Anybody ever ride Route 66 from LA to Chicago?

[alanmcorcoran]

Not sure why, but I've got an inkling of a idea that I might incorporate this run into a late spring business Chicago trip. One issue I am concerned about is the route 66 that is near me has a lot of traffic lights and it takes for ever to make any headway. I've been on it in Kingman and elsewhere, but never for long, and I'm not sure how much of it is traffic light free. Also wondering, if I pushed relatively hard in one direction, how many days you think it might take. I might leave the bike in Chicago, fly back to SoCal and resume riding it - maybe eastward - after I returned.

[patrick_777]

I ride on Rt 66 nearly every single day. In Tulsa. It's literally down the street from me.

From what I hear, NM thru AZ is the roughest parts, especially in mid-year. It's also a long-haul between the Western OK border through TX.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Not sure why, but I've got an inkling of a idea that I might incorporate this run into a late spring business Chicago trip.

Unless you are HEAVY into nostalgia, you will probably be disappointed, based on what you just said, and Patirck and the parts that I have seen. In many places, the "old road" is completely gone, paved over by an Interstate or bulldozed out of existence. In some parts of Illniois, they have gone back almost to a cow path to try and be historically correct.

I think it is a cobbled up mess now......and unless there is an Interstate nearby, my guess is that some stretches in the desert SW could be down right dangerous.

Have you looked at US 40 at all? IIRC, that was the first paved, trans-continental road in the US and I'm guessing that there may be more of it left than 66. My gut feeling is that 66 never really was that good of a road in it's prime; made famous by a TV show and a song or two.

40 hooks up with I-57 (or 45, if you want to stay 2-lane) just south of me a ways. I know nothing about it west of central Missouri though.

My tired old ass is only good for about 3-400 miles a day; that would make for a LOT of days.

I DO like the idea though. Keep us posted, please.

[Moedad]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

Have you looked at US 40 at all? IIRC, that was the first paved, trans-continental road in the US and I'm guessing that there may be more of it left than 66.

That's a good suggestion. I may be off, but I think I-40 and Hwy 66 are more or less parallel if not the same route from Barstow, CA to OK City, OK. Once you get to OK City, 66 starts trending north while 40 keeps going east.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Moedad

That's a good suggestion. I may be off, but I think I-40 and Hwy 66 are more or less parallel

I-40 and US 40 are two different animals. US 40 goes thru St. Louis, for example, while I-40 is way south. My atlas doesn't show US 40 (on the big, whole-US map) but it does show US 50 going pretty much coast to coast.