Like thousands of RVers before us, my wife Peggy and I made the great American road trip and followed Route 66. This famous route is the historic “Mother Road” of the country. It’s been called “America’s Main Street.” By any name, it’s almost more of an icon than anything else. We finally got the chance to follow it from the California end all the way to Chicago. Our vision was to drive as much of the historic portion of the road as possible — and see how much is left and what condition some of the historic and kitschy bits of it are like. Except, well, a lot of it is just gone. (Progress and all.) Even so, RVing Route 66 was an adventure unlike any other.
If you’re considering RVing Route 66, from LA to Chicago or vice versa, consider this your preview of the weird and wonderful blend of time and travel that America’s Main Street still delivers. (Also, you should know: We didn’t just stumble into all this awesome stuff; we used an app called the Route 66 Ultimate Guide. It’s a free resource that describes historic and modern Route 66 attractions.)
West Coast Beginnings and Desert Roads
Starting at the End
The Santa Monica pier is where Route 66 traditionally ends. But for us, it’s where it starts. There’s a sign on the pier that designates the western end of this historic route. (But no, a travel trailer can’t get onto the pier.) In the Los Angeles area, there is very little left of what was once Route 66. However, further inland there are more signs of the bygone era. Several businesses have adopted signage or names that reflect the heritage of the road they’re on.
There are a few businesses that still survive to this day, including the Magic Lamp restaurant, a fancy eatery in Rancho Cucamonga with the most intricate tile roof. Looking at the massive lamp atop the building, you’ve gotta wonder: How much must that thing weigh?
Stop 1: Kingman, Arizona
The Power House Visitor’s Center in Kingman is the home to Route 66 Association of Arizona and also has a gift shop. Inside this large museum, which was the source of power for the area and provided juice to help build the Hoover Dam, is an expansive collection of Route 66 memorabilia. There are well-done displays and historic artifacts. Across the street is Railroad Park, where a steam engine sits in retirement along with a caboose.
As we came across landmarks like Giganticus Headicus we realized we were just scratching the surface of Route 66 in Arizona.
The Museum had a Route 66 Passport where you could check-off things as you continued the journey. Our Route 66 passport showed pages of attractions in Arizona along and we only saw a few of those.
Stop 2: Keepers of the Wild
One stop we’d been looking forward while RVing Route 66 was Keepers of the Wild. This roadside attraction houses an incredible assortment of exotic animals, including lions and tigers and bears. (Oh my!) There are also monkeys, camels, tortoises, birds of all sorts, and more. The animals are very well cared for on 147 acres with a staff of people who look after and feed them well. The afternoon tour includes big cat feeding. Being just a few feet from the animals and separated only by two chain-link fences is also pretty incredible.
Keepers of the Wild is also a Harvest Host location. So, we got to spend night in the parking lot.
Stop 3: Movie Inspiration in Seligman, Arizona
Many businesses in Seligman inspired the movie “Cars” with the help of Angel Delgadillo, who is known as the guardian angel of Route 66. Angel ran a barber shop and gift shop in town. And in 1985, he founded the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. All of which makes this a must-stop while RVing Route 66.
Angel’s brother, Juan Delgadillo, continues to run the famous Snow Cap restaurant in Seligman. It’s just a fun place but is continuously maintained as well. Another fun stop is the Road Kill Cafe in Seligman. I guess one day just isn’t enough!
Stops 4 & 5: Winslow and Holbrook, Arizona
We found “Standing on a Corner Park” in Winslow and took a break for some lunch and standing on all the corners for photos.
We pulled through the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook. This quirky motor court was the inspiration for the Cozy Cone Motel in the movie “Cars.” We have stayed in the Wigwam in San Bernardino, and we would be remiss if we didn’t pay our respects here.
Stop 6: Lavaland and Brews in Grants, New Mexico
After a photo opportunity at the Continental Divide, we made our way to Lavaland RV Park in Grants. The entrance to Lavaland is also the parking lot of Elkins Brewing Company. After we settled into our site, we wandered over for a pint of Red and a pizza.
Lavaland is a small campground, and it is actively being upgraded. Trees provide shade, but are not overgrown. Check-in was super easy at a kiosk. The Wi-Fi was pretty good!
Before we left Grants we decided to check out the Route 66 Shield Drive-Thru, which with the camper isn’t exactly drive-thru. We regretted not going at night with just the truck, as we understand it lights up with neon after dark.
Stop 7: Enchanted in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Approaching Albuquerque, we stopped to visit the Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post. We spent nearly an hour here, touring some of the vintage RVs that they maintain with vintage themes. (Listen to Vickie tell us about the park and Albuquerque in this podcast episode.)
Detour: Abandoned and Forgotten
We wanted to stay on the old route — which is pretty much the frontage road — but confusing signage led to a wrong turn that put us in a predicament. This is, sadly, the fate of much of old Route 66. It has just been abandoned for the newer, wider, faster interstate. After some fancy foot … err … tire work by Tony, we got ourselves turned around and decided to get on the highway for a while.
Stop 8: Blazing into Tucumcari, New Mexico
We watched a thunderstorm ahead of us but only got a few drops of rain. The clouds in New Mexico always seem to look so big and puffy. Blaze-in-Saddles RV and Horse Park is a great place that provides horse pastures. We wouldn’t hesitate to visit again if we took another turn at RVing Route 66. Oh, and if you’re a fan of the movie with a similar name, you too can waste a great deal of time exchanging movie quotes with the owner.
Winding Through the Old West
Stop 9: The Vintage Cars and Diners of Amarillo, Texas
No drive through Amarillo would be complete without a stop at the Cadillac Ranch. Of course,we’ve heard about it forever but had never known about the paint. There is an inch or more of spray paint on every surface of the vintage Cadillacs which are buried nose-deep into the desert.
Those paint fumes gave us a hankerin’ for steak, so we stopped for lunch at The Big Texan. There, brave diners can order a 72-ounce steak meal. If they eat the entire meal in under an hour (and keep it down), it’s free. Otherwise, it’s $72!
Not to be outdone by the Cadillacs, on the east end of Amarillo is Slug Bug Ranch, which has three old VW bugs that are also covered in spray paint. It’s not quite as thick as the paint on those Caddys, though.
Stop 10: A Classic Conoco in Shamrock, Texas
One of the must-see treasures while RVing Route 66 exists in Shamrock, Texas. This is an extremely elaborate Conoco filling station which has been lovingly restored right down to the incredible neon that is an illuminated halo around the art deco architecture. If you can go through Shamrock at night, this will be a definite highlight.
Stop 11: Fried Steak Sandwiches in Clinton, Oklahoma
In Clinton, we stopped at the Route 66 Diner. (Just like you’d expect, while RVing Route 66, right?) We had chicken fried steak sandwiches with steaks so big we could each only finish half! They highly recommended the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum. We took their advice, and were happy we did. The museum is really well-done.
Stop 12: Oklahoma City is Mighty Pretty
So says Bobby Troup, and we agree. Our friend Eric took us for a beer at Twisted Spike Brewing Company. We bought a couple six-packs for the road. Then we visited the National Memorial Museum, which commemorates the lives lost in the 1995 federal building bombing and is very moving.
We had permission to boondock at the Oklahoma Railway Museum. In the morning, Eric gave us a tour of the Railway Museum. The museum houses some really unique train cars depicting Oklahoma’s railroading history. We made plans with Eric that next time we visit we will get to ride in a speeder!
Stop 13: Pop Stop in Arcadia, Oklahoma
We stopped in Arcadia to fill up the gas tank and be amazed by the supply of pop at Pop’s Soda Ranch. We filled a six-pack carrier with a variety of pops for the road.
Stop 14: The Buck Stops — and Stands Tall — in Tulsa, Oklahoma!
In Tulsa we made a stop we’d been looking forward to for days! Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios is home to Buck Atom, a muffler man made just for his job overseeing Mary Beth’s souvenir shop. Buck also has recently gotten a female companion in the form of a 19-foot tall Stella Atom.
Mary Beth has also opened Meadow Gold Mack’s across the street in the shadow of the historic Meadow Gold neon sign, another thing worth seeing at night. Meadow Gold Mack’s is a celebration of antiques and curios and also has a 21 foot tall American Giant overseeing the entry — this one being Meadow Gold Mack the Friendly Lumberjack.
Stop 15: A Whale of a Tale in Catoosa, Oklahoma
In Catoosa, we pulled off from RVing Route 66 to see the Blue Whale of Catoosa. We’ve been wanting to see this curiosity for quite some time. The City of Catoosa realized the significance of this landmark and is now in charge of keeping it. This is evidenced by the fact that it’s been freshly painted as the town prepares for the Mother Road’s centennial.
Stop 16: A Little Bit of Theatre in Miami, Oklahoma
We had heard about The Coleman Theatre in Miami, Oklahoma and looked forward to that being our first stop of the day on the way out of Oklahoma. We were married in a 1920s theatre, with Wurlitzer accompaniment, so we were particularly anxious to see another.
Midwest to Lake Michgan
Stop 17: Boots Court Motel in Carthage, Missouri
Driving north in Missouri while RVing Route 66, we were amused by the town names. We drove through Nevada, Horton, and Peculiar.
In Carthage, we stopped to gawk at the Boots Court Motel. The building was designed in Streamline Moderne architecture in 1939. And its glory has not faded. With smooth stucco and black glass, it is a glorious throwback to one of or favorite eras.
Stop 18: Uranus Fudge Factory in St. Robert, Missouri
We had several readers and listeners advise us to stop at the Uranus Fudge Factory. Well, how could we pass up such an opportunity? The employees are apparently required to have a 12-year-old’s sense of humor. (As you can imagine, Uranus jokes abound. Tony even helped them add to their repertoire.) Really, though, the fudge is delicious.
Stop 19: The Second-Largest Rocking Chair in Cuba, Missouri
We stopped in Cuba Missouri to take some photos with the second-largest rocker. For a long time it was the largest, as verified by Guinness, but then the town of Casey Illinois out-built them with a bigger chair. (I don’t think that was very nice.)
The service at Danny’s Gas Hole was super terrific. The young lady came out of the store into the heat to offer to take photos of us with the chair. Inside, we found a terrific selection of sodas — plus, they make about 30 flavors of popcorn. (We tried several.)
Stop 20: Hiding Out Meramec in Sullivan, Missouri
The campgrounds at Meramec State Park are really nice. The sites have electricity, which is something we don’t have in California State Park campgrounds.
Meramec Caverns is known as the Jesse James hideout. As the story goes, Jesse and his brother Frank were running from the law and entered the cave. Everyone thought they were trapped, but the boys heard water running, so they jumped into the underground river and rode it out of the caverns to freedom.
The caverns themselves are massive and absolutely stunning. The river runs through the entire tour, which includes the rarest and the largest cave formations in the world.
Sop 21: Pizza Controversy in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is known for toasted ravioli and Provel cheese on pizza. We stopped into an Imo’s Pizza and ordered both. Quite a few of our friends apparently really do NOT like Provel cheese. Our Wandering Family warned us to run away quickly! Unfortunately, we had already ordered. Provel cheese is not something we would seek out again, but we are glad we had the experience.
In 2017, Ted Drewes Frozen Custard won the “Ice Cream of the Year” award, even though frozen custard isn’t actually ice cream. The Route 66 location has been selling frozen custard for over 80 years. They also sell Christmas trees grown on their own tree farms.
Stop 22: Getting Presidential in Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the hometown of Abraham Lincoln. We toured the visitor center and the street with Lincoln’s family home. Just south of Springfield is a Corvair museum that we just had to check out.
Stop 23: Hot Dog Man in Atlanta, Illinois
Atlanta is a kitschy little town that’s home to a Muffler Man called the Hot Dog Man. The town has absolutely embraced the American Giant, or Muffler Man, and even has a Muffler Man museum with the history of these large fiberglass people that are experiencing a resurgence of popularity.
Recently one of the rare oversized fiberglass women has also found a home in Atlanta, Illinois at Country Aire Diner.
Stop 24: Inside the Drunk Tank of Gardner, Illinois
In Gardner, we stopped at a little park setting to see the two-cell jail, which served as a drunk tank from 1906 until the 1950s, and the Riviera Roadhouse Streetcar Diner. This adorable little building started as a horse-drawn streetcar in the late 1800s.
Stop 25: The Gemini Giant in Wilmington, Illinois
Wilmington has been home to the Gemini Giant, a muffler man dressed in a space suit and holding a rocket. The Gemini Giant was recently sold but to the town itself and will return to the town after a restoration process.
Stop 26: Sheltering in the Forest of Camp Sullivan, Illinois
We camped for a couple nights about 20 miles south of Chicago. This small campground is one of the Forest Preserves of Cook County’s five campgrounds in the Chicago area.
Just after we settled in the first night, we got alerts on our phones of a tornado warning and that we should take cover. We joined the other campers and sheltered in the bathhouse for about an hour. The next day we saw downed trees and power lines in the hard-hit area.
Finishing at the Start Line: Chicago, Illinois
We enjoyed spending time in the atrium at Navy Pier. They have dancing water fountains that fascinated us as well as the kids that were there. Chicago pizza is different, in just about every way possible, from St. Louis pizza. The pizza we got at Giordano’s Pizza was more like a pie, with the crust enclosing the bottom and sides of the several inches of layers of toppings, cheese (not Provel), and sauce. So much sauce! It was so fantastic! Because it’s so thick, it takes nearly an hour to prepare but it is so worth the wait!
If you remember the television show “Married … with Children” you may recognize this fountain, which was featured in the opening credits along with Frank Sinatra singing “Love and Marriage.” This is one of the largest fountains in the world, and is located in Grant Park, which also boasts the beginning of Route 66.
There are actually several signs in the vicinity of the “beginning” of the route. They are all within about a block of each other. Apparently, this was done to spread out the traffic of people wanting to stand at “the beginning.”
Thoughts and Lessons on RVing Route 66
Think about the heyday of this historic road before cars had air conditioners or comfortable seats and a hot day meant a likely overheating situation. There were no podcasts nor much else to entertain the passengers, unless they could get the radio to tune in to a local station.
Route 66 is one year away from celebrating it’s centennial and there is a lot of effort being put into restoring some of the old attractions, but building or creating some new ones as well. Whether you’re a history buff or love vintage Americana or kitschy tourist attractions, don’t let anyone tell you there’s nothing happening along Route 66.
We could bemoan the fact that much of our history has been replaced by shiny new buildings and businesses but, by the same token, we’ll take our modern pickup any day. Progress is inevitable. Still, we certainly appreciate the style of the past as well.
We’ve enjoyed our trip along Route 66 enough that we’ve gone back to some of the places we didn’t spend enough time in and made up for that.
For RVers or just road trippers, there’s a lot of ways to get your kicks on Route 66.
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