“Get Your Kicks on Route 66” was a popular song from the 1940s, sung by Nat King Cole, who helped bring that long stretch of road, Route 66, to fame. Now you can have fun on Route 66 if you bring the Route 66 Adventure Manual as it will lead you to many of the hidden and not so hidden gems along this road.
Route 66 was one of the first highways in the United States, completed in 1926. It runs from Chicago to California and travels through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, on its way to Santa Monica. , california. In the 1950s, after President Eisenhower signed a bill that saw the creation of the “Interstate Highway System” and the construction of numerous major “superhighways,” many people assumed that the famous highway was all but dead. But while these new highways challenged the reign of Route 66 and, as the author of the Route 66 Adventure Handbook points out, it seemed for a while as if the famous road was fading into oblivion, thankfully, travelers eventually recognized the qualities unique to this famous route, and is now enjoying a resurgence.
Now in its fifth edition, the Route 66 Adventure Handbook is divided into chapters by state, from southwestern Illinois to California. Each chapter includes a multitude of attractions, many more than I have seen in other travel books. And many of these attractions are places overlooked by other books, places that are as unique as Cadillac Ranch, where car “art” shows partially buried real Cadillacs, “…said to be placed on the same angle than the sides of the Great Pyramids of Egypt”. (p. 290) In addition, each chapter also includes a “Farther” section where attractions can be found, just a short distance from the famous route.
The Route 66 Adventure Handbook is written in an easy to read/follow style and the layout is easy on the eye, making this book perfect to pick up and refer to again and again. There is so much to choose from for your road trip visits within its pages that you’ll want to start looking through the book long before your trip begins. My top pick from the plethora of attractions in this book has to be “Big Brutus” – a giant, and I do mean GIANT! (“second largest ever built”) – power shovel at West Mineral, KS. A photograph of Brutus shows a car parked next to it, which gives you a good idea of how big Brutus is. And I have to mention all the photos because this book is full of them: almost every attraction mentioned is accompanied by a good, clear photo. To make it even easier to find, below each photo is the attraction’s GPS location. If you’re planning a trip to explore Route 66, whether it’s a quick escape along part of the road or an adventure enjoying the entire 2,000+ mile route, be sure to bring the Route 66 Adventure Handbook. with you to win Don’t miss a single attraction on this famous road.
Quill Says: John Steinbeck called Route 66 “The Mother Highway” in The Grapes of Wrath, and for good reason. Now, with the Route 66 Adventure Manual, you can explore this fantastic stretch of asphalt and enjoy all the unique gems it has to offer, gems that others without the manual may miss. Get the book, jump in your car and start driving!