There’s a similar huge wind farm in central Indiana - we drove past it on our way to Milwaukee from Dayton, about 6 years back. Pretty cool.
Those things are way bigger than you think they are. We once passed a truck that was transportting a single blade. It was longer than a regular semi, and the blade was carried using two separate trailer units, one for each end. Way cool.
Interesting bit of trivia: despite Paul’s celebrating his birthday on a Rt 66 trip, as far as I know he has never performed or recorded a cover version of Bobby Troup’s song either solo or with The Beatles. (Same goes for John, George and Ringo)
It’s not directly on 66 but since you’re going to be in Oklahoma City, you show see the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum which commemorates the Murrah Building bombing. Seeing all the little chairs is heartbreaking but important.
Homegrown RW terrorism at its finest. Until the outrages start becoming routine daily news.
I highly recommend going to the memorial at night. It’s completely safe as there’s always police/security there (and downtown OKC overall is safe at night). It’s a moving place to visit, and even more so at night. The space is softly lit, the chairs are illuminated, and everything is mirrored in the reflecting pool. It is quiet and still and a place to sit with your thoughts for a bit.
There’s quite a bit to see or do around OKC so it would be a good place to stop for a night or two and take a break. Happy to provide some recommendations if you’re interested.
Now on your way out of town you need to stop in El Reno and have an onion burger, where it was invented. My favorite is Robert’s Grill (I also find the interior charming - it’s just counter seating and a grill) but Sid’s and Johnnie’s have good ones as well. Bring cash, I don’t remember if they take cards.
There’s also a Route 66 museum in Clinton Oklahoma (west of OKC). I’ve never been there but if you’re driving the whole thing, it would seem like an appropriate stop.
The American Banjo Museum is pretty cool. There’s some really ornate design work on display in their collection.
If you’re hungry afterwards, the Coney Island right across the street makes a pretty good chili dog.
If they have an onion burger in El Reno, which I highly recommend, they probably won’t be hungry by the time they get to Clinton.
I set up a shared Google map that my friend and I are using to drop pins for everything that we hear of that we might visit. Similar to the one I set up last year for the eclipse. I’ve added a few from this thread and definitely will be adding more.
Then we can start color coding according to priority. Our first stop might be the Lincoln museum in Springfield, IL.
Did Humbert and Lolita travel 66?
There’s also a Frank Lloyd Wright house on the riverfront in Kankakee – his first Prairie-style – but that one’s not really convenient for a 66 trip. One would have to leave Illinois 53 in Wilmington, picking up Illinois 102 to Kankakee then Illinois 17 to return to Old 66 in Dwight.
Excellent!! I’m born & raised in Springfield and spent much of my adult life there. I’ll be glad to give you food recommendations and help you out with any other Springfield related questions. Definitely heed my advice from a few posts ago.
Good idea - though if we did that, we’d have to add another week to the trip for the drive back. We drove from Berkeley to the east coast, 40 years back, and it took 5 long driving days. Picking a couple of weeks at random, a 1-way rental would be something like 1800-2400 dollars. A round trip, adding a 3rd week, would indeed be considerably cheaper. Though then we have to factor in gasoline and hotels for the drive.
Now, if I’m retired by then, it’s a thought.
Though the train trip back has a lot of appeal to - we’re not talking “sensible”, we’re talking fun. And the train would only take 3 days (48ish to Chicago, then 24ish for me to proceed home).
My husband and I actually did the CZ trip 3 years ago, exactly as you describe. We’d taken the Empire Builder to Portland, spent time with friends, then drove down I-5 to Los Angeles to visit an aging uncle. At that point, the sensible thing would have been to take the Southwest Chief but I really wanted to do the CZ - so we added a day to the trip, took the Coast Starlight up to Emeryville, then home on the CZ.
That’d be a challenge to do, from Pittsburgh to Breezewood, as both are in Pennsylvania 
You might find that you can have your car shipped home for less than the price of fuel & hotels to drive it back yourself. And with no wasted time or extra hassle. And no need to pay any extra fee for one-way rentals. So drive your / hubbies car there, ship it home, train home yourself.
You may also find that you can get a good deal on a weekly rental from the second tier outfits that mostly rent to people replacing a car needing extensive slow repairs. They rent basic cars by the week. usually no one-ways, but also no high mileage charges.
These guys are one such national chain (franchise actually), but there are many others. U-Save Car and Truck Rental
Lastly, depending on where you’re going and when, sometimes the big national rental agencies want one way rentals towards where you’re going. And will offer a discount for you to ferry a car there. At other times of year they charge a lot extra for the same rental since they already have too many cars where you’re going and not enough where you’re starting.
Tracing the original Rt66 sounds like a fun vacation, but then I’m afflicted with the old trails bug.
In the mid 50s I was based at Chanute AFB south of Chicago and commuted on 66 to get home on leave to California. At the time a man in uniform could get a ‘drive-a-way’ car to ferry from Chicago to LA or the Bay Area. All you had to do was show an ID card and sign some papers. Sometimes they even paid for gas. Once I got a new Ford to LA and another time I got a new Thunderbird to San Jose. I always hitch hiked back when leave was over. That was faster than driving.
The eastern stretch is well covered above thread. My memories begin in the west. A most memorable sight was driving through Tijeras canyon at night. A twisting road with large rock formations coming in and out of the headlights. Then suddenly you rounded a corner and the lights of Albuquerque spread out below you. It was always a pleasant surprise.
Acoma was a famous stop on 66 as was a diversion to El Morro. Alongside the road native Americans set up little square shelters with thatch roofs and low rock walls where they stayed while offering items to sell to tourists. Mostly stuff they bought from Mexico, but there were some that had real pottery, fossils and mineral specimens.
An earlier path of 60 and briefly 66 bypassed Albuquerque to the south in what is now state 6. Lunch at the Luna Mansion in Los Lunas is a treat. At Hidden Mountain along 6 there are extensive petroglyphs and a large rock with the ten commandments in Phoenician script. It’s also the county dump.
The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert were famous R66 landmarks. The charming CCC buildings have been replaced, but you can still find some. Also you shouldn’t miss Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado. It is a bit off track but it represents the feel of Route 66 in the fifties. I suggest you not miss it.
La Posada and the Turquoise Room are a must. The entrance to La Posada was once the train station where 20 steam locomotives a day delivered and received passengers. Hard to imagine now, but that was Rt66. The smallest room at La Posada is my favorite.
Twin Teepees is fun. Stayed there once. My parents took our kids in one Teepee and the wife and I had another. But, in the fifties I stayed in a muddy tourist camp on the edge of town for $2 a night. Oh,yeah, at the junction of the highways on the east side of town there was a drugstore. The owner had the most fantastic collection of lithics I have ever seen and the guy loved to talk.
Read the history of Kingman before you go. It’s involved with Lt. Beale and his camels and Andy Devine. I’ve never followed the road to Peach Springs but I suspect that is the most memorable segment available today.
In 1951 Rt66 went through Amboy but in '55 it had been straightened through Ludlow. You can still follow the original road out of Ludlow to Barstow. A favorite stop was Lavic at Pisgah Crater. Great rock hound location, but now the path over the railroad has been removed. Astute history buffs can still identify scraps from early railroad camps in the area.
On the hill at the south east corner of Barstow there was a navigation beacon for commercial aircraft. You could see it for many miles when crossing the desert at night. Probably still some remnants on top of the hill.
That’s where I usually split from 66 and headed toward San Francisco. So, just some thoughts.
Valid points!
We’re looking at slightly different dates at the moment, and the rental car prices have dropped quite a bit - plus only about 400 more for one-way. At the moment, if we stick to the plan of taking the train back, we save a little time (1-2 days travel time), at the expense of increased travel cost, about half of which is offset by the savings in driving the car back.
Mini bumpdate:
We did decide to take the train back - we’ve got a car booked one-way to drop off in LA. Hopefully they’ll let us drop it at the train station like my husband and i did back in 2022 - reserving it online only allowed LAX as the dropoff.
We are planning on hitting the road mid-day on March 6th, and catching the train back from LA on March 20th. I bought our train tickets earlier this week.
We’re planning on stopping in Springfield, IL the first night - seems a reasonable distance for a midday departure from Chicago. All the rest is up in the air - we’ve been adding stuff to a shared Google map and will look at that closer to the trip.
My plan to get to/from Chicago is to take a train the weekend before, and work there for the week, then work there the week after and catch the train home that weekend. All in all I’ll be away for 4 weeks - which is the longest I’ve gone without seeing the family. My friend is likely to be sick of me!! I haven’t bought that ticket yet - waiting for the points to hit my Amtrak account from using the linked credit card to buy the ticket.
Was reading a book that referenced the Donner party. Might be worth checking out the memorial near Truckee Lake.
Happy driving!