Route 66 Road Maps

P

Paul Jenkin

Well-known
Local time
11:03 PM
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
796
My wife and I are due to drive Route 66 shortly but we're struggling to find good quality, detailed road maps for the journey from Chicago to Santa Monica. We've got route "guides" but we're looking for the equivalent of the UK's Ordnance Survey maps or, at the very least, large scale road maps / books. They don't have to be to street name level in towns / cities, but some noting of monuments / places of interest would be a big help.

Any ideas (ideally that can be bought in the UK or from Amazon, etc) would be received with thanks.....
 
Paul Jenkin said:
My wife and I are due to drive Route 66 shortly but we're struggling to find good quality, detailed road maps for the journey from Chicago to Santa Monica. We've got route "guides" but we're looking for the equivalent of the UK's Ordnance Survey maps or, at the very least, large scale road maps / books. They don't have to be to street name level in towns / cities, but some noting of monuments / places of interest would be a big help.

Any ideas (ideally that can be bought in the UK or from Amazon, etc) would be received with thanks.....
Click to expand...

I used the first edition of this in 1992 and found dirt sections that were never paved in Oklahoma and New Mexico, brick sections in Illinois, 8 ft wide sections in Oklahoma.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROUTE-66-97...CS%2BUFI%2BIIUM&otn=8&pmod=111030110392&ps=54

Also this map series
http://www.amazon.com/Here-The-Rout...F8&qid=1379116136&sr=8-6&keywords=Rt+66+books

Some of my photographs are in this book.
http://www.amazon.com/Legendary-Rou...1379116281&sr=8-1&keywords=legendary+route+66
 
When you're in New Mexico, you will have to make a decision as to which leg to take. Rt. 66 actually exists in two separate roads about 80 miles from each other. One takes a northern route, one takes a southern route but they both end up in the same place.

East of Moriarty, NM, the old highway is just Interstate 40 for a few hundred miles.
West of Gallup, NM, the highway is also Interstate 40 until you hit Flagstaff where you can take it to Winona then back onto I-40. There are parts of the highway that serve as ranch road and frontage but they aren't maintained so most are closed.

While in Albuquerque, you can take photos of the last few remaining WWII and post-war motels and their amazing neon signage. Most have been torn down but a few still are standing.

If you travel I-40 west of Albuquerque instead of taking the southern leg, visit El Malpais National Monument. It's a few hundred square miles of lava bed. Also stop by the side of the road somewhere and treat yourself to a loaf of fry bread.

Just east of Flagstaff, Arizona are a bunch of monuments. Actually Monument Valley is not far. The Petrified Forest is close. Meteor Crater is there as well (but it is privately owned.)

In Flagstaff there is a dormant volcano you can hike to the top of and, if the weather is nice, almost see the Grand Canyon from. The US Navy observatory is there as well with THE official timepiece as well as a massive optical telescope.

West of Flagstaff is nice piney forest until you get lower in elevation near Winona. Then you'll pass through Kingman and the Colorado River before Needles, California. I've never understood how people can live there in Needles year round. The average temperature is higher than most US cities' high temperatures.

In far eastern San Bernardino County, California there is a great leg of Rt. 66t that travels through some very harsh, hot, high desert. Make sure your car's cooling system is in good shape and you carry a few bottles of coolant just in case. There are water spigots every few miles out there because cars overheat so much.

On that leg you'll travel through Goffs and Essex which are now pretty much ghost towns with some derelict cars and ancient gas pumps. I love taking photos out there. The "needles" are great craggy rock formations that deserve to really be explored.

After you get to Barstow, it's interstate and city driving all the way to the end of Santa Monica Pier.

Have fun!

Phil Forrest
 
Check the USGS (United States Geological Survey) web site: I used USGS maps when I was doing a book on the American Civil War maybe 25 years ago. Note also that at a certain level you get a MASSIVE discount on USGS maps. It was $150 in around 1990, but as I recall, it was 50% so $151 worth of maps was $74 cheaper than $149 worth...

Cheers,

R.
 
I had some online friends to a similar Route 66 road trip as well. I am not sure what reference book or map guide they used.

They did pass through my town here and we had some BBQ at a famous place here, not on Route 66 however.

Sadly, in Tulsa, most of the Route 66 area is just common streets anymore and hardly even noticeable as a part of US history.

I hope you all have a great time and get lots of amazing photos of your journey!

Be sure to stop at Pops on 66 near Arcadia, Oklahoma for some crazy sodas and a burger. :D
 
In Oklahoma old US route 66 is designated Okla route 66. Between Claremore and Tulsa on the west side of the road be sure to look for the big blue whale
 
I was born on Route 66, and I have traveled it a few times, the last time in my old '70 Challenger convertible. Of course the car overheated in the low desert in California, the lower radiator hose exploded. As luck would have it, the previous owner had a couple spare hoses in the trunk, I refilled the radiator with a mix of water, coolant, and Coca-Cola, which got me to Needles.

There used to be a few old-timers in the handful of gas stations and motels that were still open at the time, and they were able to point out where the old highway began and ended, as well as interesting sites along the way. They would also talk about famous people they had met (mainly Hollywood actors commuting to shooting locations in Arizona and New Mexico), and I got a couple invitations to dinner and church. At the time, the motel rates were $12 a night, but being both young a poor, I simply slept in my car at the highway rest areas.

A hour or so west of Needles is Ludlow, a small place (not enough there to call it a town) where I once lived when I was a child. About 45 minutes west of Albuquerque is an old steel bridge which was part of Route 66 on the north side of the interstate, it crosses "Rio Puerco". There was once an old gas station and house there which belonged to my father. The interstate killed his business, so he moved to Albuquerque.

Hopefully there are still a few old-timers along the highway, take your time along the way. It would be more "realistic" if you had an old car with an AM radio, bench seats, and no air conditioning.
 
"It would be more "realistic" if you had an old car with an AM radio, bench seats, and no air conditioning."

Or a vintage motorcycle. :)
bc8a1d353c41aee37803e052d682766c.jpg
 
Phil_F_NM said:
When you're in New Mexico, you will have to make a decision as to which leg to take. Rt. 66 actually exists in two separate roads about 80 miles from each other. One takes a northern route, one takes a southern route but they both end up in the same place.

East of Moriarty, NM, the old highway is just Interstate 40 for a few hundred miles.
West of Gallup, NM, the highway is also Interstate 40 until you hit Flagstaff where you can take it to Winona then back onto I-40. There are parts of the highway that serve as ranch road and frontage but they aren't maintained so most are closed.

While in Albuquerque, you can take photos of the last few remaining WWII and post-war motels and their amazing neon signage. Most have been torn down but a few still are standing.

If you travel I-40 west of Albuquerque instead of taking the southern leg, visit El Malpais National Monument. It's a few hundred square miles of lava bed. Also stop by the side of the road somewhere and treat yourself to a loaf of fry bread.

Just east of Flagstaff, Arizona are a bunch of monuments. Actually Monument Valley is not far. The Petrified Forest is close. Meteor Crater is there as well (but it is privately owned.)

In Flagstaff there is a dormant volcano you can hike to the top of and, if the weather is nice, almost see the Grand Canyon from. The US Navy observatory is there as well with THE official timepiece as well as a massive optical telescope.

West of Flagstaff is nice piney forest until you get lower in elevation near Winona. Then you'll pass through Kingman and the Colorado River before Needles, California. I've never understood how people can live there in Needles year round. The average temperature is higher than most US cities' high temperatures.

In far eastern San Bernardino County, California there is a great leg of Rt. 66t that travels through some very harsh, hot, high desert. Make sure your car's cooling system is in good shape and you carry a few bottles of coolant just in case. There are water spigots every few miles out there because cars overheat so much.

On that leg you'll travel through Goffs and Essex which are now pretty much ghost towns with some derelict cars and ancient gas pumps. I love taking photos out there. The "needles" are great craggy rock formations that deserve to really be explored.

After you get to Barstow, it's interstate and city driving all the way to the end of Santa Monica Pier.

Have fun!

Phil Forrest
Click to expand...

My advice go north to Santa Fe and Las Vegas NM. If you have 4WD do La Bahada Hill....
 
Well if you leave Tulsa in the morning during the week and pass through Sapulpa stop by Bishop's Corner and say hi to me! I will shoot you in digital. :)

I have lived my entire life almost within a mile of 66. It is just another old highway really... haha

Don't forget to hit the totem poles in Foyil...those are just as cool maybe even cooler than the round barn.

Michael Wallis is from Tulsa BTW...check out his book about "Chock" Pretty Boy Floyd who once got into a tommy gun shootout with the TPD at 6th and Utica which is just a couple blocks from old 66. Him and his partner in the early part of the day were motoring up Utica from the Springdale neighborhood which is where Chock's wife was staying. They ran into a road block at 6th St and shot their way through...later that night or maybe the next day PBF shot and killed man in Bixby that was bounty hunting him. That sealed his fate.


In Sapulpa we have one of the oldest longest intact original Portland cement sections with a bridge that is now unfortunately shut off...a few months ago you could still drive across it...right by the TeePee drive in. I live about a half mile from there!

Like I said stop by the carlot and see me!

You don't need a map you need an iphone!

Research the Ozark Trail...which is what 66 was before it was 66 at least in Oklahoma

Every day while I work I watch travelers from all over the world pass through my town on 66...many European folks love the old mother road for some reason.

I lived about two mile from Catoosa when I was a kid in the 70's...swam at the Blue Whale...they closed it in like 78 or 79 or so. A couple summers in a row there were incidents involving water mocassins biting people then they closed it. In my teenage years we used to still swim there late at night...drank many of beers and did all kinds of other things at that place when there was no trespassing signs there... :)

Californians are really just folks who moved from Oklahoma! hahaha

Come to think of it I think I would make a helluva tour guide from Joplin until way out in western OK and in the areas near Tulsa I know where all the old alignments run. In some places you can see a curved row of trees in the corner of some field...the curve is where the old road used to be...there used to be a nice plain to see section like this at 193rd and 11th st in east Tulsa south of Catoosa about twenty years ago maybe it is still there. Google Earth it and you can see...
 
We live just about a mile or two north of Foothill Blvd. in Cucamonga, CA
Foothill Blvd is Route 66 at that point...if you happen to drive city streets instead of freeways let me know...
 
FrankS said:
"It would be more "realistic" if you had an old car with an AM radio, bench seats, and no air conditioning."

Or a vintage motorcycle. :)
bc8a1d353c41aee37803e052d682766c.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice Honda!

I did Sarasota to Los Angeles on I-10 riding a 1976 Yamaha RD400. The Nazis couldn't have invented a much stronger form of torture. The vibration from this old 2-stroke bike left much of my body numb after a couple hours of riding. My hands were numb enough that I couldn't easily fill out the check-in forms at motels.
 
As Phil indicated, prior to 1937 the route from east to west in New Mexico went north near Santa Rosa to Santa Fe, then down south along the old highway near the Rio Grande valley to Albuquerque, continuing south to near Los Lunas where it turned west. Today, that pre-1937 route is not continuous, you can take highway 285 up to Santa Fe, but going south to Albuquerque means taking Interstate 25 to Bernalillo, then state road 313 follows the old route, curving around to become 4th street, which passes north-south downtown Albuquerque, but is broken up in sections near the heart of downtown.

There is some confusion as to the original route, because parts of Alameda Road in the north valley of Albuquerque are labeled as part of the historic route, while the point at which the Rio Grande was crossed is either Bridge Street in the south valley, or further south near Los Lunas. State highway 6, going west from Los Lunas, follows close to the original alignment and rejoins Interstate 40 west of Albuquerque.

The post-1937 realignment of the route can be followed from Moriarty east of Albuquerque as the frontage road along Interstate 40, through Tijeras Canyon to become Central Avenue, then west of town merges again onto I-40.

The intersection of Central Avenue and 4th Street, in downtown Albuquerque, is where the old and new alignments of Route 66 cross each other.

There's a family story, related to the 1937 realignment of Route 66, that might be worth recounting. My great-grandfather homesteaded a ranch on the east Mesa of Albuquerque prior to WW1, near Wyoming Blvd and Central Avenue, while the family home was one of those Victorian houses on Edith near Central. Prior to this time, the primary way to travel from town to the Sandia Mountains was via Mountain Road. But because my family made wagon (and later auto) treks periodically from their house in town near Central Avenue out to the ranch, a dirt road was soon formed, that others began to follow.

In the 1920s, after the well broke, grandpa leased the ranch land to some Italian businessmen who constructed an Indianapolis racetrack, a dirt oval with wooden grandstands and a large fence around the property. This brought much traffic up the family road, helping to extend Central Avenue eastward toward the Sandia Mountains.

Then, in the 1930s, a concrete highway was built through Tijeras Canyon, linking the extended Central Avenue through the mountains. This was prior to the post-1937 realignment of Route 66.

During the Great Depression, after the racetrack failed, my grandpa dismantled and sold the wood from the old racetrack. Later, in the 1950s, he leased the land to drive-in movie theaters, of which many old-timers can remember, especially the huge animated neon flamenco dancer sign on the back of the north screen, facing Central Avenue. Sadly, it's all gone, now just mobile home parks.

As a kid, my brothers and I would play in Grandpa's backyard at the house on Edith near Central, where he had an old pile of weathered boards, from which we built a toy go-cart. We didn't know until years later that the woodpile came from the Indy racetrack fence from the 1920s.

That's my Route 66 story.

~Joe
 
Paul Jenkin said:
we're looking for the equivalent of the UK's Ordnance Survey maps or, at the very least, large scale road maps / books.
Click to expand...

I recommend a visit to Stanfords in Covent Garden. They usually have an excellent selection of maps for the USA (and the rest of the world:)). I bought a decent road atlas there a few years ago that provides a good level of road detail with additional city centre maps. You don't get anything like Ordnance Survey levels of detail but that would be totally impractical – the USA is vast (even at 1 inch to about 20 miles, my atlas runs to about 200 pages). For detail there is always Google Maps nowadays.:D
 
Thanks to one and all for your kind responses.

I took Ian's advice and paid a visit to Stanfords in Covent Garden and bought a couple of really useful maps. What we Brits tend to forget is how bloody big America is. I wanted a road atlas like the one I have in my car for the UK but, to achieve this, I would have to have bought 8 separate guides the same size as my UK road atlas - one for every state we pass through.

Our car will be an "intermediate" (and hopefully "invisible") size - along the lines of a Toyota Corolla. I'd wanted a convertible gas-guzzler but, given the mileage and the need to keep an eye on the pennies, I'm happy with what we'll be getting.

I'll copy some of the advice above and mark on the map. I'd love to meet up with some of you folks but we're on a relatively whistle-stop schedule and I can't guarantee where we'll be at any point on any given day - but thank you for the invitations.

Just got to pack and get some $$ for the journey....

Best wishes. Paul.
 
Well, we made it...!!

Fantastic journey. Met some priceless characters, some very helpful people, saw some amazing sites and scenery and encountered some unbelievably intense driving in and around LA. That is somewhere that we found disappointing as TV suggests it's really glitzy place when it really isn't (Beverly Hills aside).

We had a few maps but what didn't really dawn on us until we got there is that Route 66 doesn't actually exist anymore. It's simply a collection of newly designated routes (often Interstate) with a series of older side route options on what used to be the original Route 66 roads.

Good luck to the various Route 66 associations and societies who do their best to signpost the way for those of us eager (or mad) enough to want to experience the trip. There are clearly some miserable *******s out there who steal the signs and some states where the signage is less good than others.

I would recommend it to anyone with the time and a sense of adventure who is a reasonably confident driver.......
 
Paul Jenkin said:
Well, we made it...!!

Fantastic journey. Met some priceless characters, some very helpful people, saw some amazing sites and scenery and encountered some unbelievably intense driving in and around LA. That is somewhere that we found disappointing as TV suggests it's really glitzy place when it really isn't (Beverly Hills aside).

We had a few maps but what didn't really dawn on us until we got there is that Route 66 doesn't actually exist anymore. It's simply a collection of newly designated routes (often Interstate) with a series of older side route options on what used to be the original Route 66 roads.

Good luck to the various Route 66 associations and societies who do their best to signpost the way for those of us eager (or mad) enough to want to experience the trip. There are clearly some miserable *******s out there who steal the signs and some states where the signage is less good than others.

I would recommend it to anyone with the time and a sense of adventure who is a reasonably confident driver.......
Click to expand...


Would love to see some pics, Paul!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom