“You’ll never understand America until you’ve driven Route 66–that’s old Route 66–all the way,” a truck driver in California once said to author Rick Antonson. “It’s the most famous highway in the world.” With some determination, grit, and a good sense of direction, one can still find and drive on 90 percent of the original Route 66 today. This travelogue follows Rick and his travel companion … companion Peter along 2,400 miles through eight states from Chicago to Los Angeles as they discover the old Route 66. With surprising and obscure stories about Route 66 personalities like Woody Guthrie, John Steinbeck, Al Capone, Salvador Dali, Dorothea Lange, Cyrus Avery (the Father of Route 66), the Harvey Girls, Mickey Mantle, and Bobby Troup (songwriter of “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66”), Antonson’s fresh perspective reads like an easy drive down a forgotten road: winding, stopping now and then to mingle with the locals and reminisce about times gone by, and then getting stuck in the mud, sucked into its charms. Rick mixes hilarious anecdotes of happenstance travel with the route’s difficult history, its rise and fall in popularity, and above all, its place in legend.
The author has committed part of his book’s proceeds to the preservation work of the National Route 66 Federation.
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January 1963 I drove 66 from Chicago to L.A. July 1963 I drove it L.A. to Chicago. This book brought back a lot of memories.
Very well done. History that should not be lost, Don’t beat against American. You will lose.
Makes you want to buy a corvette and drive the mother road
What a great book! I’ve already told several people they need to read this. The travels of the author and his friend showed their adventurous spirit, but the inclusion of the history of the places they visited made me want to jump in the car and hit the open road. I’ll definitely read this book again.
Having traveled Route 66 I found this book to be somewhat informative and fun and to read. Some very nice places were overlooked and I was disappointed they were not included. Overall good book.
This book is a narrative of two 50-ish college buddies renting a Mustang convertible and doing their best to find as much of U.S. Route #66 and its unique character as still exists beyond the super-slab Interstate highways that replaced it. They were looking for the “real” Route 66 as it existed from the 1920s through the 1960s. Along the way they learned a lot about America and her people. An excellent read — especially if you’re planning your own nostalgic road trip.
Not a tour guide but gave a lot of historic perspective to a famous highway.
I traveled Route 66 from Chicago to LA in 1965, twenty years after my parents made that trip. I was only 16 at the time. Dad drove most of the way but did allow my sister, my mom and myself (me on a beginner’s permit!) to take the wheel on the long days when he got tired. I remember some of the motels but not their names. My sister and I felt truly blessed if the motel had a swimming pool (that happened only once in Oklahoma City.). The pool was outdoors and the mosquitos where as large as B-52s. We were driving a 1962 Plymouth Valient, with no air conditioning. Before crossing the desert, dad bought a contraption that hooked onto the back window. You filled it with water and it had a rope hanging on the inside of the car to turn the manual fan. At some point the bug deflector screen blew off and the water tank filled with insects. Pulling the fan rope meant getting a shower of dead bugs. We did not care. It was refreshing. After crossing the desert, we pulled into a turnoff and sold it to eastbound travelers. We were not alone as this turnoff was the spot where several other travelers were doing the same thing. This book took me back to those simpler times and wonderful memories. Well, enough of my memories. This book sparked many. I throughly enjoyed reliving that family vacation.
Not what I expected. More information than action…although it’s easy to scan through the parts you do not find interesting and continue with their story. A Route 66 trip is on my bucket list but I now know how I don’t want to do it. I recommend it because it keeps your interest and the descriptions create great images in the brain of what they saw and experienced.
Doesn’t seem to be much of interest on route anymore
Not your average travelog! Explores the place Route 66 has in the history of a growing country, lithesome nice historical research on balladeers – Woody Guthrie, for example – who experienced and chronicled the travelers hopes, dreams and pains. A worthwhile read!
This is a terrific book! I used my US Atlas to follow their journey. The personality interaction was fun as well as the background info. As a child our family rode the entire Route 66 before it was historic ( we carried the canvas bag of water on the front of our car and decades later drove a strip north of 29 Palms in my 18 wheeler.
What a story! What a road!
The book is really fun and gives you a close up look at a culture that’s just not in the purview for us city folks.
A very cool Rte 66 adventure.
Since I am most familiar with Route 66, I wanted to see what two men would see on the old route. I would not say their characters were “wonderful”, but interesting. I am surprised that they made it through the whole trip without one of them quitting! I did think they did some very dumb things on the road. But it was a nice “trip” again and they did hit one of my favorite spots, Seligman, Ariz.
great historical sidebars along the way. thoroughly enjoyed it.