Trip Reports - 2026 - Kicks on Route 66
Kicks on Route 66
Photos and trip report from Ingo Werk
I want to dedicate this story to our dear friend and fellow Desert Explorer Bob Jacoby. And so it goes:
Bob and I were having lunch at one of his favorite restaurants in West Los Angeles, when he told me that he had already booked a guided Route 66 tour from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. As I was planning to roam around in New Mexico at the time, we decided that I would pick him up in Albuquerque and we would travel together to Santa Monica where Bob lives. Done deal, both of us were excited about this joint venture. Bob started out on Route 66 in Chicago but for health reasons he had to bail out of the tour early before even reaching Albuquerque. Unfortunately our planned trip together got canceled and therefore never happened.
As I have a lot of respect for Bob's exploring mind, I decided to drive Route 66 in its entirety during the centennial year. Route 66 is celebrating its official 100th anniversary in 2026, so this is the perfect time to do the trip. My Toyota Tacoma pulled my Airstream travel trailer from campground to campground. In Chicago we went to the location where Route 66 got started, and also visited the Elks National Memorial because the nationwide Elks Lodges headquarters started also 100 years ago in 1926 in Chicago. 40 miles southwest of the Windy City is Joliet, a major historic stop on the original 1926 alignment of Route 66 and also the location of my first campground. Pontiac, Illinois: the Automobile Museum exclusively featured Pontiac cars, not really a surprise for a city with the Pontiac name. New to me was the Love's Truck Center RV Stop, a very clean and well-organized campground in North Normal, Illinois. A beautiful vintage Texaco Station can be found in Atlanta, Illinois. In Springfield the Lincoln Home and Presidential Museum were the highlights. Litchfield, Illinois has an outstanding Route 66 Museum. Mount Olive has a classic Shell gas station. Saint Louis, Missouri of course has the Gateway Arch as well as the National Museum of Transportation. It was a delight to dine at Randy's Roadkill BBQ & Grill in Rolla, Missouri. Uranus is the perfect tourist trap with a fudge factory. Cuba has the most beautiful murals along the way. Galina has the famous City Jail on Route 66, and where 66 is crossing with the historic Jefferson Highway in Vinita, Oklahoma. The famous Blue Whale is fully restored in Catoosa, Oklahoma. The agenda in Tulsa, Oklahoma is headlined with the Bob Dylan Center, the Woody Guthrie Center next door, and the education of the Black Wall Street Massacre. Texas is highlighting the Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo and the Conoco gas station in Shamrock on Route 66. And that's it, folks!
Due to the fact that Route 66 in New Mexico, Arizona and California is predominantly in the backyard of the Desert Explorers, and most of us know of or have been on the Mother Road from Goffs Schoolhouse in the Mojave Desert to the Arizona Route 66 Museum in Kingman, all the way to the legendary Blue Swallow Motor Court in Tucumcari, New Mexico. For the explorers who are not familiar with Route 66, get the specific map at the AAA and go out and drive it. This concludes my report. I highly recommend that you get your KICKS ON ROUTE 66! ~ Ingo
