arizona's Wigwam Motel (Holbrook), one of a few places along the old road that offers the chance to "sleep in a wigwam".
Wigwam Motel Web site

Overlooking the Painted Desert in the Petrified Forest National Park.

Petrified Forest National Park Web site

This huge statue at the Launching Pad Drive-In in Wilmington, IL was named to honor the US space program.
Launching Pad Web site

The stalactites and stalagmites are the main attractions at Stanton, MO's Meramec Caverns, which is also famed for being the outlaw Jesse James' hideout. Advertisements painted on barns draw visitors from hundreds of miles away.
Meramec Caverns Web site

This decommissioned bridge on Old Route 66 now serves as a pedestrian walkway and trail.
Wikipedia entry about bridge

Abraham Lincoln's home, in Springfield, IL, is one of the historic sites just a few blocks off of Route 66.
Lincoln Home National Park Web site

This bridge near RIverton, KS has been bypassed by a wider concrete bridge on the new road adjacent to it. The bridge is a favorite target of local high-schoolers, who often paint or graffiti it as a end-of-year prank.

The Blue Whale near Catoosa, OK was a favorite swimming hole of local youths until it closed in the late 80s. There's no swimming today, and ruins of one of the boats that visitors could paddle now float just next to the whale.

The historic round barn in Arcadia, OK. Barns were built this way so that they would be more resistant to high winds.
Round Barn Web site

Junkyard art on Route 66 near Edgewood, NM. All of the creations are made with junk recovered from alongside Route 66.

Ever wondered what you'd do if you were a millionaire? Stanley Marsh buried ten cadillacs face-down in a field just west of Amarillo, TX. Visitors add their own graffitied messages to the cars.

This restored gas station in McLean, TX attempts to show what stations were::text like in the heyday of Route 66.

"The Leaning Tower of Texas" - erected in hopes of drawing curious passers-by on Route 66 to the stores of Groom, TX.

Watching the sunset at Chandler Lake, OK.

With all the back-and-forth we did on Route 66, we had driven more than three times the length of the old road by the time we reached Litchfield, IL (we drove west-to-east).

"Bozo" Cordova hoisted this classic car atop a pole to advertise for his Route 66 Auto Museum in Santa Rosa, NM, where he displays cars::text like the one on the right.

Sign outside Roy's Motel and Cafe in Amboy, CA. Even in 2002, when gas prices were around $1 per gallon, those caught in the middle of the desert would have to pay three times that. A stranded traveler we met decided to wait for AAA to bring gas from elsewhere rather than pay Roy's prices.

Classic car outside of Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, Clinton, OK. Multiple times during the day when we were interviewing at the museum, people would rush outside to see classic cars that had arrived, such as this one with Texas "nostalgia" plates.

Writing on the wall in the bathroom at the Rock Cafe in Stroud, OK. About a year before our research project on Route 66, John Lasseter and the Pixar crew followed the same route to do research for the movie Cars.

Elsewhere on the wall, a message from Bob Waldmire, who we interviewed in Chandler.