THINGS TO SEE

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

Route 66

Even today, Route 66 remains one of the ultimate American road trips.

Since its creation in 1926, Route 66 has been a symbol of American freedom that offered adventurous types much more than a way to get from point A to point B. During its heyday, Route 66 breathed life into countless small towns and inspired everything from hit songs to great American novels. But if you take a closer look at Route 66’s past (and present), you’ll discover that there’s even more to the famous highway than meets the eye.

1. Route 66 was built as an efficient way to get from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Over the course of the 1920s, car ownership nearly tripled in the United States, surging from 8 to 23 million vehicles. Many of these car owners wanted to use their new wheels to travel. While it had been possible to cross the country by car before Route 66, the new highway made the journey much more appealing by offering roadtrippers a single, easy-to-follow road that slashed the driving distance between Chicago and Los Angeles by more than 200 miles. The U.S. Route 66 Highway Association talked up the new roadway, describing it as the “the shortest, best, and most scenic route from Chicago through St. Louis to Los Angeles.”

2. The “Father of Route 66” was an Oklahoma businessman.

Cyrus Avery, a teacher turned oil and gas company president, was a driving (pun intended) force behind much of Route 66’s early development. Avery had been a champion of bigger, better roads since becoming a member of the grassroots Good Roads Movement in the early 1900s. In 1924, he was appointed Oklahoma State Highway Commissioner.

As commissioner, Avery joined forces with businessman John Woodruff to advocate for a single roadway that would link the Midwest with the West. But while his vision spanned half the country, one of Avery’s biggest motivations for involvement in the interstate project was a local one. By constructing a highway through his home state, he reasoned he could siphon traffic—and travelers’ cash—away from other cities like Denver, Colorado, and Kansas City, Missouri.

3. In 1928, promoters held a foot race across Route 66.

In 1928, a member of the Route 66 Association named Charles C. Pyle spearheaded an ambitious promotional plan for the new highway: a race from Los Angeles to New York City. The only catch? The race would happen entirely on foot. Pyle dubbed it the Transcontinental Footrace, though skeptical newspaper reporters soon began referring to it as the “Bunion Derby.”

With a prize of $25,000 on the line, nearly 300 runners set out to sprint across the country. The first 2400 miles of the 3400-mile race followed Route 66, with checkpoints in towns that had agreed to help finance the spectacle. Ultimately, Cherokee citizen Andy Payne took home the title. If you drive through Oklahoma on Route 66 today, you can still find his statue—and take a moment to consider how lucky you are to be reaching your destination on wheels (and in fewer than 573 hours).

4. The New Deal helped finish Route 66.

Though it had opened officially in 1926, Route 66 wasn’t even close to finished by the time the Great Depression threw the country into disarray. The vision for the highway had been one of modernity, complete with wide roads, minimal curves, and drivable conditions no matter the weather. But in 1929, only the Illinois and Kansas portions of Route 66 were completely paved.

In a good break for proponents of the highway (and more or less no one else), the Great Depression put thousands of young men out of work. Under the leadership of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, many of these men were hired to do, among other things, road improvement and maintenance. Thanks to the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Project Administration, Route 66 was fully paved by 1938.

5. The Great Depression spurred thousands to head west along Route 66.

In response to the perfect storm of a collapsed economy and poor farming conditions, thousands of desperate Oklahomans, Kansans, Texans, and New Mexicans took to Route 66 in the 1930s and set their sights on California in hopes of starting over. During the Great Depression, more than 200,000 people are believed to have sought their fortunes in the Golden State. Not all that glittered was gold, however: Some scholars estimate that less than 8 percent of those escaping the Dust Bowl remained in California.

6. Route 66 inspired TV, music, and books.

Route 66 has been a leading character across nearly every entertainment medium. It features heavily in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, pops up in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and is the subject of the famous 1946 song, “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66.” The highway even had its own self-titled TV show, which ran from 1960–1964 and starred Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock as characters traveling across America behind the wheel of a convertible Corvette. Icons like Robert Redford and William Shatner also made appearances.

7. John Steinbeck nicknamed Route 66 the “Mother Road.”

Route 66 has gone by many names since its 1926 inception, including “America’s Mainstreet,” but one has stuck above the rest, courtesy of Steinbeck: “The Mother Road.” In his acclaimed Depression-era novel, The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck tells the story of a poor family who flees Oklahoma for California during the Dust Bowl. To get there, the group travels west on Route 66 alongside thousands of fellow migrants. Steinbeck wrote, “66 is the path of people in flight. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight.”

8. “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” was written on the road.

Aspiring songwriter Bobby Troup was on a cross-country drive of his own when he hit upon the idea for what would become one of the most famous road-tripping songs of the 20th century. Troup was moving from his home state of Pennsylvania to Hollywood and drove the second half of his journey to Hollywood on Route 66. He wrote a significant portion of the lyrics along the way. The Nat King Cole Trio recorded the original version of “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” in 1946, and it quickly became a smash hit. The song would go on to be covered by Bing Crosby, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, and more.

9. Route 66 has a long military history.

Beale's Road, constructed in 1857, was one of the country's early multi-state roads. In addition to allowing for the transportation of military goods and communication, it later formed a basis for the future Route 66. During World War II, Route 66 hosted a constant stream of military traffic as troops and supplies were shuttled between bases. It had an indirect impact on the war effort, too, as thousands of civilians lured by the promise of good-paying work headed west on Route 66 for jobs in defense plants.

10. Route 66 crosses eight states.

With blacktop paved across 2400 miles, Route 66 ran from the Great Lakes to the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Drivers who covered the highway in its entirety could set off from the northeastern tip of Illinois and continue through Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico before finally arriving at the coast of Southern California. The state that boasts the longest stretch of drivable road is Oklahoma, which is unsurprising when you consider that some of Route 66’s biggest boosters hailed from the Sooner state.

and as always have a chilled day from the Viking