After a quick holiday (from our year long holiday) in Florida and New york we got straight back into the travel life of night buses and cheap accommodation. Our next part of the adventure was Route 66, so after a 12 hour night bus from New York we arrived in our starting location of Chicago. We got there nice and early so got to explore the city all day. It was Father's Day so luckily for us there was a lot going on, from markets to music festivals. Later on that night we found out that Damien Rice was playing in the local park, and since I've loved him for years we found a spot on the grass to drink a few ciders (finally found it yasss) and watched him play.
The next morning we finalised our car hire (if you're thinking of doing Route 66 don't leave it to the last minute - it doesn't get cheaper), we were expecting to get a tiny 2 door car but were pleasantly surprised when we got a Nissan Sentra - I don't know anything about cars but it was big and spacious enough for the 3000 mile drive we were about to do.
Day 1: Chicago - Springfield, IL. Miles Driven: 300
We opted to go without a sat nav, and downloaded the Navmii app instead on our iPads. As soon as
we set off in the middle of the city we realised this was a mistake, so what should have been a straight forward drive to the old Route 66 starting point turned into an hour of us driving around, getting lost
in the one way streets of Chicago. Luckily, our travel guide came with a map so I reverted back to life before technology and along with the MapsMe app Chris has on his phone (which couldn't tell us anything more than that we were going in the right direction) and got us out of the city and onto old
Route 66. Our first stop was the Gemini giant, a 28 ft statue of a spaceman, pretty ridiculous.
As it was the first day we were both like excited little children so we made the effort to stop at EVERY Route 66 highlight, passing through the towns of Atlanta and Lincon on our way to Springfeild, IL. the home of Abraham Lincoln. By the time we arrived it was around 11pm, and as usual we hadn't pre booked anywhere. After stopping by a few motels to discover they were either full or over $200 a night (not ideal when you need to budget for a year) we were starting to stress out. We'd purposely avoided a few because they looked like the kind you see in horror films but as we
were running out of options we decided to give a couple a try. The first one looked like we would be
killed as soon as we stepped foot into the reception so as soon as we got close enough to notice the toothless woman behind the counter we done a swift u-turn and tried the next one. The next one didn't look too bad from the outside so we paid for a room and went in. We only opened the door and turned the light on before we turned around again and demanded a refund. The room was DISGUSTING. The bed itself was covered in cigarette burns and the whole place smelled like someone had died in it. It was completely unsanitary and there was no way we were staying there. We quickly left and got back into the car, by this point it was after 1am and we were quickly running out of options, so we decided just to go to a rest point and sleep in the car for a few hours. Although it was probably really stupid and unsafe if it was better than sleeping somewhere that would result in burning all of our clothes due to bed bugs or spending over $200 for a few hours. And at least it made us pre book our hotels for the rest of Route 66!
On the second day the drive to our destination was much shorter so after we had freshened up a bit we didn't mind too much that we didn't get a proper sleep. We paid a visit to the Abraham Lincoln
museum and house before we set off and we even managed to go for lunch at Cozy Dogs, a classic Route 66 diner specialising in corn dogs.
We stopped in a few more towns along the way, getting advice from locals and hearing about all of their old Route 66 stories before crossing the border into Missouri. By the time we got to St. Louis we were excited to get our hotel and have a well needed hot shower. Due to our fate the night before we decided we needed a bit of luxury so had opted for a hotel with a pool and spa, so spent the night relaxing.
Day 3: St Louis - Springfeild, MO. Miles driven: 240
The next day we got up early and spent the morning exploring St. Louis, but as soon as we saw how much the city had to offer we regretted wasting the night before. We still managed to see the gateway arch and the Laumeier sculpture park before we had to head to Springfield.
The drive was a little longer but Chris had gotten over driving on the other side of the road by this point and I was even getting good at being a human sat nav. We made a stop at the Meramec Caverns, and although it looked pretty cool we decided not go in as we felt like we'd had a big enough of an experience with mines/caves in Bolivia!
Day 4-5: Springfeild, MO - Oklahoma City. Miles driven: 320
After a quick breakfast (of bacon and pancakes obviously) we set off for Kansas, the smallest part of
Route 66! It's only 10 miles of the Route 66 road and most if it is a ghost town, but we still managed to stop and get lunch at the cutest diner and pay a quick visit to the Marsh Rainbow Bridge.
We stopped at a few more towns along the way, including Catoosa, where we made a stop at the 80ft blue whale!
We started to notice that the further west we were going the quieter the towns were getting. Our last stop before OKC was retro Tulsa, we didn't get out of the car but we enjoyed driving through the vintage feel town! By the time we got to OKC it was late so we didn't explore until the next day. In the morning we went to the National Cowboy & Western museum, which is exactly how it sounds! Chris even joined the kids in dressing up like a cowboy...
Later that night we went into the city and there was a beer rally racing competition on, in which people had to drink 4 beers while running a mile, although it was pretty cool we couldn't help but think that if it had been in Scotland it would have been 4 bottles of Buckfast! We also went to a Coyote Ugly bar, and after a couple of beers I got talked into doing a 'draw something blindfolded' competition - which I obviously won and got a Coyote Ugly shot glass to take away!
Day 6: OKC - Amarillo, TX. Miles driven: 270
Our next stop on the route was the mighty Texas! It was a shorter drive so we took our time and made a few more stop offs. Including McLean, a town that literally has nothing apart from a barbed wire museum. Everything in Texas was exactly as we had imagined it to be, from cowboys to ranches to steak houses. We had dinner at the big texan steak ranch, and even though it was over an hour wait it was worth it and the steak was the best we'd had since Argentina!
Day 7: Amarillo - Santa Fe, NM. Miles driven: 350
Before leaving Texas we stopped at the Callidac ranch (basically a field with loads of old cars buried into the ground covered in graffiti), we'd read online that someone takes new spray paint cans to the ranch every morning so that tourists can graffiti the cars and just as we'd read there was a bag full waiting! We both had a field day, spray painting until we felt dizzy from the fumes.
After lunch we crossed the border into the next state, New Mexico. This is where the drive turned into long stretches of being the only car in sight - exactly how you'd imagine Route 66 to be - tumble weed and all. We decided to take a detour off of the main route to visit Santa Fe, a beautiful little city known for it's buildings and food. It reminded us a lot of Salta, in Argentina. We tried our first Mexican tacos and explored the city in half a day.
Day 8: Santa Fe - Albuquerque. Miles driven: 70
The next day we headed back towards Route 66, where our next destination was Albuquerque. The drive only took an hour so we arrived pretty early but it didn't seem like there was much to do there. However, since we are big breaking bad fans we decided to go on a self led tour of famous places from the programme. After a steak out at Walter Whites house we stopped off at the car wash before dinner in 'los pollos'. Chris even sat in Walter Whites seat which made him feel pretty big time.
Day 9: Albuquerque - Holbrook, AZ. Miles driven: 350
We got up early the next day as we were headed to Holbrook but wanted to spend the day at the Petrified Forest. We didn't know much about it before hand but it was basically a 25 mile long national park filled with mini canyons and wood that has over the years turned to stone. We spent the full day driving around the park and doing the treks to the petrified forests off the main roads. By the time we got to Holbrook it was already dark but we made sure we visited the famous wigwam motel before we left.
Day 10: Holbrook - Flagstaff. Miles driven: 130
Our drive the next day was one of the shortest so we stopped in Winslow on the way. There wasn't much to do but we ended up chatting to a local who told us about a beautiful lake named clear creek 20 miles outside of the town which was perfect for swimming in. Ideal, as it was only 10am and already 105 degrees. We ended up spending the full day there so decided to skip the meteor crater on our way to our next destination, flagstaff as it really was just a hole in the ground. We had dinner in a retro diner which was like taking a step back into the 60's.
Day 11: Flagstaff - Grand Canyon. Miles driven: 80
The next day we took another detour from the main route to make the trip to the Grand Canyon. We arrived at around 11am so had the full day to spend there, and ended up not leaving until 10pm! It was amazing and so much bigger than we expected, and although it was unbearably warm during the day, there was a thunder and lightning storm over the canyon at sunset which was pretty incredible.
Since our tickets lasted for a week we decided to stay in the town next to the park rather than make the 80 mile drive back in the dark and go to it again in the morning.
Day 12: Grand Canyon - Kingman. Miles driven: 180 (280 if you include the mishap)
After breakfast at the Grand Canyon we set off to Kingman, which was around 200 miles away. We stopped at a famous Route 66 spot for lunch, the Snow Cap drive in. I decided to try chilli cheese fries and they didn't disappoint! After lunch we continued down Route 66, stopping off at the small isolated towns to get our Route 66 passport stamped! The roads were getting quieter the more west we went and the towns were getting smaller. At our last stop of the day, around 50 miles from Kingman (and 60 from our lunch spot) we decided to stop at a shop for supplies, only to realise that Chris had lost his wallet - which obviously had all of our money and both of our travel cards and bank cards in. We quickly thought rationally and realised the only place it could have been was at the cafe, and if it wasn't there it had been stolen. We had 80 miles left in the gas tank and a 60 mile drive with no access to money so needless to say none of us spoke the entire way, unsure of what the hell we would do if it wasn't there. But thankfully, there are still honest people out there and it turned out we had left his Wallet on the table and someone had handed it in (thank you!!) with everything still in it. Phew. The drive back was stress free and we had to laugh about or we would have cried.
Day 13: Kingman - barstow, CA. Miles driven: 250
We were lucky enough to be on Route 66 during July 4th and got to stop in a few little towns on our way to Barstow, where we spent the night. Our first stop was Oatman, a rustic old cowboy town 50 miles of windy roads away from Kingman. They throw an annual egg frying competition on the side walk each 4th of July and the town - which is only about a quarter of a mile long - is mainly inhabited by donkeys. We even got to watch a cowboy style gun fight! We stopped for lunch in one of the Lagoon style restaurants before heading on towards Barstow.
We weren't really sure what to expect from the 4th of July celebrations, but we were told by many locals that any small town would beat spending the evening in LA, which was next on our route. There were local live bands playing into the night, beer bars and fireworks. It was more tame than we would have liked but we enjoyed it anyway.
Day 14: Barstow to Santa Monica. Miles driven: 150
It was the last day of Route 66 and we only had a few more places to visit before reaching Santa Monica. First up was Elders place - which is literally a junk yard but weirdly beautiful and artistic.
We also couldn't help but stop at the first ever McDonald's, which is now just a museum so unfortunately we didn't manage to get a Big Mac for 15 cents!
The last leg of the drive was through the busy streets of LA and Santa Monica, and for both of us this was the hardest part of the drive! It was impossible to navigate with just a map and the millions of cars around us compared to isolated roads of the day before became pretty stressful! After taking about an hour to find a parking space (don't go to Santa Monica pier on the weekend of the 4th) we had finally made it to the pier!
3000 miles (about 3500 if you include our many wrong turns) 8 states and 14 days later and we had completed the ultimate bucket list dream of driving the famous Route 66! All without a Sat Nav! We also proved (although I would recommend a little research) it's more fun just to wing it, you'll get there eventually!
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