Get your bearings on Route 66.
U.S. Highway 66 was created in 1926 [source] and ran for about 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica. [source] In 2026 the road marks its centenary. Travel it here, state by state, with credited photographs of the roadside that made it famous.
A state-by-state road trip
Pick a state and travel west from Chicago toward Santa Monica. Each stop has a credited photograph and a sourced note. This desk is about U.S. Route 66 itself — not a general planner for other famous drives.
Westbound, state 1 of 8
Illinois
The road begins in Illinois, from the shores of Lake Michigan and across the agricultural fields. [source] Approximately 300 miles of Historic Route 66 in Illinois can still be travelled. [source] A Shell station built in 1926 still stands on the route in Mount Olive. [source]
A Shell station built in 1926 on Route 66 in Mount Olive, Illinois. Photograph taken between 1980 and 2006.
Westbound, state 2 of 8
Missouri
From Illinois the highway runs on into the rolling hills of the Missouri Ozarks. [source] The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, photographed here, is a historic Route 66 crossing of the Mississippi between Illinois and St. Louis.
The Chain of Rocks Bridge, a historic Route 66 crossing of the Mississippi between Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri, 10 September 2009.
Westbound, state 3 of 8
Kansas
The highway then passes through the mining towns of Kansas. [source] This photograph was taken in Baxter Springs, one of the Kansas towns on the surviving historic alignment.
A Route 66 sign in Baxter Springs, Kansas, 2 April 2021.
Westbound, state 4 of 8
Oklahoma
The road then crosses Oklahoma, where the woodlands of the East meet the open plains of the West. [source] In John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family travel west on Route 66 from Oklahoma toward California. [source] Tulsa still marks the highway with a gateway sign.
A Route 66 gateway sign in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 29 November 2020.
Westbound, state 5 of 8
Texas
Across the open ranch lands of Texas [source] stands one of the route’s best-known roadside buildings: the restored Tower Conoco Station and U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, in the Texas panhandle.
The restored Tower Conoco Station and U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, in the Texas panhandle, 4 February 2013.
Westbound, state 6 of 8
New Mexico
The highway then enters the mesa lands of New Mexico. [source] In Tucumcari, the Blue Swallow Motel is one of the motor courts that still face the old road.
The Blue Swallow Motel on Route 66 in Tucumcari, New Mexico, 5 July 2006.
Westbound, state 7 of 8
Arizona
The mesa lands continue into Arizona. [source] In Holbrook, the Wigwam Motel — concrete rooms shaped like tipis — is one of the route’s most photographed places to spend the night. Interstate 40 later replaced much of this stretch. [source]
The Wigwam Motel on Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona, 7 October 2006.
Westbound, state 8 of 8
California
The road crosses the Mojave Desert and runs on toward Los Angeles and the shores of the Pacific. [source] The National Park Service describes a 2,400-mile ribbon of pavement from Chicago to Santa Monica. [source] In Barstow, the Route 66 Motel still wears the highway’s name.
The Route 66 Motel in Barstow, California, 31 July 2012, on the highway’s run across the Mojave toward the Pacific.
One historic highway
On 11 November 1926 the Chicago-to-Los Angeles route was officially designated U.S. Highway 66. [source] The Bureau of Land Management gives the often-cited figure of 2,448 miles across eight states, beginning in Chicago, Illinois, and ending in Santa Monica, California. [source] The National Park Service describes the same road as a 2,400-mile ribbon — a rounded figure for a line that was realigned more than once. [source]
It was popularised as the “Mother Road” and the “Main Street of America.” [source] In 1985 it was decommissioned as a federal highway, after the 1984 bypassing of its last section by Interstate 40. [source] Much of it can still be driven as Historic Route 66.
Not the same as road-trips.motoring.im. This site is only about U.S. Route 66, the 1926–1985 Chicago-to-Santa Monica highway. Other famous drives, and family road-trip planning, will have their own home at road-trips.motoring.im — coming soon. That site is not a second Route 66 guide.
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