Route 66

It was called the Mother Road or sometimes the Will Rogers Highway and in some cases the Main Street of America. Route 66 connected Chicago with LA and was one of the most famous roads in the United States.

You can no longer travel the highway because it is chopped up by Interstate 44 and 40 like a snake that ran through a lawn mower. But you can still ride on the bits and pieces of it when you are in select states.

The most interesting of those sections would be LA because it has the most well preserved 50's  Art Deco structures along the way. The other place would be Tucumcari New Mexico where you can still see little motels with names like the Blue Swallow and the Pony Soldier.

I can't say that I've have traveled the road extensively except for when I was in California... but I have stopped in Seligman quite a few times which inspired a poem.

 One can still get a good taste for the kitsch and Americana feel though by traveling 44-40... especially if you are driving through Missouri and seeing all of the hokey bill boards and road signs pass by. And who could miss the giant twin arrows in Twin Arrows Arizona? Or the Big Texan Steakhouse in Amarillo?