Original Route 66 Road Trip

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Illinois / Wisconsin

If you want to visit Milwaukee HD Museum with your tour leader, then arrive 1 day early. The costs are just what they are. Hotel, food and what we do. HD Museum we do it with train! Milwaukee station is just 500m or less from the Museum.

Day 1 ° > Chicago

Illinois

Gathering together at our hotel in Chicago. Would be great if you are here latest 8 pm, so we would have time to meet and have a 'Budweiser' or two and some verbal preparation for the tour. It is good to know that if you leave Europe in the morning you are in Chicago on the same day’s afternoon. If you have a straight flight from your hometown, you can leave in the afternoon and you will arrive in the early evening same day! ;) 

Day 2 ° Milwaukee – Springfield

Illinois ° 319km, 4h 45m ° b,d

Our historic Route 66, also called “The Mother Road“ starts! When you shut down your engine tonight you know wherefrom all the corn flakes are coming into Corn Flakes packets. Springfield Illinois is also the state capital and the hometown of Abraham Lincoln and you will see his home before we drive to our hotel. Springfield claims also to be the birthplace of the corn dog, locally called the “Cozy Dog.” 🌭 The Cozy Dog Drive In, opened in 1949 along Route 66, says it was the first place to serve hot dogs on a stick dipped in batter!

Day 3 ° Springfield – Lebanon

Illinois - Missouri ° 422km, 4h 22m ° b,d

Today you are driving from flat cornfield Illinois to green and hilly Missouri over the famous Mississippi river which is the border line for the states. And immediately after entering Missouri, you are in St Louis, the gateway city to the west which is known for its 162-meter high Gateway Arch. We will naturally visit the arch, and if you don’t have the dread of cramped places, you can go up with a small lift. Our driving day ends at the small Lebanon, which had its heydays about 40 years after Pacific Railroad reached the town in 1860. 

Day 4 ° Lebanon – Tulsa 

Missouri - Kansas - Oklahoma ° 432km, 5h 4m ° b,d

Missouri - Corner of Kansas - Oklahoma. Route 66 USA does not have a long stretch in Kansas, only 20km, but that is enough to put Kansas on the Route 66 map. We will have a stop at Galena, which is the Route 66 heart of Kansas. From Galena, we drive to Oklahoma and we have almost immediately the oldest motorable stretch of Route 66 under our bikes. Overnight in Sapulpa near Tulsa. Sapulpa was founded in the mid-1800s and was named after the Indian chief Sapulpa.

Day 5 ° Tulsa – Amarillo 

Oklahoma - Texas ° 586km, 6h 12m ° b,d

After breakfast, we will head out to Amarillo. Our route takes us from the green hills of Oklahoma to the great plains of Texas, cowboys homelands. When the evening comes and we are out of our saddles, we go to the Big Texan Steak Ranch. In this restaurant, you can test if you are a motorcycle man or a woman, who eats a 72-ounce steak in an hour. That is 2 kg of meat! Plus a roll, plus a big baked potato, plus a salad!

Day 6 ° Amarillo - Santa Fe

Texas - New Mexico ° 471km, 4h 41m ° b,d

Our 1st sight today is 'Cadillac Ranch'. It's a big field where the Cadillacs are buried nose down in Texan black dirt. But you see today also nice cars without dirt. We have 2 car museums in our program. The 1st one is at Russel's Truckstop and the 2nd is Santa Rosa Car Museum. Both have very cool cars. Our destination today is also very cool and different from all the other small US-cities. It's the unique Santa Fe where we stay 2 nights.

Day 7 ° Santa Fe

New Mexico

Day off. You can climb to Sangre de Cristo mountains (with your motorcycle) that rise above the city, or visit the oldest church on the American continent, or go horseback riding or chill out by the pool or walk around in the lovely Santa Fé city. And / Or go for an afternoon ride with your tour leader to Los Alamos. To the home town of Manhattan project during 2nd World War. It’s a 45 min ride one way. Plus the time we spend in Los Alamos. 

Day 8 ° Santa Fe - Albuquerque - Gallup

New Mexico ° 476km, 5h 20m ° b,d

Our adventure in New Mexico continues towards the Mid-Western Indian capital, Gallup, but naturally not on the straightest route! After breakfast, we ride via iconic Madrid to Albuguergue and follow the old Route 66 down to Las Lunas where from we turn to the west again. Our destination is the historical Gallup. Gallup’s heyday as a Western movie location was roughly 1937 – 1965, when its rugged scenery and authentic Old West atmosphere made it a Hollywood favorite. Many John Wayne and Errol Flynn Westerns were filmed there.

Day 9 ° Gallup - Petrified NP - Holbrook

New Mexico - Arizona ° 384km, 4h 27m ° b,d

Today we leave New Mexico and drive to Arizona with big views. At the border we stop at Chief Yellowhorse’s monument. In Arizona we follow Route 66 to a a place where time quite literally turned trees to stone, Petrified National forrest. Famous for its beautifully preserved fossilized wood, dating back about 225 million years to the Late Triassic period. Today, the park features vivid badlands, ancient petroglyphs, and parts of historic Route 66. For the night we park our bikes in Holbrook. Small historic town which still carries its Wild West spirit.

Day 10 ° Holbrook - Sedona - Seligman 

Arizona ° 393, 4h 52m ° b,d

Our 1st part of the day to Flagstaff is a bit serious :] but then everything changes. We take an awesome loop to Sedona, Cottonwood and Jerome. It would actually be a sin not to do it! Here are some of the whole Arizonas most scenic views! Sedona, Arizona is a stunning desert town known for its red rock formations. Seligman is famous for inspiring “Radiator Springs” in the movie Cars! The town’s quirky charm and classic Route 66 vibe helped shape the look and feel of the fictional town. 

Day 11 ° Seligman - Grand Canyon West - Las Vegas

Arizona - Nevada ° 412km, 4h 43m ° b,d

Go West… and today we drive to Grand Canyon West. Grand Canyon West is located inside the Hualapai Indian Reservation, about 120 miles east of Las Vegas. It’s famous for the Skywalk! A glass bridge that extends over the canyon edge, offering breathtaking views 1500 meters above the Colorado River. After the magnificent sight made by nature we drive in into a crazy magnificent sight made by human beings. Las Vegas is dividing opinions, but it's one of those places on the earth, everyone should visit at least once in life. 

Day 12 ° Viva Las Vegas 

Nevada

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Day off. On the menu amongst other things are; New York, Paris, Rome, Venice, Luxor… The main street of Las Vegas is hard to imagine before you are on it, and even when you are on it, it ain’t easy to believe it's real. 

Day 13 ° Las Vegas - Oatman - Barstow

Nevada - California ° 498km, 5h 26m 

Today we leave glittering Las Vegas behind us and head to Oatman. We might be there at the time of the daily bank robbery! Oatman an old gold rush town, which almost died 1st time when the gold rush ended in 1920’s. It became a part of Route 66 from 1926 to 1952, which helped by bring travelers through the town. However, when Interstate 40 bypassed Oatman in the 1950s, the town nearly died the 2nd time. Today, Oatman is known for its Old West charm and wild donkeys, attracting tourists to this "living ghost town!” Our final address of the day is on the edge of Mojave desert, Barstow.

Day 14 ° Barstow - Santa Monica - L.A

California ° 252km, 4h 6m ° b,d

Times flyes on a tour because every day is a Saturday. And it's our last driving day. But it's also a beautiful day. We follow the old route to Victorville. From there it's a must to drive a bit on Interstate 15, but then we have one of the best curvey roads on the tour before Hollywood. We drive up to Angels national Forest and take the awesome CA2 up there all the way to Hollywood, wherefrom we drive Santa Monica Boulevard to Santa Monica Pier, our final destination of the tour.

Day 15 ° Los Angeles >

California ° Departure day

The end of our Route 66 motorcycle tour... we return our motorcycles if we did not do it already yesterday, and then it's time to say bye-bye to Los Angeles if you do not stay here an extra night or two. Hollywood Studios is one very interesting place to spend a day if you have not been there before.