Route 66

Nitro · Mar 2, 2008

I'm thinking of taking a trip, down Route 66, from Chicago to Santa Monica. Has anyone ever done it? What were your experiences?

fnmag · Mar 2, 2008

Americana and the Mother Road. It is a trip I highly recommend. My first time was in the mid-50s.
Pick up some books and maps. Route 66 has gone through a number of alignments. Much of it is buried under the Interstate.
There are still sections of original 66 to be seen and enjoyed especially in Arizona and California.
Half of America traveled on the Mother Road and there are legion of stories to be told.
One instance for me was in '67 while about 5 miles east of Amboy my BSA Hornet had an electrical failure and I pushed it into Amboy in the midday August heat! Spent the night at Roys motel waiting for help to come down from the Bay Area.

:thumbsup:

scott.cr · Mar 3, 2008

Wow, that sounds like quite a trip!! Longest contiguous distance of Route 66 I've traveled was from the city of Peach Springs, AZ (near the Grand Canyon) to someplace in nowhere, CA, before I jumped back on the interstate. In California, Route 66 turns into basically a surface street, and the numbers of stoplights were too high for me to have an enjoyable drive. I must say, it was a most beautiful and interesting drive through the Mojave.

In one section in California it's called "National Trails Highway." The road surface was rough and I saw what looked like mounds and mounts of destroyed asphalt on the side of the road. I stopped for a pee break and took a closer look at the mounds... turns out it was lava deposits! Apparently in California there's this huge old lava dome I never knew about (called Amboy Dome or Amboy Crater depending on the map).

Lots of nifty little kitsch shops and diners straight out of Road to Perdition. Though I did once get chased off an old gas station while trying to take pictures. Crazy old coot running the place said he had an agreement with several Hollywood studios to never allow tourists to take photos. I think he was BSing me, but oh well.

You should consider taking an array of safety/recovery gear with you. In my entire life I've only used a tow strap twice, one time was on 66 pulling a family wagon out of a sand drift on the highway.

Nitro · Mar 3, 2008

I've been thinking about it for years, but never got serious. It's one of those things I want to do before I die. I've been reading a lot about it lately, on the Net. There's a website called legendsofamerica.com with tourist info on a state by state, town by town bases. It's a pretty cool site, and I want to get books/maps with similar info to take along.

One question is, how long will it take? I was planning for two weeks, but after reading about all the things to see, I may be looking at a month. One option is to rent a car and fly back. Another question is, what's the best time of year to go, Spring, Summer or Fall? I don't know if I'll be ready this spring, and with summer being so hot, I may have to wait until fall.

I definitely have more planning to do though. :thinking:

Lee1959 · Mar 3, 2008

Its definitly worth taking, but, it is not what it used to be either. Some original sections remain, but some of it also is rather poor shape these days. I took it on motorcycle and it was rather rough in places. That said though, it is a fun trip, you see a lot of the country

.

InTheDark · Mar 4, 2008

Definitely do it. I've only done the western section from Albuerquerque to LA a few times, but eventually I want to do the complete trip. The western part alone could take a week if you really take your time and make a lot of detours along the way. The highway ends once you get into the LA area, and the rest of the way is mostly just large streets, but it's still a nice change from the desert scenery.

There are a lot of good books and websites out there to detail the entire route. One of the best is supposed to be this one

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312040490/michwallwestcult/102-6760329-2969760

If you've ever seen the movie "Cars", the character of the Sheriff was based on the author of this book. I have a 5 DVD set that goes through the entire route in detail, it seems like some of the more interesting "route 66" type places are in the middle or western end of the route around the AZ area.

Fallingwater · Mar 4, 2008

I like it here in Europe, but I must say I envy you americans your wide open spaces. Taking a trip like that must be great...

scott.cr · Mar 4, 2008

Fallingwater said:
I like it here in Europe, but I must say I envy you americans your wide open spaces. Taking a trip like that must be great...

If you ever find yourself in the southwestern United States, you will have a lot of CPFers willing to show you around! (You bring the Ferrari and I'll do the driving.)

Nitro · Mar 4, 2008

I've been wanting to see the Grand Canyon for a long time. That alone may take a week. I may have to just limit the time at any one area, mark down the places I'd like to see again, and take a second trip. :grin2:

InTheDark, thanks for the Book link. I'll have to order it. Your DVD set sounds cool. I'm not sure I'd want to watch it before I go, because it might spoil the ending. :laughing:

Fallingwater · Mar 5, 2008

scott.cr said:
If you ever find yourself in the southwestern United States, you will have a lot of CPFers willing to show you around! (You bring the Ferrari and I'll do the driving.)

Is it ok if I bring a FIAT?

270winchester · Mar 5, 2008

Fallingwater said:
Is it ok if I bring a FIAT?

you must watch the movie "Cars" if you haven't already. A Fiat played a big role in it.

scott.cr · Mar 5, 2008

Nitro said:
I've been wanting to see the Grand Canyon for a long time. That alone may take a week.

Hey Nitro, I did the Grand Canyon and I was only there for one day. That was about all I could take due to the crowds. A lot of the tourists started showing up around noon-ish, if you can get there early to beat the crowds I'd highly recommend this.

I stayed in Peach Springs (actually, just outside Peach Springs) at a place called Grand Canyon Caverns. They have a Motel 6 type arrangement with a decent restaurant on the premises, gift shop, mini mart, etc. In the visitor center there's a loooooong elevator shaft and they give tours of the underground cave network. They'll even shut the lights off in the cave if you ask 'em to. (You really wanna bring a thrower light for this, because the caves are huge.)

It's about two hours from the Grand Canyon. The nearest city to the Canyon is Williams, AZ, and it is of course overrun with tourists. Peach Springs is almost completely devoid of other people, so pick your poison.

Nitro · Mar 5, 2008

Scott,

A day at the Crand Canyon? Is that just the major sites? I'd like to go on some long hikes, but they may have to wait until the next trip. As far as tourists, the fewer the better. I'll keep them in mind.

The Crand Canyon Caverns sound cool. I'll have to check it out. When you say thrower, do you mean Tiablo, ROP or Maxabeam? :grin2:

Thanks for the info.

Fallingwater · Mar 5, 2008

270winchester said:
you must watch the movie "Cars" if you haven't already. A Fiat played a big role in it.

I have, and I must say, I don't like the old 500... of which you can still see plenty around here. It has all the bad things about driving a go-kart and none of the good ones. It made history, but it should be kept in museums, not on public roads.

scott.cr · Mar 6, 2008

Nitro said:
Scott,

A day at the Crand Canyon? Is that just the major sites? I'd like to go on some long hikes, but they may have to wait until the next trip. As far as tourists, the fewer the better. I'll keep them in mind.

The Crand Canyon Caverns sound cool. I'll have to check it out. When you say thrower, do you mean Tiablo, ROP or Maxabeam?

Thanks for the info.

Oh, I totally need to clarify that. I went to the south terminal of the Grand Canyon, which is probably where all the tourists go. Once you pass through Williams, AZ you're basically at the south terminal parking lot. There's a long paved path you can walk around (which is what I did in that one day), and of course there is at least one major trail going into the canyon itself.

If you stay at Grand Canyon Caverns you are centrally located to the south and west terminals. West terminal is where that Grand Canyon Skywalk is. It's about 82 miles from the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn.

There are endless more miles of the canyon to explore if you are so inclined.

BTW, dude, if you can bring a Maxabeam, I say go for it and give that wild-eyed old man that gives the cavern tours a good laugh.

InTheDark · Mar 6, 2008

The Grand Canyon is either a little different than most other sights in that it's either somewhat short day trip or a multi-day camping trip. The main tourist area is the drive from the Desert Rim to the Park Headquarters, which is roughly 25 miles of sightseeing and can be done in a leisurely 4-5 hours. After that, there isn't much to do unless you hike into the canyon itself, which you may or may not want to do in one day. There are other places where you can actually drive into the Canyon, but you'll need permission from the tribes and have to pay an fee to get on the reservation.

I haven't been to the Skywalk yet, but last I heard it's a $50 fee for the indian reservation (not sure if that's per person or per vehicle), then another $25 for the skywalk. I'm planning on waiting until the prices drop, if they ever do.

Grand Canyon caverns is pretty cool and definitely worth a stop for the tour. Not sure if I'd want to stay there as it's pretty far from anything, unless you're just passing through for the night. Flagstaff and even Williams has a lot more facilities. Further west along route 66 is Mitchell caverns near Amboy, that's also another interseting cave.

If you really want to get off the beaten path, head torwards the north rim of the Grand Canyon. 90% of the tourist stay at the south rim, only about 10% many people make it to the other side. For good reason though, it's a really long drive because there are no bridges going across.

Nitro · Mar 6, 2008

scott.cr said:
Oh, I totally need to clarify that. I went to the south terminal of the Grand Canyon, which is probably where all the tourists go. Once you pass through Williams, AZ you're basically at the south terminal parking lot. There's a long paved path you can walk around (which is what I did in that one day), and of course there is at least one major trail going into the canyon itself.

If you stay at Grand Canyon Caverns you are centrally located to the south and west terminals. West terminal is where that Grand Canyon Skywalk is. It's about 82 miles from the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn.

There are endless more miles of the canyon to explore if you are so inclined.

I'll just do the one day tour this trip. I'd like to go back and explore more of it in the future though. Maybe camp out for a week.

BTW, dude, if you can bring a Maxabeam, I say go for it and give that wild-eyed old man that gives the cavern tours a good laugh.

The only problem with the Maxabeam is carrying it along with all my Camera gear. Will they allow you to stay down there for a while, or are they strict guided tours?

Nitro · Mar 6, 2008

InTheDark said:
The Grand Canyon is either a little different than most other sights in that it's either somewhat short day trip or a multi-day camping trip. The main tourist area is the drive from the Desert Rim to the Park Headquarters, which is roughly 25 miles of sightseeing and can be done in a leisurely 4-5 hours. After that, there isn't much to do unless you hike into the canyon itself, which you may or may not want to do in one day. There are other places where you can actually drive into the Canyon, but you'll need permission from the tribes and have to pay an fee to get on the reservation.

I haven't been to the Skywalk yet, but last I heard it's a $50 fee for the indian reservation (not sure if that's per person or per vehicle), then another $25 for the skywalk. I'm planning on waiting until the prices drop, if they ever do.

Grand Canyon caverns is pretty cool and definitely worth a stop for the tour. Not sure if I'd want to stay there as it's pretty far from anything, unless you're just passing through for the night. Flagstaff and even Williams has a lot more facilities. Further west along route 66 is Mitchell caverns near Amboy, that's also another interseting cave.

If you really want to get off the beaten path, head torwards the north rim of the Grand Canyon. 90% of the tourist stay at the south rim, only about 10% many people make it to the other side. For good reason though, it's a really long drive because there are no bridges going across.

Thanks for the info. Like I said, I'll probably do the one day tour, and come back in the future to camp out. I'd really like to go down inside it sometime.

I'll have to check out the caverns near Amboy also. Caves are always fun, especially for us Flashaholics. :naughty:

scott.cr · Mar 7, 2008

Nitro said:
Will they allow you to stay down there for a while, or are they strict guided tours?

You can probably ask the guide if you can spend some extra time there taking photos. The guy that gave my tour had absolutely nothing else to do except like two tours that entire day, and he was really friend. A little crazy, but friendly.

BTW, if you go to Mitchell Caverns I believe you need a day pass in order to gain lawful entry. I'm not sure if this is still the case (it was in 2004). There's another cave there, Cave of the Winding Stair, or Winding Stair Cave, I believe. It might be just another name for Mitchell Caverns though. That's some good Google fodder for you anyway.

Uncle Bob · Mar 8, 2008

Route 66 has been re-routed many times in its history as it tracked through various towns and cities from the main highway. I viewed a brochure last summer showing varied routings through some Illinois towns. There may be as many as 3 or 4 routings per town using different streets during different time frames as the traffic patterns changed. Sounds like a lot of research if you want to cover all the bases. But fun, nonetheless.

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