Route 66 celebrates its 100th anniversary on November 11, 2026, marking a century since its 1926 commissioning, with year‑long national events coordinated by the Route 66 Centennial Commission.
“If you ever plan to motor west!
Travel my way, take the highway that’s the best!
Get your kicks on Route 66!”
A good old road, now it’s dead and gone…
I was in Arizona a few weeks ago with a cousin. We drove through Flagstaff and Williams on Route 66. Williams was certainly a vintage town.
I didn’t know it at the time, but while attending the University of Missouri - Rolla in the early 80’s I lived on Route 66. The university admitted a lot of new students but the dorm being built to house us wasn’t completed so they rented out 4-5 motels along Martin Springs Drive which was the old Route 66.
You can joke about California real estate outside Amboy on historic route 66. Amboy is on route 66 but the land is not. Route 66 is no longer there, it’s historic.
The TV show “Route 66” wanted to use the original song as its theme, but the copyright holders wouldn’t give them the rights to use it. So a new tune was written:
I’ve been driving 66 for 27 years. Even in that quarter century (geeze when you put it that way…) it’s amazing how much has been lost. I wish I could have driven it when it was complete or nearly so. maybe 1970.
All my life I’ve lived within shouting distance of Route 66. I grew up in Springfield, Illinois; there’s a Route 66 landmark there (Cozy Dog Drive In), and the food is atrocious. Then I lived for a few years in Joplin, MO (“It goes through St. Louie, Joplin, Missouri…”). Now I live down the road from Cuba, Rolla, and St. James, MO, all Rt. 66 towns.
Weird that that road has played such an important role in my life, through no intention of my own.
Happy birthday! I have many miles and a lot of great memories traveling the Mother Road over the last 40 years. I still haven’t seen it all, which gives me an excuse to go back and see things I’ve missed. I’ve had the honor of meeting both of the Delgadillo Brothers in Seligman. It’s good knowing Angel lived to see the 100th anniversary.
Once upon a time US6 was the longest numbered route in the country, from Cape Cod to Long Beach.* I tried to talk my brother, a photographer, into traveling its length with me collecting stories and photos for a book, The Other Road. Alas, he had no interest.
*In 1964 the leg from Bishop to Long Beach was given over to US395 and US20 is now the longest.
The Cozy Dog is always talked about as one of the ‘must-see’ places to eat. No one ever says it sucks. Maybe they’re afraid to go against the accepted reality of the nostalgia crowd. Rule Number 1 of Route 66 club: never say anything bad about route 66.
(like the huge pro trump signs I saw in historic downtowns in OK. Fuck you red state MAGAs.)
Eat there and you’ll change your tune.
TRIVIA: The Cozy Dog was/is owned by the Waldmire family. One of the sons or nephews or whatever swore off meat (and thus the family business) and went full hippy, living in a van which he drove along Route 66 which he would stop at some homeless encampment, also along Route 66, in Arizona or New Mexico where he would winter. He was the inspiration for the hippy van FIllmore in Disney/Pixar’s Cars. His van itself also became a Route 66 icon in its own right; I saw it on display at the Cozy Dog but I don’t know if it’s still there or not.
Albuquerque has all of 66 still being actively used in Central Ave. It also has the old pre-1937 alignment marked when it went up to Santa Fe. In a fine example of local politics, an angry governor forced through a bypass of Santa Fe to the I-40ish alignment it kept until it was disestablished.
It’s a good day to re-watch Billy Connolly’s Route 66. Worth a watch if you haven’t seen it. Youtube playlist here.