Planning Our Route 66 Arizona Road Trip

Planning and getting ready for our first Route 66 road trip.

My wife, Fran and I have planned to see all of Route 66. Because we were still working at the time, we couldn’t see it all at one time so we decided to see small segments of it over time. We didn’t want to rush and try to cram everything in on the route in a short amount of time. Instead, we broke up our exploration of Route 66 into segments where we could spend more time exploring all that it offers.

Segment 1: Illinois from Chicago to the Chain of Rocks Bridge

We flew to Illinois and rented an truck at the airport in Chicago. We were surprised to find that renting a Ford F-150 Super Crew pickup truck was cheaper than any other car or SUV available. Even the smallest economy cars were more expensive than the pickup. The F150 super crew had lots of room and it was brand new so we rented it.

We spent about three days touring in Chicago and visiting some relatives. We took a city tour on the double decker Hop on Hop of Bus. We didn’t want to deal with traffic and parking in the city so taking the bus made a lot of sense and it gave us a good overview of the entire city. Our hotel was downtown so walking to everything we wanted to see was pretty easy and we felt safe in that part of the city.

We found

of the city, an evening boat tour up the Chicago River and out to Lake Michigan.

We started our first segment in May of 2018 by doing the segment between Chicago and Saint Louis.

Segment 2: California from the End of the Trail to Barstow.

In September of 2019 we did a small segment in California from the End of the Trail sign on the Santa Monica Pier to Barstow.

Segment 3: California and Arizona from Barstow in Califonia to Holbrook and The Petrified Forest

We live in Northern California so it wasn’t too far to drive to the southern part of the state to begin this segment

Segment 4: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri from Cadillac Ranch to the western end of the Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis

Now, we ready to travel a segment in Arizona from Oatman in the West to Holbrook on the East side of Arizona. In between, we’ll take a side trip to the Grand Canyon. I haven’t been there since I was a kid. We’re traveling with friends so there will be six of us going together. We’re also spending some time at the Temple Bar, Marina at Lake Mead.

We’re doing lots of research on what to see and do along the route. I know that much of the current Route 66 is really for tourists, but I’m also interested in finding out about a lot of the history along the route and the sights to see and thins to do that may be off the beaten path.