Travel America’s Route 66

Seeing America from Route 66

“If there is a place to see America at its truest, it is Route 66…Route 66 is not a runner-up to any contender; it is the highway of highways…It is a mainstay of American legend, on a par with the Alamo. It is a teacher road, a giver of perspective and lessons. Traveling Route 66 is about contemplating America…Route 66 is a 2,400 mile declaration of independence.”

What is 66?

Route 66 was the first continuous road between Chicago and Los Angeles. Route 66 made the West truly accessible to millions of ordinary people for the first time in American History. Route 66 opened up possibilities, opportunities, and dreams. Traveling down Route 66 today, one is drawn to these opportunities, some realized, some forgotten. And it is these dreams and these possibilities that make it the American road.

Route 66 is about Freedom, freedom to travel, freedom to explore, and freedom of ideas. Across the vast landscapes of America, Route 66 allowed Jack Kerouac to live as the American Nomad. This same road gave Okies a chance for a better life during the Dust Bowl. Still others see it as the great commercial gateway that helped propel the American Commercial Spirit.

Route 66 longs for motorcycles and classic cars, for towns filled with wet neon and for open spaces filled with falling stars. Route 66 has no concern for distinctions between people, where we are from or what we have done. Route 66 is about the future. It is a road where all are welcome and all can dream.

Let’s Get Traveling

In the sections that follow, the El Rancho Hotel invites you to learn about Route 66, to find America, and hopefully to experience the freedom that can only come on the open road…