Our occasional road trips from Parker to southern California take us south to Albuquerque, New Mexico and, more often than not, west from there on Interstate Highway 40. More and more often we notice signs designating sections of "Historic US Route 66." During our stay in St. Louis from 1993 to 1997 we often came across references to Route 66. Along some sections of Watson Road there were several old motels and hamburger joints reminiscent of the colorful times decades ago made popular by the early 60's TV Series, Route 66.

What an interesting history this road has. A search on www.Wikipedia.com offers curious historians a fascinating journey through time, beginning as far back as 1857 when Naval officer Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale was ordered by the War Department to build a government funded wagon road across the 35th parallel..

He also was asked to test the use of camels as pack animals in the southwestern desert. Much of his demarcated route was to become Route 66. The 35th parallel is roughly a line of latitude that coincides with the southern border of the state of Tennessee and on which Albuquerque New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona and Barstow, California are located.

Route 66 was one of the original Federal Highways, established in November 1926, becoming a 2,448 mile stretch of paved 2-lane highway connecting Chicago with Los Angeles. Ultimately it was terminated on June 27, 1985 when it's designation on highway maps was decommissioned and it was officially removed from the Interstate Highway System.

In recent years portions of this old route have been assigned National Scenic Byway status and have become noted on state maps, becoming tourist destinations by themselves.

As traffic along this highway grew, businesses and communities along the way began to prosper. During the 1930's dustbowl days many farming families fled Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas for agricultural work in California along this route. Hundreds of mom and pop businesses opened, mainly as service stations, restaurants and motels, or motor courts as they were known. Originally much of the highway was dirt and gravel, but in 1938 Route 66 became the first completely paved U.S. highway.

Route 66 has had many names throughout its existence from "The Great Diagonal Way in its early years to "The Mother Road," coined by John Steinbeck in his great novel "The Grapes of Wrath." In 1952 it was unofficially called the "Will Rogers" Highway.

It was probably a song, more than anything else, followed by a 1960 to 1964 Television series that cemented the name of this historic road in the American consciousness. Jazz composer and pianist Bobby Troup wrote his best known song ("Get your Kicks on) Route 66 in 1946 and it was recorded by Nat King Cole that same year. In 1960 CBS aired a popular TV show, Route 66, about two young men in a Corvette looking for adventure along America's highways.

Because Route 66 through Oklahoma was relatively flat, two chemical engineers decided to test a new gasoline formula from a Bartlesville oil company there in the late 1920's. The test car ran extremely well, prompting the man in the passenger seat to look at the speedometer and see they were going 66 miles per hour. The combination of the highway number and the speed of the car led to the naming of Phillips 66 gasoline.

Eventually the demise of Route 66 began with the signing of the Interstate Highway Act by President Eisenhower in 1956. Sections were gradually replaced or absorbed by the new four-lane freeways designed to handle speeds up to 100 mph.

In the early 1990's a revival of Route 66 societies began and historic markers began to be placed across the country. The original sign was placed in Springfield, Missouri and markers can now be seen all along the 2,400 mile route and, in some cases, the Historic Route 66 symbol is actually being painted on the road surface. National Scenic Byway status is being assigned to more and more areas of the road and this year (2008) The World Monuments Fund will officially name Route 66 to its World Monuments Watch list of Most Endangered Sites.

If you ever plan to motor west,

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

Get your kicks on Route 66.

Well it winds from Chicago to LA

Over two-thousand miles all the way.

Get your kicks on Route 66.

(For complete lyrics go to www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/)

Several photos of Route 66 signs and markers are shown here.