ROUTE 66

The Mother
of all Roads

…Route 66 has been immortalised in countless movies, songs, novels, paintings and photographs. It was John Steinbeck who baptised Route 66 “The Mother Road”…

A legend for motorcyclists around the world, a synonym for the epic journey, the mother of all roads: the American Route 66, one of the first federal highways, was opened in 1926 and “retired” in 1985 when it was officially replaced by Interstate 40, part of the new Interstate Highway System. For tourists and road trip enthusiasts around the world it will always be the “Historic Route 66”.

Route 66 begins in the centre of Chicago, and after crossing three time zones and passing though eight states (Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California) finally reaches journey’s end in Los Angeles, at the crossroads where Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue come together. Route 66 has been immortalised in countless movies, songs, novels, paintings and photographs. It was John Steinbeck who baptised Route 66 “The Mother Road” in his 1940 novel “The Grapes of Wrath”, where he tells the story of Oklohoma farmers fleeing the dust storms, and heading out West in search of a better life.

Route 66 is so much more than a strip of asphalt, having become a symbol for the journey to the promised land. All the children of the Mother Road, as they travel the seemingly endless miles, are renewing day after day the legend of the birth of the American nation, a nation built on travel and dreams of a brighter future. To stop off at stores, bars, diners and motels en route to exchange traveller’s tales is to pay tribute to the essence of a nation that from its inception has represented a special optimism, the journey to the West in search of the sun, in search of Eldorado, in search of a better life.