Historic Route 66: St Louis to Galena Kansas

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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

   St Louis is where the day begins. Next is Cuba Missouri.

2. 2. Cuba Missouri

   Cuba, Missouri, is a small town of about three and a half thousand people in the Ozark foothills, and it has turned itself into the Mural City of Route 66. More than a dozen big paintings cover the walls of old buildings, showing the history of the town, the railroad, the highway and the people, and the effect is cheerful and slightly surreal, like a gallery laid out along a main street. The town is said to take its name from the island of Cuba.

   Read the complete Cuba Missouri write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Cuba Missouri comes up about 137 km into the recorded legs. Next is Springfield Missouri.

3. 3. Springfield Missouri

   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.

   Read the complete Springfield Missouri write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 351 km into the recorded legs you reach Springfield Missouri. Next is Galena Kansas.

4. 4. Galena Kansas

   Galena, Kansas, is the first or last town on the shortest stretch of Route 66 in any state, just thirteen miles in the south-east corner of Kansas, and the town makes the most of it. The name is Latin for lead ore, and the place was founded in the 1870s when miners struck rich lead and zinc deposits in the Tri-State District, which spread across Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The boom made it a rowdy town of thousands, and the legacy remains in the huge piles of mine waste, known as chat, which still stand on the horizon, and in the contaminated ground that has taken decades to clean up.

   Read the complete Galena Kansas write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Galena Kansas closes the day.