RV Camping Historic Route 66

The "Main Street of America" or the "Mother Road", US Route 66 is a former semi-trans continental highway that was established on November 11, 1926 as one of the original U.S. highways. Route 66 spanned 2,448 miles miles from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles California. Along the way, Route 66 passed through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Route 66 began to decline in importance with the signing of the Interstate Highway Act in 1956. From that time portions of Route 66 were slowly replaced with more direct routes. The last section of Route 66 was decommissioned in Arizona with the completion of Interstate 40 in 1984, and US 66 was officially removed from the U.S. Highway System on June 27, 1985.

Portions of the old US Route 66 in many states are now designated as "Historic Route 66". Other portions have been designated a National Scenic Byway. In Southern California, portions of the old Route 66 have been designated as State Route 66.

As of 2008, The World Monuments Fund placed Route 66 on its World Monuments Watch list of "100 Most Endangered Sites".

The National Historic Route 66 Federation characterizes traveling Route 66 as taking "the off ramp into a bygone era." As Route 66 was decommissioned, entire communities declined or perished. What has been left behind is a microcosm of roadside America stuck in time. Traveling the route (and 85% of Route 66 can still be traveled) is like driving into a time machine to see the U.S. as it was. Tourists from around the world come to the United States to travel Route 66.

For RV campers, there are many RV campgrounds along the entire distance of Route 66. There are many web-based resources available that list these campgrounds including the Campgrounds page at the Route 66 News site. An RV can be an excellent way to travel and see the sites of Route 66 without having to worry about finding accommodations along the way.

And remember...

"If you ever plan to motor west

Travel my way, the highway that's the best.

Get your kicks on Route 66!"

From the song (Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 by Bobby Troup

About the Author

Joe Laing is the Marketing Director for El Monte RV Rentals, America's premier nationwide RV rental company. You can check out El Monte RV's Monty's Musings blog for more RV Vacation Ideas. The blog post place "How About RV Camping Historic Route 66?" provides a list of other Route 66 resources to help plan a Route 66 RV vacation.