Route 66

The official start, a sign embedded in the pavement on Adams St marks mile zero of the Mother Road.

Open since 1923, this legendary diner handed out donut holes to every traveler heading west.

A 9-meter fiberglass spaceman clutching a rocket, one of the most beloved Muffler Men on the road.

A meticulous 1932 restoration. One of the finest surviving examples of early Route 66 gas station design.

Operating from 1933 to 1999, now a visitor center. Designed by a proper architect, rare for a gas station.

The best free Route 66 museum in Illinois. Murals, memorabilia, and the full story of the Mother Road.

Selling pure maple sirup (spelled deliberately) since 1891. An original roadside institution.

Birthplace of the corn dog on a stick, invented here in 1946. Still run by the founding family.

Opened in 1935, one of the oldest continuously operating restaurants on Route 66. Order the onion rings.

A 1929 bridge with a famous 22-degree mid-span bend, now a pedestrian path above the Mississippi.

The symbolic gateway to the American West, a 192m stainless steel arch visible for 30 miles.

A St. Louis institution since 1929. Order the "concrete", so thick it won't fall when held upside-down.

Jesse James allegedly hid here. Barn-painted signs advertising this cave once lined all of Route 66.

A 1947 stone motel, still operating and still beautiful. Cuba also has stunning Route 66 murals on every block.

The glowing neon sign of Munger Moss is one of the most iconic images on the entire Mother Road.

A 1939 Art Deco motel, fully restored. Clark Gable reportedly slept here on his way west.

Vintage tow trucks at a 1934 Kan-O-Tex station, one directly inspired the character Mater in Pixar's Cars.

A 75-year family-owned store on the National Register, still selling sandwiches and Route 66 goods.

A giant concrete whale in a pond, built by Hugh Davis as a surprise anniversary gift. Pure roadside Americana.

Honoring Oklahoma's favourite son, cowboy, philosopher, radio star, and the most-quoted man of the 1930s.

Ed Galloway spent 11 years building this 27-metre concrete totem, the world's largest, entirely alone.

A perfectly circular 1898 barn restored by volunteers. Speak softly inside and hear yourself echo.

A 21-metre steel soda bottle sculpture outside a diner stocking 700+ sodas. New Route 66 iconic.

Built in 1939 from rock excavated while paving Route 66 itself. Owner Dawn Welch inspired the Cars character Sally.

The best Route 66 museum on the road, eight themed rooms walk you decade-by-decade from 1926 to today.

Lucille Hamons ran this station for 59 years. She became known as the "Mother of the Mother Road."

A 1936 streamline moderne masterpiece, the futuristic tower is the direct inspiration for Ramone in Cars.

The world's largest barbed wire collection, plus a dedicated Route 66 section. Surreal and unmissable.

Ten Cadillacs buried nose-first in a Texas wheat field. Bring a spray can, redecorating since 1974.

Eat a 72oz steak in an hour and it's free. Nobody said Texas was subtle.

Exactly 1,139 miles from Chicago and 1,139 miles from Santa Monica. Order the ugly crust pie.

A Texas–New Mexico border ghost town with a row of abandoned Route 66 diners and motels, frozen in time.

A perfectly circular blue pool, 23°C year-round, 30 million gallons per day from an underground spring.

The neon capital of New Mexico. More vintage glowing signs per block than anywhere on Route 66.

A 1927 Pueblo Deco cinema, the most original building on Route 66. Cattle skulls hang from the balcony.

Adobe buildings and chile ristras around a central plaza, 300 years of Southwestern history.

A neon-lit 1950s retro diner on Central Avenue, the stretch of Route 66 through Albuquerque.

A 1937 pueblo revival motel saved by preservationists. Its neon blade sign is Albuquerque's icon.

One of the youngest Pueblo villages (1699). The white San José mission glows on a hilltop above Route 66.

Built by D.W. Griffith's brother in 1937. Bogart, Wayne, Garland, every Western star slept here.

Ancient trees crystallised over 225 million years. Route 66 once ran directly through the park boundary.

Sleep in a concrete wigwam. This 1950 motor court directly inspired the Cozy Cone in Pixar's Cars.

Winslow, AZ. The Eagles' "Take It Easy" made this the most famous street corner in America.

A 1930 Fred Harvey railroad hotel by architect Mary Colter. One of the great buildings of the American West.

A 1920s tourist trap built over an Apache massacre cave, zoo, trading post, everything in ruins now.

A 1931 log roadhouse turned honky-tonk, said to be haunted. Live country music and cold beer most nights.

Built from scrap lumber in 1953 by Juan Delgadillo, this whimsical drive-in inspired Pixar's Cars.

Vintage pumps, old Corvettes, and walls covered in decades of Route 66 memorabilia. A perfect time capsule.

Route 66's Arizona hub, Historic Route 66 Museum and the gateway to the Oatman highway over the mountains.

A 1926 stone station rebuilt on a dramatic mountain curve. Best desert panorama on the entire road.

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard honeymooned here in 1939. Wild burros still outnumber people in town.

An iconic neon sign alone in the Mojave. The town of Amboy (pop. 4) was once sold on eBay for $1.75M.

Famous from the 1987 German film. A surreal Mojave Desert café that became an unlikely European pilgrimage.

200+ steel trees hung with thousands of coloured glass bottles that hum and sing in the desert wind.

Volunteer-run museum in the historic Red Rooster Café, packed floor-to-ceiling with Mother Road artefacts.

A classic 1947 diner where truckers and bikers eat shoulder-to-shoulder. Best breakfast on the CA stretch.

The site of the original 1940 McDonald's, not a restaurant now, but a museum to the burger that changed everything.

A graceful 1913 arch bridge over Arroyo Seco. Route 66 carried cars across it for decades.

End of the road. Find the End of the Trail sign, dip your toes in the Pacific, and feel a continent behind you.