Author(s): Michael Karl Witzel

Pictorial Books

Starting in Chicago and ending in Los Angeles, Route 66 is possibly the best-known road in the world, full of travels, stories, histories. It carries truckers across country, Oakies fleeing the dust bowl in the Great Depression, Gi's returning home after World War II, sun seeking vacationers, and inspired both Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", and Kerouac's "On The Road", the latter establishing Route 66 in the collective consciousness of the world, and linking it with counter-culture, biker adventure and the freedom of travel in the new era of mass transport. "Easy Rider" was filmed on this iconic route, which takes in three different time zones on it's 2, 5000 mile route, and has been called America's Main Street, Mother Road, Will Rogers Highway, Bloody 66, and has even had a song that names it: "Get Your Kicks on Route 66".