Rout 66

Rout 66

Rout 66

The historic mother road of America Route 66 still has a lot of traffic these days. Rout 66 is so famous that both a song and a television serial was based on it. Today it is still a part of Americana. It ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. Many small towns came alive along the way of many visitors. However, as fast it came, it went also. The interstate highway system of America waits for no one.

Route 66 was commissioned on November 11th, 1926. About 800 miles was already partially paved. It was totally finished in 1937. The total length was 2248 miles. It stayed on most maps until 1984. The last town to be passed up by the new interstate highway was Williams, Arizona. Route 66 went through three time zones.

Each year there are still many events that go on with the use of Route 66. Here are a few for the 2008 season.

Jan. 13 through Mar. 9th "Return to Route 66" held in Longmont, Colorado.
Feb. 7th and 8th Jazz Festival in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
Feb 8th through the 10th Indian Art Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
March 20th through the 22nd bluegrass Festival in Sayre, Oklahoma
May 2nd and 3rd Berdoo Bike and Blues festival in San Bernadino, California
May 3rd the Fred Onion Burger Festival in El Reno, Oklahoma
May 3rd and 4th the Red Carpet Corridor Festival from Joliet, Illinois to Towanda, Illinois. 90 miles of fun.
May30th to June 1st Route 66 Days Elk City, Oklahoma
June 6th through the 9th Illinois Motor tour Hamel, Illinois on South.
June 18th through the 22nd Route 66 Days Litchfield, Illinois
September 18th through the 21st Route 66 Rendezvous San Bernadino, California

Other dates and events to be announced later.

Route 66 was a major highway for immigrants that moved West through the middle 1900's. People and communities along the route became prosperous. Those same people fought to keep Route 66 open in the later part of the 1900's. On June 27th, 1985 Rout 66 was decommissioned as a major highway. It was no longer considered as a federal highway.