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I’ve lengthy been fascinated by Route 66 – the liberty, journey and hope it represented in its heyday, and the heritage, ardour and nostalgia it displays right now.
My first solo journey was a tour together with a bit of the ‘Mom Highway’ in California, and it had me captivated. The neon indicators, unique motels, deserted fuel stations and red-chequered diners felt like stepping again in time, and I’d wished to return ever since. So after I obtained the prospect to discover a bit of it in Missouri, I jumped.
This Midwestern state doesn’t get the glory of its westerly counterparts – there’s no Arizonian desert or Californian glam; it’s a politically pink state with distant, rural small cities, crossing into the oft-stereotyped Ozark Mountains.
I used to be travelling at a time of Trump tariffs and worldwide US scrutiny, however I wished to place politics apart and meet the communities that decision its landscapes dwelling. Route 66 appeared like the right method to try this. Inaugurated in 1926 and thriving till the late Fifties, this historic street, which stretches 2,448 miles from Chicago to California, has witnessed its fair proportion.
Politicians and presidents have risen and fallen throughout its time. It has seen financial institution robbers and gangsters, in addition to the Mud Bowl and the Nice Despair, when farmers and different staff travelled the complete route to hunt a brand new life out west. It survived the Second World Warfare, when troops and army gear had been transported alongside it.
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It thrived on post-war freedom and the mainstream rise of automobiles, bringing new alternatives for journey and a new-found potential to journey for enjoyable. It has lengthy transcended anyone second, and it’s this window into the previous that so intrigues me.
And whereas the westerly stretches are inclined to get the glory, it’s in Missouri that a lot of the motion occurred. It’s whereas I’m right here that I study Springfield, Missouri – a small, pleasant metropolis of round 170,000 – is called the birthplace of the route, because it’s the spot the place it was named 66.
As we traverse the state’s 300-mile part throughout 5 days, I’m stunned by simply how a lot historical past is right here. Examples are in every single place; within the pint-sized Ozark metropolis of Joplin, we glimpse the home the place gangsters Bonnie and Clyde hid out for 12 days in 1933, earlier than killing two legislation enforcement officers in a shootout (it’s now on Airbnb for as little as £120 an evening, for anybody who fancies actually strolling of their footsteps).
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On the Meramec Caverns – a mainstay Route 66 attraction because it opened in 1933 – we find out how Wild West outlaws Frank and Jesse James hid deep underground right here within the 1870s. At an ordinary-looking sq. in Springfield, we see the spot the place America’s first Wild West shootout ever occurred.
It isn’t simply the tales themselves that fascinate me; it’s additionally the sheer ardour of these conserving them alive.
We see it in every single place we cease. On the Gillioz Theatre in Springfield, opened in 1926, govt director Geoff Steele tells us concerning the historical past and preservation of this storied arts venue, which nonetheless hosts theatre exhibits and movies right now.
He paints a vivid image of what it was like within the Route 66 golden period. “Travellers would drive within the cool of the morning, pull over someplace and discover,” he says. “Springfield was a booming metropolis, so they might come to the Gillioz Theatre, catch a present within the day, eat dinner after which journey on within the cool of the night.
“Folks had been so enthusiastic about Route 66 as a result of it was a pivotal level in American enlargement,” he says. “The power to now simply get in your automobile in Chicago and drive all the way in which to the Pacific Ocean created alternatives to discover America like by no means earlier than.”
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As with nearly each different place we go to on the route, we hear tales of those that got here to the theatre again within the day – together with Elvis, who apparently “snuck out of his sound verify” earlier than his efficiency on the close by Shrine Mosque to look at a movie right here, and was discovered sitting on the backseat by a policeman.
These tales are nonetheless being made; Chappell Roan (the American singer-songwriter and international LGBT+ icon) hails from the close by city of Willard and had her first efficiency on the Gillioz Theatre at 15. She additionally shot a few of her well-known ‘Scorching to Go’ video right here.
There’s a lot extra of this sort of heritage elsewhere on the route. Simply exterior of Springfield, we go to Gary’s Homosexual Parita, a reproduction of a Sinclair fuel station initially opened within the Nineteen Thirties (named after the unique proprietor’s spouse, Homosexual Mason, and its second proprietor, the late Gary Turner).
Turner set about rebuilding the fuel station in 2004 after the unique burned down in 1955. At the moment it’s owned and operated by his daughter, Barbara Barnes, and her husband George, who welcome us with open arms and are among the many friendliest folks I’ve ever met.
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“Simply make yourselves at dwelling!” says Barbara as she proffers us recent watermelon and snacks in a method that makes me really feel like I’m visiting a long-lost aunt.
Barbara explains how she wished to retain the vibe of this legendary spot – a long-time drop-in for anybody travelling the Mom Highway. Rusty vans, retro fuel pumps and different Route 66 paraphernalia sit between out of doors vegetation. We collect inside a corrugated hut, stuffed with red-and-white chequered tables and previous Coca Cola posters, because the couple share their tales with us.
“Paul McCartney got here right here when my father ran it,” says Barbara. “The Bushy Bikers got here by means of in 2017 – they instructed me the recent canine I made them was the most effective they’d ever had!”
“I’m doing this for the love,” she provides. “I really feel like all people alongside Route 66 is doing the identical issues I did with my dad. There’s an actual sense of neighborhood alongside the entire route, and that makes it very particular.”
That vibe runs all through each place we go to. In St Louis, we cease at Ted Drewes, a roadside drive-in that’s been handed by means of the household since 1941. It stands in basic Route 66 style; a low-key, slatted white constructing specialising in frozen custard (ice cream made with egg yolk and flavoured with all the pieces from cookie dough to root beer, blueberry to butterscotch).
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In Kirkwood, we cease at Spencer’s Grill, an old-school American diner that’s additionally been working for the reason that Forties, the place tiny spherical pink stalls line the bar and employees chat such as you’ve identified them for years. Burgers, pancakes and hearty breakfast dishes are served on plates the dimensions of a small youngster, and locals gaze in admiration of our British accents.
In Carthage, we pull up at a drive-in cinema the place rows of viewers watch by means of their automobile windscreens beneath a pitch-black sky, and I really feel like I’ve actually stepped right into a scene from Grease. Close by, we keep on the Boots Court docket Motel, the place “King of Hollywood” and Gone With the Wind actor Clark Gable as soon as stayed, and the place retro radios sit within the rooms, recreating the nostalgic vibe of yesteryear.
Route 66 right now isn’t nearly recreating the unique companies, although; it’s about establishing new ones too. We go so many quirky sights that really feel like the trendy equal of what travellers would have skilled again within the day.
Amongst them is the Laumeier Sculpture Park, an outside artwork gallery the place greater than 60 sculptures sit throughout 105 acres of lush parkland and woods. In Joplin, I discover myself having loads of Insta-fun at Shifferdecker Park, whose sequence of giant work, sprayed onto the streets, supply 3D illusions to mark the Route 66 Centennial.
It’s this sense of mixing previous and new that retains Route 66 alive. And it’s within the metropolis of St Louis, the place our journey really started, that I see this fusion at its finest. That is the house of the Gateway Arch – the most important monument within the US, constructed to symbolise town as a gateway to the west, the place unique capsule carriages nonetheless carry guests to the highest.
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It’s additionally right here the steel-beamed Outdated Chain Rocks Bridge was in-built 1929, crossing the Mississippi River and marking the entry level for Route 66 in Missouri. Closed to autos in 1970, it’s now restored and pedestrianised, welcoming cyclists and walkers who come to walk alongside it, connecting guests to the previous in a method a lot of Route 66 does.
And that’s actually the magic of the Mom Highway. At a time of worldwide upheaval, there’s a consolation in seeing one thing that has remained, in so some ways, frozen in time, but in others renewed and refreshed.
I’ll lengthy keep in mind my journey by means of this underrated state, the place locals are preserving their heritage with admirable ardour. It’s their tales that actually make a visit right here – and I can solely hope they proceed to be preserved and instructed within the years to come back.
Tips on how to get there
British Airways will probably be working direct flights 4 instances every week from London to St Louis in Missouri from April 2026, with return fares ranging from £529. From right here you may hire a automobile to drive the route.
Laura was travelling as a visitor of Go to Missouri.
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