There is no road quite like Route 66. Stretching nearly 4,000 kilometres from the shores of Lake Michigan to the edge of the Pacific, the Mother Road is less a highway than a state of mind — a ribbon of asphalt that stitched together the American heartland and gave generations of travellers a reason to point the car west and keep driving.
Officially decommissioned in 1985, Route 66 no longer appears on federal highway maps. But it has never really disappeared. The road lives on in the neon signs that still flicker outside motor courts in the Mojave, in the hand-painted murals on grain silos in the Oklahoma Panhandle, in the smell of coffee and pie at a diner that has been serving the same booth since 1952. To drive Route 66 today is to follow a ghost — and to discover that the ghost is very much alive.
This is an invitation to make that drive. And along the way, to collect a little piece of every place you pass through.
Chicago, Illinois — Mile Zero
The journey begins at Grant Park, on the edge of Lake Michigan, where a small sign marks the eastern terminus of Route 66. Chicago needs no introduction, but it rewards a slow start. Walk the Magnificent Mile, watch the city skyline reflect off the lake at dusk, and eat a deep-dish pizza before you do anything else. This is the last major metropolis you will see for a very long time. Savour it.
Springfield, Illinois — Lincoln Country
The highway rolls south through the Illinois prairie, flat and wide and quietly beautiful, toward Springfield. This is Abraham Lincoln's hometown, and the city wears that history with genuine pride. The Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is one of the finest presidential museums in the country. The Old State Capitol, where Lincoln delivered his "House Divided" speech, still stands downtown. Route 66 passes through the heart of it all.
St. Louis, Missouri — Gateway to the West
Cross the Mississippi River into St. Louis and you are greeted by the Gateway Arch, soaring 192 metres above the riverbank. It is one of the most recognizable structures in North America, and it marks something real: this is where the American frontier once began. Spend time in the Soulard neighbourhood, catch a Cardinals game if the schedule allows, and don't leave without a toasted ravioli — a St. Louis invention that deserves wider recognition.
Springfield, Missouri — The Birthplace of Route 66
Back into the Ozarks and on to Springfield, Missouri, where Route 66 was officially named in 1926. The city celebrates that legacy with genuine enthusiasm. The History Museum on the Square tells the full story, and Steak 'n Shake — a Route 66 institution — was founded here. The rolling hills of the Ozark Plateau begin to assert themselves, and the landscape starts to feel wilder.
Joplin, Missouri — Where Three States Meet
Joplin sits at the corner of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and Route 66 passes through its centre. The city has a complicated history — it was a booming lead and zinc mining town in the early twentieth century — but it has reinvented itself with energy. The Joplin Museum Complex and the Route 66 murals downtown are worth a stop. From here, the road briefly dips into the southeast corner of Kansas — a stretch of just over seventeen kilometres, the shortest state segment on the entire route — before crossing into Oklahoma.
Tulsa, Oklahoma — Art Deco on the Plains
Oklahoma surprises people. Tulsa surprises people most of all. The city has one of the finest collections of Art Deco architecture in the United States, a legacy of the oil boom that transformed it in the 1920s. The Philbrook Museum of Art occupies a stunning Italian Renaissance villa. The Woody Guthrie Center pays tribute to one of America's great folk voices. And the Blue Dome District hums with restaurants and live music on weekend nights. Tulsa is not a city you pass through quickly.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma — Heart of the Heartland
The state capital sits at the geographic and emotional centre of the Route 66 experience. Oklahoma City carries its history with quiet dignity — the National Memorial and Museum at the site of the 1995 bombing is one of the most moving places in the country. But the city is also forward-looking: the Bricktown entertainment district, the Scissortail Park, and a thriving food scene make it a destination in its own right. The stockyards, still active, offer a glimpse of the cattle-trading culture that shaped this part of the world.
Shamrock, Texas — The Panhandle Begins
Crossing into the Texas Panhandle, the landscape opens up dramatically. The sky becomes enormous. The road runs straight and true toward the horizon. Shamrock is a small town, but it punches above its weight on Route 66 lore: the U-Drop Inn, a 1936 Art Deco masterpiece shaped like a rocket ship, is one of the most photographed buildings on the entire highway. It served as inspiration for the Ramone's House of Body Art in the Pixar film Cars. Stop, photograph it, and order something at the counter.
Amarillo, Texas — Wide Open and Wonderful
The Panhandle's largest city, Amarillo is home to one of Route 66's most surreal landmarks: Cadillac Ranch, where ten Cadillacs are buried nose-first in a wheat field west of town, spray-painted by generations of passing travellers. It is absurd and wonderful and completely American. The Big Texan Steak Ranch — where a 72-ounce steak is free if you finish it in an hour — has been luring road-trippers since 1960. The Palo Duro Canyon, just south of the city, is the Grand Canyon of Texas, and it is spectacular.
Santa Fe, New Mexico — The High Road
Route 66 originally passed through Santa Fe before the alignment was shifted south in 1937. Many travellers still make the detour, and it is worth every kilometre. The oldest state capital in the United States, Santa Fe is a city of adobe architecture, world-class art galleries, and some of the best food in the American Southwest. The Plaza, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, and Canyon Road's gallery district are essential stops. The light here is unlike anywhere else — painters have been chasing it for over a century.
Albuquerque, New Mexico — Neon and High Desert
Back on the main alignment, Albuquerque is where Route 66 and the Rio Grande cross paths. Central Avenue, the old highway corridor, is lined with some of the finest surviving neon signage in the country — the De Anza Motor Lodge, the Aztec Motel, the KiMo Theatre. Old Town Albuquerque preserves the Spanish colonial character of the original settlement. The Sandia Mountains rise to the east, turning watermelon pink at sunset. The International Balloon Fiesta, held each October, fills the sky with hundreds of hot air balloons — one of the great spectacles of the American West.
Gallup, New Mexico — Trading Post Country
West of Albuquerque, the highway passes through Gallup, a town that has served as a crossroads of Native American culture and commerce for generations. The trading posts here — some dating back over a century — carry authentic Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi jewellery, textiles, and pottery. The El Rancho Hotel, where Hollywood stars stayed during the filming of countless Westerns in the 1940s and 50s, still operates and still has the photographs to prove it. Gallup sits at the edge of the Navajo Nation, and the landscape around it is extraordinary.
Flagstaff, Arizona — Ponderosa and Starlight
Flagstaff sits at over 2,100 metres elevation, surrounded by the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in North America. It is a university town with a genuine outdoors culture, a dark-sky community with one of the oldest public observatories in the Southwest, and a gateway to some of the most dramatic landscapes on earth. The Grand Canyon is 130 kilometres north. Sedona's red rock country is 45 kilometres south. Winslow — where you can stand on a corner and feel the Eagles song wash over you — is an hour to the east. Flagstaff is a place to slow down.
Kingman, Arizona — The Heart of Historic 66
West of Flagstaff, the road descends through Williams — the last town bypassed by Interstate 40, which fought the freeway longer than anywhere else on the route — and on to Kingman. Some of the longest uninterrupted stretches of original Route 66 pavement survive in this part of Arizona, running through the Black Mountains and past the ghost town of Oatman, where wild burros wander the main street and the road switchbacks dramatically through the hills. Kingman's Route 66 Museum is one of the best on the highway.
Barstow, California — Desert Gateway
Crossing into California, the Mojave Desert takes hold. Barstow is the last significant stop before the highway begins its descent toward the coast, and it wears its Route 66 heritage proudly. The Route 66 Mother Road Museum, housed in the restored Casa del Desierto Harvey House, tells the story of the railroad and highway that shaped this part of the desert. The Calico Ghost Town, a silver-mining settlement from the 1880s, sits just outside town. The desert here is vast and silent and beautiful in a way that takes time to appreciate.
San Bernardino, California — Where the Road Begins to End
San Bernardino marks the beginning of the final chapter. This is where the first McDonald's restaurant opened in 1940, a fact that says something about the relationship between Route 66 and American consumer culture. The California Theatre, a 1928 Spanish Colonial Revival landmark, still hosts performances downtown. From here, the highway winds through the Cajon Pass and begins its long descent toward the Pacific.
Los Angeles & Santa Monica — End of the Road
Route 66 ends — or begins, depending on your direction — at the Santa Monica Pier, where a sign marks the western terminus and the Pacific Ocean stretches out beyond it. Los Angeles is everything and its opposite: sprawling and intimate, glamorous and gritty, endlessly reinventing itself. Walk the pier. Watch the sun go down over the water. You have driven the length of a continent, and this is where the road runs out of land.
The journey is over. The road is not.
Carry the Road With You
Every city along Route 66 has its own character, its own history, its own reason to linger. At YHM Designs, we make it possible to carry a piece of each one home with you — or to give someone a gift that captures the spirit of a place they love.
Browse our collections for every stop along the Mother Road:
- Chicago, Illinois
- Springfield, Illinois
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Springfield, Missouri
- Joplin, Missouri
- Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Amarillo, Texas
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Flagstaff, Arizona
- San Bernardino, California
- Los Angeles, California
- Santa Monica, California
Your map of the Mother Road starts here.
