[94glide]

Thinking about a summer trip...going to take old state routes northwest from Raleigh NC...and would love to intersect route 66 ..just to say that I'd been there and done that..maybe ride it for 20 miles or so..even grab lunch if possible...Anyways looking to pick 66 up somewhere between St.Louis MO and Tulsa OK...anyone out there been on any part of this grand old road?? and care to share their opinions...or suggestions??
Thanks.
JDB

 

[The_Snowman]

Suggest reading some personal impressions posted in this thread -

http://65.38.172.84/forums/showthread.php?t=62832&highlight=Route

http://www.historic66.com/

 

[HD-LUX]

Here's a Rt. 66 thread I started a while back as well. Got some good insights. This is #1 on my list of Things To Do Summer 2006.

 

[FLHSx2]

i live in il. we take Rt66 all the time to go from town to town. its an ejoyable road to ride on. alot of the little towns the road used to go straight thru now bypass them by going around but you can still get to them to find yourself a burger and a beer plus don't forget the little historical sites that on the road and in the towns.

 

[duhast]

I rode it as a kid with my parents, from Chicago to the Santa Monica pier.

The parts I'm familiar with are farther west than you are talking about, but I have been over parts of it in recent years.

I know that some of the road from just west of Flagstaff , west to Williams is very beautiful and forested, but sections are dirt.

There is this place in Seligman,

and a very very very tight twisty section from Kingman to Oatman called the Gold Hill Grade. It's the nastiest pice of road I've seen in my life.


http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rse/route66.htm

 

[dwarthog]

Cowpies

There is a place called Cowpies on route 66 in Yukon, Oklahoma, on the west side of Oklahoma City where you can fill your belly up and get your oil changed on your bike next door.

I have done the fill your belly up part, good food. Haven't tried the oil change part, but they advertise you can get one done while you are doing the other.

Might come in handy along the way.

 

[94glide]

Cool Thread/starting in Virginia?

Here's a Rt. 66 thread I started a while back as well. Got some good insights. This is #1 on my list of Things To Do Summer 2006.

Saw your thread...we are just about going to start from the same neck of the woods...I'm in Raleigh NC..and plan on picking up 66 a little south of St.Louis..the plan this year is to take old state routes everywhere we go...so in honor of the most famous...we figured it just wouldn't be right without putting some miles on the mother of all roads..because of limited time..we aren't/can't spend too much time out that way...unless we haul the interstates for three days....and fly the women out..and then take a nice trip back...we did that when we went to glacier national park...three and half days out...picked the women up in Kalispell MT... then rode back...so the jury is still out on just what we are gonna do...keep me posted...maybe we'll see ya out there!!
JDB

 

[RKJ]

Route 66

In Missouri, if you are going to hit it South of St Louis, take I44W and you will see the historic 66 signs at every intersection that crosses the interstate. GO to this web site: http://www.visitmo.com/index.cfm and do a quick search of route 66, it has a map and places of interest. If you want to PM me, I've got a ton of info and hd-lux's thread has a number of sites that I found in my searchings. It is pretty interesting, you won't see a lot of people but it gives you a sense of Americana, especially once out of the city (St. Louis) enjoy your ride. Joe

 

[sking]

we have a pretty good stretch of 66 here in Okla. Runs along with I-44. If your coming in from St. Louis/Joplin (I-44) you can pick up 66 in Vinita and it runs all the way thru Tulsa and towards OKC. If you have the time I would highly recommend jumping over onto senic 412, its just a few miles away, you will see it on a map. Take it up to a town called Spavinaw. Spavinaw is where Tulsa got its first city water. 412 is a great short curvy beautiful 2 lane asphalt road. Did I mention curvy and beautiful? There is a city park there and the spillway they built to hold the water back in Spavinaw creek is about 30-40 ft. high and several hundred feet long. In the spring/summer there is usually water cascading over the spillway. I used to take my kids up there to play/swim in the creek. As a mater of fact, when I bought this harley that is one of first rides I made. Been there twice..I will watch your post and as it gets close to your trip I will post my phone number if you like for any additional info, heck I might meet up with you and ride abit myself..
see ya

 

[Ragnar]

In September of '04 my wife and I rode from Ohio to Phoenix. We took old Rt. 66 wherever we could find it. I really can't say enough good things about it. The old motels and restaurants, many of them long since abandoned were terrific. If you're even thinking about doing it, I'd strongly encourage you to give it a try.

The only caveat is that the old road starts and stops in many places making it necessary to get back on the interstate. Places where the road begins are usually very well marked. Not true of many places where it ends. Because of this, we took about a 150 mile detour in New Mexico, but it was still fun.

Ragnar

 

[Pac a Steel]

My Grandparents use to live right on the Route in El Reno, Ok. From there on west is mostly miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. Lots of pretty roads and towns to the east, (an Alt. Route to the Turner Turnpike between Tulsa and OKC.) You can see clouds build up coming over the plains bigger than mountains and lots of Western Okla. Red Clay, (dirt blew to Iowa in the 30s.) If you see a black cloud, pull over for coffee and duck. Hot in summer, cold in the winter, but beautiful some of the rest of the time. Have Fun and send pictures.

Native Oklahoman.
A Wonderful Place to be from.