Great info, thanks JAQ! Looking forward to your next post.
Best place I ever stopped on that route was Alibates Flint Quarries just north of Amarillo. It’s basically just holes in the ground and scrapes dug in hillsides, generically pretty in that desertish-scrub panhandle way. What made it great was that we took a ranger walk with a guy named Ed Day (I don’t know if he’s still there or even still alive. It has been quite a few years.) This guy was one of the greatest tour guides I have ever had the privilege of witnessing and I have been on more ranger talks and tours than I could count. Anecdote after anecdote, self-deprecating, other people deprecating, he knew his stuff, but presented it in a way that was fantastic. One of my regrets in life was not filiming his tour. The greatness of it was that Alibates is a freaking flint quarry. Indians came there, dug some rocks and traded them for other rocks. That was it. This guy though just absolutely loved it and conveyed that to you. He looked at flint the way that Gaudi must have looked at the Sagrada Familia. He had a folksy west-Texas manner about him and was a bit of a character and I swear, if I could get that same talk from him today as I did back in the day, I’d truck down to Amarillo tomorrow.
I don’t know that I can recommend stopping there unless you like desert scrub, but if that guy is still giving talks and we didn’t just happen to catch him on a good day, then he’s well worth the detour.
Thanks!
Going east from I35 you pass a giant coke bottle before you come upon the Round Barn. The barn was originally built round as an attempt to help it survive tornadoes. Well, a tornado never knocked it down, but it fell into serious disrepair and in the 80s looked like a muffin someone sat on. It has since been restored. Stop in and give it a look see.
Just a bit east of Arcadia look for a bit of the old route turning south. There should be signs. It’s just a bit of a tight spur that got rounded off. If you miss it, it’s not a huge deal, as the straightened road is ALSO 66. Just newer.
From this point all the way to Tulsa the old route is mostly intact and easy to follow. It’s even signed as 66 all the way.
You pass through Luther, Wellston, Warwick, Chandler, Davenport, Stroud, Depew, Bristow, Kellysville and then Sapulpa.
There is a lot of old 66 in this stretch. All the towns are still there, the old road is mostly intact, and if you look close there are side segments of the old, old 66 that cross back and forth. Some are now private land, but some are still open road. Many small roads have street signs that say “old 66”. Watch for them.
After leaving Luther, watch on the north for 66B, which veers off and enters Wellston. Regular 66 was routed later to bypass Wellston, so either staying striaght or going through town is legitimate 66.
Right after Wellston, the route makes its first pass under I44. Since I44 through OK is a toll road, there is limited access.
Keeping on 66 you skirt Warwick and continue to Chandler. There are a number of buildings still in use that are remnants of 66. I personally love finding old gas stations repurposed as something else. Note the Chandler Bakery on the corner of 13th street as an example.
I’m not sure which town it is, but watch on the RH side going east for an old garage that has it’s phone number. It’s something like 125. Never been painted over in 80 years.
The next town is Davenport. I think 66 used to follow the section lines, so as you’re leaving town you could take N3503 road to where it Tees into E890 road, turn right, and shortly reconnect with 66. ¾ of a mile down the road at the next sweeping curve, go straight on the unpaved country road for about a mile and a bit, and at the crossroad is an obelisk monument from the Ozark Trail.
Turn left at the monument and proceed north. Within a couple miles you’ll meet up again with new old 66. Turn right and enter Stroud. As you are leaving, watch right before the sweeping LH turn for remnants of old old 66, which runs through the trees and roughly parallels the main highway. It is closed.
Leaving Stroud watch on theleft for the remaining segments of the old 4 lane. It’s all torn up, and most of the bridges have been removed, but you can still see it. This is another segment from the most modern version of 66, when it was uncontrolled 4 lane, right before the freeway.
After the four lane disappears again, and the route is heading east, watch right before the next sweeping left hander for segments of old old 66. It criss crosses new 66 all the way into Depew. Some segments are on private land, but some can be driven. It is not a continuous segment – it breaks up often where it crosses the new alignment.
Continue on the route to Bristow. Follow the signs to track the route through town. Outside of town you make another pass under I44 and continue north. Just past the freeway is a joggle turn to the right which is old 66. I think it is drivable. It is signed as S353 W Ave. Soon you tee up and are back on 66.
Just past where you turn east, watch for old old 66 going off to the right. It winds around quite a ways. Not sure if it is open, but check it out. It eventually tees up again with 66 proper and crosses over to the north side. This segment eventually comes back around and connects with 66 proper right before the last cross under of I44 before Tulsa.
After the freeway, you continue on the road and skirt Kellyville. Stay on 66 all the way to Sapulpa. Watch the signs for the turns, and stay on 66 until you get on I44 through Tulsa. 44 is not a toll road through Tulsa.
OK there’s a lot. I’ll break this up here and continue on the toerh side of Tulsa.
700 different soda brands and types! You pick and choose a variety for a 6-pack.
The restaurant has good food. A cross between a greasy spoon and a better fast food place. The Pop’per burger is one of my faves.
66 through New Mexico is somewhat drivable (although the last mayor and city council did their best to destroy it in Albuquerque with their poorly-conceived bus rapid transit project). You can definitely pick up the older route somewhere as far east of Albuquerque as Edgewood to get through Tijeras Canyon (which I’d suggest anyway to avoid the trucks through the pass.) East of that it’s I-40, but Tucumcari is worth a stop, especially if you’re willing to stay the night. Lots of older motels in good condition with their neon. It’ll run at least as far west as Laguna Pueblo before the frontage road goes back to interstate.
In New Mexico you have the option of taking the pre-1937 alignment, which will take you from Santa Rosa up to Las Vegas and Santa Fe before it heads south again to Albuquerque. If you count both alignments, the only place 66 crosses itself is Fourth Street and Central in Albuquerque. If you’ve got the time, Las Vegas is a nice little town and of course Santa Fe is probably worth a visit, even if those of us that don’t live there tend to think of it as a massive tourist trap.
Well, I feel like an idiot because I missed the Amarillo to Chicago caveat. Hopefully I’ll still have helped someone else who opened the thread, even if I’m useless for the OP.
I go from NM to MO on I-40 and I-44 for work, so I’ll use your info. I go up and down I-35 a lot, too.
Leaving Tulsa, take the last exit on 44 before the tollway (exit 241, for old highway 66 (exit left)). Go north towards Catoosa.
Not too far along on the left is the famous Blue Whale. You can go walk out on it and imagine the day when you could go swimming and diving off it. It’s a way cool bit of roadside Americana.
Furhter up the road is the former twin bridges which are now just the dual bridge. The road across the Verdigris used to have two nearly identical truss bridges, but the left one had to be replaces. It was not lost, but can be seen off to the left on the access road to Molly’s landing. you can still drive over it, but it is two feet off the ground.
As you round the turn to go east you can see the similar single truss railroad over the river.
The route is easy to follow all the way. In some spots you can still see remnants of the old old route, but the main highway is pretty much still the final alignment before the route was decertified.
You pass through Claremore, Sequoia, Foyle, Bushyhead, mostly just small towns just keepin on keepin on.
Chelsea is the next spot. As you pass through town, take E First street to the right. This is the old old alignment, and takes you onto the Pryor creek bridge. Just past that, turn right onto new 66 and continue trucking. 66 becomes 60 along the way.
As a side trip, take 28 north out of chelsea and continue on E 300 road to see The Winganon Cement Mixer Space Capsule. Or not.
66 is easy to follow into Vinita. Here’s a side trip I like. On I 44 is the Glass House,an overpass restaurant that used to be the World’s largest McDonald’s before the Chinese stole that out from under us. If you find this as fascinating asd I do, as you are leaving town (the route is not badged OK 60), turn right onto S4410 road and snake through town until you see the Glass House. As I44 is toll again, you can’t get on the freeway easily to see the Glass House, so you have to go through the employee parking, Both north and south sides have parking, and you have to walk across the gas pumps area to get in.
I think it’s cool , but if you don’t share my enthusiasm, forget the turn and continue 60(66) under the tollway and continue east. Watch for the sweeping LH turn. there is a remnant of an old gas station on the corner.
Continue north on 60/69 and follow the route into Afton. There are some cool abandoned motels and gas stations, plus the restored Afton Station, which doubles as a Route toursit stop and Packard Museum.
There are two choices ahead. Just outside of afton, watch for S520 road going north. This is the old old alignment, and it is some of the old single lane road. There is a segment of 66 that was done as a single (paved in the middle only) lane that ran until Miami. I guess they wanted to stretch their money as far as it would go!
The single lane is still more or less intact. I know if I lived on it, I’d wish is was paved, but as it stands, it is one of the last remnants of the old old road, and I’d hate to see it go. Enjoy it while you can.
When you go east, the road will soon tee up with 66 (which is now 69/59). Take this north.
If you didn’t take the old route, just stay on 69/59 and cross I44 again and go north.
A couple mile sup the road watch on the right for E140 road. This is the last segment of the single lane. If you want, follow it all the way into Miami. It’s easy to follow.
If not, stay on 69/59 into Miami.
Past Miami, keep on 69 (still 66) north towards Commerce. Watch for Main Street shearing off to the left. Take main Street until Commerce Street and tirn right. Check out the Conoco station on the corner!
Take Commerce street east until it reconnects with 69. Turn left and go north. Stay on Alt 69 going towards Quapaw. (Don’t take 69 north). Follow alt 69 into Baxter Springs. Congradulations, you are in kansas!
Route 66 is all of 13 miles through Kansas.
On the north side of Baxter Springs, watch for 66 to turn left. This is old 66. As it turns north, it is signed as SE 50th street. There used to be an old abandoned DX station here, but I guess it became a fallen offering to progress. or tornadoes.
Keep on old 66 and you’ll find one of, if not the, last Marsh Arch bridge. You can drive across.
When you are done, keep following old old 66 east until you cross Alt 69 and take 66 (once again!) into Galena. Congratulations, you are not in Kansas anymore!
No worries. It’s not set in stone and is prompted I’m willing to change the route.
A bit off-topic, but possibly of interest to current and future 66ers: Here’s a list of all the cover versions of the original song.
I’ll be doing the entire route next year, Chicago to Santa Monica, so all of this info is good. Thanks!
Now with avatars enabled, my avatar shows the car I will drive when my wife and I do Route 66 next year. The picture is from last Sunday, on a summer’s day drive through the Santa Cruz Mountains. That’s the Lexington Reservoir in the background.
The car is a 1963 Porsche 356, so our road trip will be called “Route 66 in a 56 Year Old Porsche 356”. Our trip will be in 3 phases, avoiding all (or most) Interstates and staying only on the US Highways or State Highways as much as possible.
- 2,400 miles, San Francisco to Chicago, via Mount Rushmore, and Clear Lake IA (Buddy Holly’s cornfield where The Music Died)
- 2,200 miles: Route 66, Chicago to Santa Monica
- 400 miles: Santa Monica back home to San Francisco on the coast highway, CA Hwy 1
5,000 miles in all. It should be a classic road trip, and one for the ages.
Man, there’s a whole boat-load of them! Thanks blondebear! I will record some of these to listen on our road trip.
That does sound like an awesome trip! My only advice though is to not take the car. You’ll be putting 5000 miles on a seriously classic car worth 100 grand (of course, if you take it on that trip it won’t be worth 100 grand after) and if it breaks down, you’ll be entrusting it to whatever random mechanic you find in Podunk, Wherever who has likely never seen anything like it in his life or find a way to transport it back to your real mechanic which will basically ruin the trip. Rent a car and let them take the mileage hit. Rentals run a few hundred a week and when they break, you call Enterprise tell them their car is on the side of the road and to bring you a new one and all is well. Of course, there is something to be said for doing a long trip in an awesome car and if you don’t own a car to drive it, why do you have it? So it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other, I guess.
Thanks for your concern, senoy. The car is a driver, and yes it’s insanely crazy how it has appreciated in the 20 years we’ve owned it. The farthest we’ve ever taken it is was a 1,600 mile road trip, so 5,000 is 3x that, so that’s a risk. The 356 Registry has some good travel assistance resources, and in preparation for the trip I will locate key 356 shops along my route, again tapping into the good folks on the Registry. Plus other precautions like bringing a good assortment of spare parts.Otherwise the car is pretty reliable.
I did see Doc Hollywood, the 1991 Michael J. Fox movie — and if you haven’t seen it, your post describes it to a “T” as MJF’s Porsche 356 meets a similar fate.
So in short I think we’ll still do it. Wish us luck!
Good on you, Bullitt!
Drive that car! I hate “Trailer Queens”.
Trailer Queens — Yes, I know several people who have restored their 356s to such immaculate standards, even better than when they rolled off the assembly line, so much so that they can’t bear to drive them. To me, a car is for driving, and taking it on Route 66 is an activity it was meant for.