Route 66

As a young seafarer heading into America in the 1970s, I wanted to see the Golden Gate bridge more than anything else, but always ended up elsewhere in the US and Canada. So when I got the opportunity to ride along from the Great Lakes to the Great Ocean, I said to myself, why not? And that’s when I first heard about the Legend of the Mother Road, or Route 66. So, first things first — there is no one specific long road known as Route 66 — it is a collection of various bits and pieces, often disputed locally too. But to give you the general idea, this is how it goes: Chicago-St Louis-Oklahoma-Albuquerque-LA. Or: Illinois-Missouri-Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas-New Mexico-Arizona-California. Certainly not on the tourist track, and not a drive that you can attempt in a standard rental car unless you get lucky with one of those one-way return deals, where they almost pay you to reposition their vehicle. Next, driving in the US can be a slog. Be prepared for the whole nine yards as far as rules and regulations go. And thirdly — once you’ve researched the maze that Route 66 is on the Internet, do try to keep in mind the various points where you can get back to mainstream modern America’s road network, too. Not much one can say about Route 66 in a short column, but if you do finally make it to the Golden Gate Bridge, then another heritage route you can try is a mix of ‘El Camino Real’ (San Diego to San Francisco) as well as ‘The Hippie Trail’ (Highway 17, San Jose to Santa Cruz).