Still Getting Kicks on Route 66

By Jaimie Hall

Route 66, which connected Chicago with Los Angeles before the interstate highway system was built, was an introduction to the Wild West for travelers from the East as they encountered trading posts, tepees and even a giant jackrabbit.

Today, travelers in a hurry take the interstate, but those who want to see what travel was like many decades ago, seek out remaining segments of Route 66.

My favorite state for driving historic Route 66 is Arizona. It not only has long sections of road but a diversity of geography and fascinating cultural icons from a bygone era. Driving those old stretches is like stepping back in time. You get a feel for what it was like to travel the two-lane highway, following the contours of the land. As you ascend the switchbacks out of Oatman, you can imagine yourself driving an old flivver, radiator steaming, hoping that the fan belt doesn’t break. After miles of hot desert, you can see how refreshing a malt or creamy root beer would be at the Snow Cap in Seligman, Arizona.

Today you can still drive more than 200 miles of historic Route 66 through Arizona. Whether you want to drive across the state on Interstate 40, stopping at key places, or drive the surviving route and its old alignments, it’s a lesson in history and a look at American entrepreneurship at its very best.

Route 66 was pieced together in 1926 from existing highways and roads. Over the years, curves were straightened, new alignments were built, and the road was repaved and widened. It was a vital cross-country link until Interstate 40 bypassed the last section of it in Williams, Arizona, in 1984.

To drive the remaining sections today, a map is essential, and a guidebook is highly recommended. The Arizona Route 66 Association offers maps and publications at its Web site or at the Route 66 Museum in Kingman. The best guidebook for Arizona is Route 66 Across Arizona by Richard and Sherry Mangum ($21.95) Not only is it detailed with two and even three alignments in some areas, their guidebook also has mileages and descriptions for travel from either east or west. Route 66 businesses have information too.

Here are some of the places we particularly enjoy:

The Desert West

In the western desert terrain are two of the best unbroken stretches of original Route 66. Kingman makes a good base for exploring. Between Topock and Kingman lies the old mining town of Oatman, where they stage street shootouts and wild burros wander in for snacks. Goldroad Mine, just to the east, offers tours. Steep switchbacks made this stretch dangerous and it was soon bypassed. Leave your RV in Kingman.

To the north lies the 90-mile loop to Seligman via Peach Springs. A stop at Hackberry General Store provides photo opportunities. A longtime tourist destination, the Grand Canyon Caverns, is about one mile off the highway. This dry cavern has interesting features and preserved giant sloth bones found deep within.

Seligman is the birthplace of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. Angel Delgadillo, proprietor of Delgadillo’s Route 66 Gift Shop, was one of the moving forces in founding the association and brought national attention to saving the road. A cluster of shops, including the Snow Cap, line old 66.

Mountains to Flagstaff

For real "roadies," the Magnums’ book offers a number of drivable alignments on national forest land. Several are suitable for biking. It is best to camp in the cool pines in Kaibab or Coconino National Forests or a nearby town and explore from there. The Grand Canyon via Williams or Flagstaff is about an hour’s drive north.

Open plains to New Mexico

Meteor Crater, a natural attraction that is three-quarters of a mile across and 700 feet deep, is a privately owned attraction that is worth a stop at Exit 233.

In Winslow, Standing on the Corner Park commemorates “Take It Easy,” a song by the Eagles that is part of Route 66 lore. You can visit the Old Trails Museum nearby and tour La Posada Hotel, one of the Harvey Houses designed by Mary Coulter. The Hopi reservation lies north off State Route 87.

It’s hard to miss the “Here it is” billboards along I-40. At exit 269, stop to see what “it” is all about. (Remember this is the land of jackrabbits.)

At Holbrook, you will be in what in its day was one of the toughest frontier towns in the west. At the Wigwam Motel, you can stay in cement tepees and look at classic cars in the parking lot. A historic walking tour includes the Bucket of Blood Saloon and an interesting museum in the Old Courthouse.

Going east to Chambers, you can tour the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert. At Chambers, State Route 191 leads to Hubble Trading Post National Historic Site and Canyon de Chelly National Monument in the Navajo nation.

Between Chambers and the New Mexico state line you'll find a number of trading posts as well as a few old stretches of Route 66. Two old bridges on early alignments are fun to photograph. One crossed the Rio Puerco River prior to 1930, another is the Querino Canyon Bridge built in 1930. Some of these stretches are dirt.

Lupton is the end of the line with several trading posts, all selling typical tourist fare. Life-sized plastic animals perched on the cliffs above the first trading post still catch the tourist’s eye. The Arizona-New Mexico state line runs right through Ft. Yellowhorse, another trading post.

Some stretches of Route 66 are not suitable for large RVs, others are a bit rough, but you can always get back on the interstate at the next on-ramp. You can check for road conditions at tourist information stops and local businesses or by consulting a guidebook.

Jaimie Hall is an RV author and travel writer who lives in Arizona.