The Mother Road

After watching Cars tonight, I thought for a while about old Route 66. Mostly decommissioned by the time I was born, I've only known it as an idea, a relic of an earlier time of automobile travel. In the pantheon of American transportation, it sits along side the National Road, the Oregon Trail, and the great passenger lines of the U.S. rail network. Being a history buff, and a travel fan as well, it always frustrated me that US-66 wasn't kept around, like many other highways that have since been rendered obsolete by the Interstate Highway system.

I personally have traveled alongside or on much of the old highway. The largest part of the highway that I followed was during a family vacation to the Grand Canyon. From the St. Louis area (where we crossed the Mississippi in sight of the Chain of Rocks bridge) to Flagstaff, we followed the infamous interstates that overtook Route 66. Along much of the road, especially west of Oklahoma City, you could view the old pavement, some of it still drivable, while other portions were in bad shape. Although I would have preferred taking the time to explore some of the road, the family did want to get to the Grand Canyon as quick as possible, so I had to put that off until I could explore it myself.

An opportunity to extend my experience of traveling part of Route 66 came in February 2009. On a whim, I decided to take a day trip to the southwest of Champaign-Urbana. After traveling through some of Abraham Lincoln's stomping grounds, I decided to follow Route 66 from Williamsville up to US 136 at McLean, IL. The entire route was still there, although some parts looked like they hadn't been touched since I-55 had been built. The next day I continued on an even longer portion of the road, going from Towanda to Joliet, where I headed west on US 6 towards Ottawa.

Other than taking the scenic route through most of the towns (such as Lincoln, Dwight, Atlanta, and Pontiac), US 66 in this part of Illinois is almost exactly parallel to I-55. Its a leisurely drive, with very little traffic, but I can't say you miss much by taking the interstate, especially considering you can always visit the towns by taking the exits.

However, this was just one part of one state's segment of the road. I am sure that it has a much greater effect when you try to follow it as close as possible from Chicago to Los Angeles. As similar of a view as it was to the interstate, i still felt like I was following history back to a time when the roads were two lanes, the signs were neon, and the hash was (almost) always fresh.