Historic Route 66: Chicago to St Louis

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Chicago

   Route 66 begins in the middle of the Loop, a few steps from Lake Michigan, on a downtown street where a small brown sign marks the start of the road that once ran to Los Angeles. Chicago was the logical beginning. By 1926, when the highway was commissioned, the city was already the rail and trade hub of the Midwest, and farm families, migrants and travellers poured out of here along the road westward, the one that John Steinbeck later called the Mother Road.

   Read the complete Chicago write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Chicago is where the day begins. Next is Joliet.

2. 2. Joliet

   Joliet is not pretty and does not pretend to be, which is exactly why it makes a good Route 66 stop. It is an industrial city on the Des Plaines River, southwest of Chicago, with limestone quarries, steel mills, railway yards and a long history of making things and moving them. The old highway came through here on its way out of the metropolitan area, and the town still wears the road lightly, with a few vintage signs and diners and a welcome centre that tells you where to look.

   Read the complete Joliet write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Joliet comes up about 138 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pontiac.

3. 3. Pontiac

   Pontiac, Illinois, is a courthouse town of around twelve thousand people on the Vermilion River, and for anyone with a soft spot for Route 66 it is something close to a pilgrimage. The old highway slips through the middle of town on Old Route 66, and the people here have made a point of keeping its memory alive, with museums, murals and tidy brick storefronts that make a pleasant stop in the middle of the flat Illinois farmland.

   Read the complete Pontiac write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 354 km into the recorded legs you reach Pontiac. Next is Springfield Illinois.

4. 4. Springfield Illinois

   Abraham Lincoln lived in Springfield for seventeen years before he went to Washington, and the town still revolves around him. His home, a modest two-storey frame house, is kept as a national historic site on its original street, and the Old State Capitol, where he gave his 'House Divided' speech, stands on the main square. His tomb lies in Oak Ridge Cemetery on the north side of town, a granite obelisk and a bronze head whose nose is rubbed shiny by visitors for luck. The city has a quiet, civic air that suits its role as the state capital.

   Read the complete Springfield Illinois write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Springfield Illinois, late in the day. Next is St Louis.

5. 5. St Louis

   St. Louis is a river city with a very large arch in it. The Gateway Arch, designed by Eero Saarinen and finished in 1965, rises 630 feet on the west bank of the Mississippi, a catenary curve of stainless steel that is the tallest monument in the United States and one of the most recognisable. It marks the city's historic role as the gateway to the West, the starting point for settlers, trappers and explorers, including Lewis and Clark, who set out up the Missouri in 1804 from a camp not far north. At its feet, a museum tells the story of westward expansion, and a tram carries visitors to the top.

   Read the complete St Louis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Finish at St Louis. That is the ride.