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Route 66 road trip |
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History of Route 66
Route 66, once known as 'The Main Street Of America,'
was constructed in 1926, along with the rest of the federal
highway system. It took ten years to pave the 2,400 miles
that cross eight states from Chicago, Illinois in
the Northeast to Los Angeles, California
in the Southwest corner of the United States.
When the road was built, it zigzagged to link villages in
each county. Sharp turns were the cause of many accidents
and after World War Two the four-lane system was introduce
in the most dangerous stretches. |
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Route 66 has a special place in the hearts and memories of
Americans across the country. It was driven by millions of
people and made famous in John Steinbeck's
novel, The Grapes of Wrath, where he called
it "The Mother Road." During the Great Depression
of the 1930s, thousands of poverty-stricken people
migrated to California to escape the despair of the Dust Bowl
(drought-stricken regions). Route 66 became the road of opportunity.
After the Great War, Jack Kerouac and the
Beat Generation of the 1950s made road trips
a necessary rite of passage for thousands of young Americans.
Route 66 became a historic road, a slice of American history,
yet you won't find it on any modern maps because the road
was decommissioned in 1975. |
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Things to see on Route
66
- Route 66 was the catalyst for the culture of fast food
joints by the road, filling stations, and motels with a very
particular architectural style, like the 1940s Streamline
Moderne style (late Art Deco) of the Coral
Court Motel in St. Louis, Missouri.
Author Michael Wallis described Coral Court
as "the proverbial 'no-tell motel' with a definite touch
of class." |
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- Riviera Road House in Gardner,
Illinois is one of the last operating roadhouses on Route
66. Guests eat in the basement and the food comes down on
a dumbwaiter weighted down by a World War One artillery shell.
Stalactites still hang from the ceiling above the bar. The
owners, Bob and Peggy, are both in their 80s. It is rumored
that Al Capone and his brother Ralph were
frequent visitors here.
- In the town of Pontiac, Illinois you can
visit the Route 66 Hall of Fame which documents
the history and stories this legendary road has to tell. |
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