18/09/2026
40 Years of Travel – Chapter 5: USA 🇺🇸 (Route 66)
The last 3 states. Top down. Route 66 during its 100th anniversary.
This time I only tackled the final stretch through New Mexico, Arizona, and California, all the way to Santa Monica. The scorching desert, diners with neon signs that haven't changed in decades, every mile a different piece of America.
A few things I learned along the way:
- Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo, TX. Ten Cadillacs buried nose-down in a field since 1974 is one of the weirdest, most photographed stops on the whole route.
- That famous "Mother Road" nickname? Coined by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath.
- The town of Seligman, AZ basically saved Route 66 from being erased by the interstate in the 1970s. Locals fought to get it recognized as historic.
- And finally, the "End of the Trail" sign at Santa Monica Pier, the finish line for generations of road-trippers before me.
100 years of Route 66, and after this trip, I finally get why this road is still legendary. The full 2,448-mile journey, Chicago to Santa Monica, is already on the list, planned for when I turn 66. 😄
It's not the destination, it's the journey.