"The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for." - L'Amour

The American Dream comes true on this road! Traveling along the world’s most famous road can change your life. If there is a road that embodies the history, traditions, and culture of the United States, it is Route 66. You’ll travel 4,300 kilometers through 8 states and 3 time zones, feeling like one of the famous American adventurers. This is where the first gas station, the first fast-food restaurant, and the first motel opened; this is the birthplace of the American way of life in the 1950s.

Drive along the legendary Route 66 and experience this once-in-a-lifetime adventure!

Route 66 is the legendary road westward to California, which for a long time was the route taken by countless fortune seekers, penniless travelers, rebels, hippies, and adventurers, all of whom were headed somewhere - into the unknown. Today, that journey is a thing of the past, but the road remains the same, and we’ll ride it in two weeks - and for the more adventurous, the tour can even start in New York!

Traveling across America has long been a dream for people, but for a long time there was no way to do it, or no means to do it, or no money for it - in fact, until 1926, there wasn’t even a road...

In 1920, the idea was born to build a road that would take travelers from the East Coast of the U.S. to the West Coast, from reality to the land of dreams and promise.

Construction began, and within six years, the first American transcontinental highway was built between Chicago and Los Angeles, where one could drive for hours without encountering any traffic. In the 1950s, Route 66 became a myth, and today it has become a legend.

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First, adventurers and fortune seekers headed west; then, during the Great Depression, the destitute and the poor sought a better life; during World War II, the military used the route; in the 1950s, everyone dreamed of buying a pink Cadillac (which was inevitably paired with The Blonde Woman), then heading west to California, the promise land... By the 1960s, sex, drugs, and rock & roll drew hippies in VW minibuses to the City of Angels.

Interestingly, there is no longer a continuous Route 66; it was officially discontinued in 1985 and renamed, but we can still drive on many, many sections of the good old Route 66 - and we will! 75% of the original route is still drivable!

Increasing traffic necessitated the construction of wider, more modern highways, so in many places they simply built the new roads (I-55, I-44, I-40, etc.) alongside the old one - since there was plenty of room.

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Route 66 was preserved as a scenic highway; since highways no longer pass through small towns and villages, these areas have steadily become depopulated, but this has given us numerous opportunities to explore these ghost towns.

The route crosses 3 time zones and 8 states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

Along the way, we enjoy the ever-changing landscape, the diners, the rusting car wrecks that have been sitting by the roadside for 80 years, and the old gas stations - but we can also get online in our hotel rooms. We’ll visit a few national parks, and at the end of the trip, we’ll catch a glimpse of the ocean.

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Day 1: Chicago

Fly to Chicago, the capital of Illinois. Pick up a rental car at the airport and test it on the drive to you first hotel. You try to adjust to the local time, which is very different from home. The evening’s program includes sightseeing, taking photos at the sign marking the “start of Route 66”, then admiring the breathtaking view from the top of the Willis Tower (from a height of 103 stories). The bravest can step out onto the glass balcony to photograph the ant-sized cars far below from this great height. The city is filled with jazz and blues music, an unforgettable experience awaits you!

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Day 2: 300 km / 187 mi

You wake up way too early on our own, since you haven't gotten used to the time difference yet, but that's okay - you can't wait to get started!

The great adventure begins!

Today you will see several local curiosities: vintage gas stations and even older diners. Endless fields of corn and soybeans stretch green on both sides of Route 66. Now it really sinks in: you’ve arrived in rural America! You are traveling on the strangest stretch of road near Auburn: an original brick section of Route 66 from the 1920s!

Your first stop will be a restaurant guarded by a “giant” since 1962 - an interesting photo opportunity. In the next village, we stop at the old gas station, where you could fill up between 1932 and 1966; the church is also located here, and a tunnel was dug under Route 66 so that parishioners could cross the busy road to attend services without any trouble. These days, however, you will be the only one there.

In a sleepy little town in Illinois, you can visit a Route 66 museum and car exhibition; you’ll encounter many wonders there.

Day 3: 430 km / 269 mi

Continue driving Westbound; Paul greets you with a gigantic hot dog, but we don’t eat it...

Drive past another old gas station and stop at the junkyard, behind which stands a rabbit statue you can hop on for a silly photo.

Illinois offers the most sights along Route 66 (per state), you will cover all of them in the itinerary.

Cross into Missouri, driving past St. Louis over the Mississippi River, where one of America’s most interesting regions awaits us. To the south, you can see the world’s longest pedestrian bridge, which was once an active traffic bridge on Route 66, but time has taken its toll, and it has since been closed to traffic.

Heading west, the forests meet the prairie, and the earth’s depths hide thousands of natural caves; outlaws hid here from the sheriffs pursuing them during the heroic age of the Wild West - and not without success!

Before the end of the day, you arrive at one of the most beautiful stretches of the tour. Here, the road had to be cut through an entire mountain, which posed a serious technical challenge for engineers in the 1920s. Here, too, you can observe the road’s curbing: it was thought that the outward-curving curb would keep vehicles on the road. They soon realized their mistake, but they didn’t tear down the curb.

Your accommodation today will be in a special place: a real Route 66 motel.

Day 4: 470 km / 294 mi

Continue along old roads, and soon you’ll make a quick detour to the land of tornadoes and the Wizard of Oz: the state of Kansas.

Cross a bridge built in the 1920s, one of many whose steel framework was encased in concrete - a sensation in its day, and now the last remaining example of its kind in the United States. Next to it stands a bullet-riddled STOP sign!

Next stop is an old mining museum, which, among other things, boasts a working Model T. The owner bought it on eBay and then beautifully restored it.

Route 66 runs through Kansas for only a short stretch - 13 miles - before crossing into Oklahoma. Nevertheless, this is where the longest stretch of Route 66 is located, and it was here that the idea for Route 66 was first conceived. The landscape is varied: the road winds through rolling hills lined with oak and elm trees.

Drive on through the Wild West toward Oklahoma City. In the 1830s, this area was declared uninhabitable and divided into reservations among five Native American tribes - the Choctaw (in their language, “Oklahoma” means “red man”), Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek, and Cherokee - all of whom stood in the way of “civilization’s” southward expansion.

Make a short detour south to visit a master car builder; according to legend, whenever he built a car in the 1960s, it eventually became a Matchbox model. To this day, he still receives 1 cent from the sales of these models.

Soon you arrive to an Indian totem pole, which a retired man spent 10 years building. Wonderful roads lie ahead: the two-lane asphalt gently follows the ridges of the hills - this is Route 66’s “roller coaster.”

Leaving Tulsa, cross the narrowest bridge on the route - it’s only a single lane - then drive parallel to the old road built in the 1920s; at several points, we can even merge onto it heading west.

Day 5: 500 km / 312 mi

Before noon make a stop at a gas station that sells 500 different kinds (!) of soft drinks. America sure is a strange place - then we’re off to a wonderful cowboy museum!

Soon arrive to another town and pop into the local Route 66 museum - it’s definitely worth stopping here. If you were to visit just one museum on the entire trip, this should be the one.

A small open-air museum is visible in the next village. It showcases life in the Wild West during the 1800s. Driving a little further, we reach the “zone of life and death” at the 100th parallel. Back in those days, banks wouldn’t give loans to buy land west of us because, in their view, it was already desert, and the farms were surely headed for bankruptcy - after all, what could possibly grow in the desert? In this village, you can’t miss the little gift shop either.

Pass by an Art Deco building, whose architectural style caused quite a sensation in the 1930s. The building appears in the movie “Cars”, and today it houses a café.

The highlight of the evening comes when you arrive at the famous steakhouse, where the truly brave can take on the challenge of devouring a free, gigantic steak weighing about 2 kg, along with the accompanying salad and drink menu. What’s the catch? You have to clear the plate in 60 minutes; if you don’t succeed, you’ll have to pay $80 plus tax. So far, about 20,000 people have tried it, and on average, one in five succeeds! The youngest was 11, the oldest 72, and some have succeeded more than 20 times...