Route 66 was establish in 1926 and runs from Chicago, Illinois through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico (Albuquerque!), Arizona and now Santa Monica, California.
It’s familiarity and fame came from a song titled “Route 66“, (Well if you ever plan to motor west/Just take my way that’s the highway that’s the best/Get your kicks on Route 66…) written by Bobby Troup and performed by many artists over the years, most recently by John Mayer on the Cars animated movie soundtrack, (making it loved by young and old ;)).
I just wish I had a better/more interesting picture to monument this historic site…
You can see in the photo, the sign claims it runs New York to Los Angeles. I found that the road has been reconstructed several times to avoid city congestion or to provide safer roads for travelers, and at one point was even moved to end in Santa Monica instead of Los Angeles, but I could find no record of it ever beginning in New York. I can only guess that the “National Old Trails Road” is not exactly the same as Route 66.
If you listen to (or know) the song, Route 66, you will hear them mention Gallup, New Mexico, also found on the sign.
