Route 66 - Must sees? Gotta dos?

[smokier]

Greetings Sports Fans,

I am in the midst of planning a Route 66 ride for five bikes.
This excursion will be occurring over the Labor Day week.
We are starting in Joliet Ill and going all the way to Santa Monica.

With the framework laid; What are the must sees along the way? What do we "gotta do" along this adventure? What should we 'do while we are there'? Or "As long as you are that close you outta..." ?

Suggestions? Recommendations?

Thinking about a detour up to the Grand Canyon.
WigWam motel for sure.

Input welcomed and appreciated.

Ride safe,
Smokier

[vulcanscott]

No Response ? Oklahoma section on 66 there is a Bike museum in Miami then from there if You want to take a day south You can ride 2 great parkways and see some great country or continue 66 to Warwick to Seba Station Bike Museum then on over about 3 miles to Butchers BBQ (won Pitmasters tv show) Time it for the right day of week and time They sell out every day . 20 more miles or so and You come to Arcadia and the Round Barn and Pops both are sights to see Next is Remington Park and the OKC Zoo which is really Nice now . that is My half I am between Tulsa and Okc . Framer is a little past Pops You should let folks know when You come Through ! V Scott . Send me a pm if You want Me to send You info on the parkways & mountain rides

[OldSchool]

Well, If you haven't already you are going to want a set of these.

http://www.historic66.com/books/?8maps

They are only $11.11 and they cover the whole route so you will get all alternates,detours,and route changes along with points of interest. In Missouri there are actually 2 routes for Highway 66, based on the different years the roads were active. The longest running route was the Watson Road route. On Watson Rd there is a frozen custard stand named Ted Drews which is almost a national monument. Well worth the stop. Meramec Caverns is a short hop off Route 66 in Stauton, Missouri. Nice twisty road to get there. Even if you don't do the tour its well worth a stop. They have a restaurant inside the cave itself and a nice ozark river just outside a stones throw away. They also have a huge zip-line there. In Missouri you will pass quite of few remnants of the old route 66. You will have allot of photo shoot opportunities. That map set I mentioned points out most all of the stuff you will want to see.

[smokier]

Originally Posted by vulcanscott

No Response ? Oklahoma section on 66 there is a Bike museum in Miami then from there if You want to take a day south You can ride 2 great parkways and see some great country or continue 66 to Warwick to Seba Station Bike Museum then on over about 3 miles to Butchers BBQ (won Pitmasters tv show) Time it for the right day of week and time They sell out every day . 20 more miles or so and You come to Arcadia and the Round Barn and Pops both are sights to see Next is Remington Park and the OKC Zoo which is really Nice now . that is My half I am between Tulsa and Okc . Framer is a little past Pops You should let folks know when You come Through ! V Scott . Send me a pm if You want Me to send You info on the parkways & mountain rides

Perfect - Thanks VulcanScott. Will do, may post the itinerary once it is solidified! Two Vaqs, a GoldWing. Ultra Classic and a Vision. Ought to be an easy group to spot!

[smokier]

Originally Posted by OldSchool

Well, If you haven't already you are going to want a set of these.

http://www.historic66.com/books/?8maps

They are only $11.11 and they cover the whole route so you will get all alternates,detours,and route changes along with points of interest. In Missouri there are actually 2 routes for Highway 66, based on the different years the roads were active. The longest running route was the Watson Road route. On Watson Rd there is a frozen custard stand named Ted Drews which is almost a national monument. Well worth the stop. Meramec Caverns is a short hop off Route 66 in Stauton, Missouri. Nice twisty road to get there. Even if you don't do the tour its well worth a stop. They have a restaurant inside the cave itself and a nice ozark river just outside a stones throw away. They also have a huge zip-line there. In Missouri you will pass quite of few remnants of the old route 66. You will have allot of photo shoot opportunities. That map set I mentioned points out most all of the stuff you will want to see.

Thanks OldSchool.
The Meramec Caverns is added to the list. We plan on taking the fastest route through the major cities (St Louis, OKC, Albq, etc.). The http://www.historic66.com/books/?8maps site and a couple of others are getting almost daily queries by various members of the group.

[kpmhspirit]

These help too

http://route66maps.com/GPSWaypointFiles.htm

Its a download of the waypoints. You can use those to create the routes. It will give you the various alignments as well.

These are good too for turn-by-turn directions.

http://www.historic66.com/illinois/det-il1.php

I've done the route about 6 times part-way and all-the-way. We always tried to stay off the interstate as much as possible. Missouri is the worst for getting lost in. Oklahoma is the only state where you can still go state-line to state-line without going on the interstate. Also south of Miami, OK you can ride a piece of the "Old Ribbon Road", a piece of original brick single lane Rte 66 shown in red on this map http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/r...dewalk-highway. We even went to the top of La Bajada Hill in Santa Fe.
http://www.theroadwanderer.net/66NMex/labajada.htm . It's a dirt bike trail but I did it in my new '06 Nomad and the others had a Harley, Goldwing and Yamaha. Never do that again..lol.

If you can, stay at the Blue Swallow in Tucumcari NM http://www.blueswallowmotel.com/ . It reopened about 10 years ago. We stayed on a couple of trips. Very nice old style rooms.

Don't go thru St. Louis, especially the Granite City area on the Illinois side. Even the guides tell you to stay away from there. Take the I-270 bypass south of Edwardsville to Route 100 (Manchester Rd.) west of St. Louis or I-44 W. Both represent different alignments. If you go on I-44 there is a Rte 66 state park (Exit 266) worth a quick stop. Then take Exit 261 to south side of interstate and follow road to Pacific and beyond. You're back on the old road. The two alignments then meet at Grays Summit.

One thing I learned is that if you follow the business loops in cities like Amarillo, Springfield IL and MO, OK City and Tulsa, etc. it follows the old Rte 66 alignment thru town.

It will be a fun trip. We took a week to go the full route and still had to put in some long days.

Ride safe