Springfield, Missouri, calls itself the birthplace of Route 66, and the claim has a document behind it. On 30 April 1926 officials from Springfield sent a telegram proposing that the new highway from Chicago to Los Angeles be numbered 66, and the idea was accepted. The city of about a hundred and sixty-seven thousand grew up around the railroads and the highway, and many of the old motels and diners from the golden age still stand along St. Louis Street and College Street, with their neon signs and mid-century lines.
History here goes well beyond the road. On the town square in 1865, Wild Bill Hickok shot Davis Tutt in a face-to-face gunfight, widely regarded as the first true quick-draw duel of the Old West. A few miles south-west, the battlefield at Wilson's Creek preserves the site of the first major Civil War battle fought west of the Mississippi, in August 1861, where the Union general Nathaniel Lyon was killed. The Ozarks, the old wooded hills on which Springfield stands, are known for their caves, springs and rivers.
The city is also the home of Bass Pro Shops, the vast outdoor-goods chain, and of a rather peculiar local dish, Springfield-style cashew chicken, invented in the 1960s by a Chinese-American restaurateur and now served in restaurants all over town. It is deep-fried, drowned in brown sauce and sprinkled with cashews, and it is surprisingly good.
As a place to start a ride on Route 66, Springfield is easy. The old road heads west through Missouri farmland and small towns, with gentle rolling hills, and the surface is a mix of original concrete, patched tarmac and modern road. Speed limits are low, and the pace is meant to be slow. Fuel is available everywhere, with large stations at every junction, and you can eat and sleep to any budget. Summer is hot and humid, with thunderstorms that can roll in fast, and winter ice can close the roads, so spring and autumn are the best seasons. At dusk, the neon signs glow, and the old road feels briefly alive.