Route 66

CB650F

Premier Member
#1
I was flipping through the big list of rides and found some really neat ones. There's the lighthouse series, the national parks, the pressed pennies, Mississippi river rides, Eggsanity, Why? Why not!, Heaven to Hell, Earth to Moon, and so many more. What there isn't, or at least I can't find, is a Route 66 ride. That seems strange to me. Route 66 was used for so long, by so many people, and is an iconic American drive with plenty of history behind it. Some of it has been overlaid by the interstate system, but it's still there. It's about 2400 miles with speed limits between 55 and 75 which seems perfect for a multi day ride. It would likely be a slow average speed ride, but it definitely seems feasible. There are also tons of attractions to stop and check out. I could even see having a very tight time limit, but giving half an hour credit for each attraction you can prove you visited. That way it kinda forces you to check things out while riding just to get extra time.

I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud. But really, why no Route 66 ride?
 

kwthom

=o&o>
Premier Member
IBA Member
#4
With the recent announcement of the Interstate series of rides, I'm not certain there was any rides that were entirely along a designated road.

Now, a 'point A to B' ride (like Why? to Whynot!) has only a couple of really basic route changes that are possible. It would see that one common thread of LD riders is the ability to distill a route to it's most fundamental - quickly! :)
 

Russ Black

Premier Member
#7
This is a great idea that I too have been interested in doing. I have traveled most of Route 66 on my motorcycle and it is not as easy as one might think. People are constantly stealing collecting signs for their personal sign collections and it is marked better in some locations than others. There are also sections with only one access point between two dead ends. There is also one location where it crosses itself. The eastern terminus of it runs through some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago. During my 48 state trip and quest for the National Parks Master Traveler award in 2017, I travel on Route 66 from the eastern terminus in Chicago to Oklahoma City on my way back home to take care of some business before continuing my quest. I stopped to get fuel and ended up conversing to two police officers from two different suburb cities of Chicago and both of them advised me not to go to the terminus and gave me a safer place to start my trip down the mother road. I also ran into the same thing for St Louis from a suburb city's City Judge. I took their advise. There are quite a few "Rides" already established that one can participate in. However, 2026 will be the 100th anniversary of it and would be a great award.

I have kicked a few ideas around in my head and I like CB650F's idea of time bonuses for actually seen the attractions along the way. There are so many options to make this fun for all types of riders. In the Ironbutt mantra of covering x number of miles x number of hours there could be the End to End basic, Silver and Gold awards. Since Route 66 is loaded with attractions of americana, I do like the idea that they can be used as time bonuses. Some of these attractions could be used as mandatory too. I would like to hear from others on this.
 
#8
I agree with Russ. I have also ridden most of 66 that I could find. The signage can be vague at times. What I have not covered by motorcycle I have in a cage. Some of it when it was still the "Mother Road". Years ago I traveled 66 from St. Louis to Joplin, sometimes from Joplin to OKC, (and reverse) more times than I care to remember. There is a two part video of Route 66. Many of the places shown on it I have actually stopped at or spent the night back in "the day". Lucille's near Hydro, Oklahoma, was very popular with college kids. She used to have the coldest beer in the state.:cool:
 

keithu

Premier Member
IBA Member
IBR Finisher
#9
This would be a pretty interesting ride. The mystique of Route 66 is closely intertwined with the whole concept of the American road trip. There have been so many alignments of US-66 that I think it would have to be based around points of interest rather than specific roads.
 

Russ Black

Premier Member
#13
We have several years before it's centennial to come up with good routes. Maybe we just really need a set of parameters. Spotwalla would be a must as it parallels the new road quite a few places. End to end is shorter than the ride around Texas but the slower speeds, the many small towns and looking for the route should make it very challenging.
 

cougar

Active Member
#14
That's quite a long trip for a bike ride. I hope you enjoy it. Planning on doing plenty of sight-seeing while you're here?
Yep, the whole trip is based around sightseeing all of the crappy attractions along the old Route 66

We've driven part of it a few years back when in Arizona and will spend 2-3 weeks doing the whole length next visit on bikes
 
#15
Like kwthom said, there is no longer a contiguous Route 66 that exists.

Here's a gpx file of route 66 including some different alignments that have been modified over the years.
I plan to do it from Springfield MO to Chicago IL on my way back from the Ozark mountains next summer.
Hey Dann,
Do you have any further info on this route? It looks great. Just wondering if there is a guidebook it was based on, or anything that could give more info on the various sights? Thanks!
Jeff
 

Dann

Active Member
#17
Hey Dann,
Do you have any further info on this route? It looks great. Just wondering if there is a guidebook it was based on, or anything that could give more info on the various sights? Thanks!
Jeff
I have a book called: "L'Amerique du Nord à Moto" which has info on it among other rides. It's in french though. I don't know if there's an English version.
 

Russ Black

Premier Member
#20
Over the past 6 six or seven years I've been working on and creating routes for the different alignments of Rt 66 in BaseCamp broken down by each state. I work on it from time to time when I'm bored. I made way-points with comments about it for each of the "Attractions" and non-alerting way-points to force me to stay on the route. Not quite finished with it as I only work on it in spurts. I have driven all of it except the terminus is Chicago to just past Cicero because it was later at night and there was a couple of shootins earlier that day and the police suggested I bypass that section and the section thru St. Louis for simulator reasons. Most of the alignments are still there. They are no longer the primary road so the speed has been lowered and has the stop signs.