Okay, so the planning isn’t actually done, but I am done with the planning.
While you might think that Route 66 is an actual route, unfortunately, you would be sadly mistaken. Route 66 was officially decommissioned in 1984, however, in the three preceding decades, since the introduction of the US Interstate Network, much of it was either used as the foundations of I-40 or allowed to fall into disrepair. Roll forward another three decades from it’s decommissioning and much the road is not suitable for motor vehicles, but hopefully passable for two wheels and a couple of pedals!
While a bearded guy (or girl) wearing a leather jacket, a skull cap and riding a Harley may be able to hammer along I-40 and claim they have ridden Route 66, it is left to those of us using peddle power to discover the long lost stretches of tarmac still carrying the iconic Route 66 black-and-white shield emblem, now well off the beaten track. This is made a little easier in part by a team at the US Adventure Cycling Association that has created a route from Chicago to Santa Monica Pier that follows as much of the original Route 66 as possible, while at the same time minimizing the risk of cyclists being squashed by a passing 70 mile per hour 18-wheeler Mack truck!
The ‘done’ part of the planning is that I have used a little poetic license and converted the US Adventure Cycling Association’s route into our route, including a few detours, before mapping it into a computer package and downloading it onto out Garmin Edge 1000 cycle computers. The parts of the planning that is still a little fuzzy include where we will sleep each night, where we will be able to find food and most importantly, for some of the long desert stretched, where we will be able to find enough water so we don’t end of a pile of bleached bones in the sand. To keep it exciting we will fill the gaps and make most of it up as we go.
Below is a list of the sections that are now programmed into the cycle computers. I am sure there was some logic on how I chopped the route up when I was doing it, but looking at the mileage count for each section I am now even doubting myself. I hastened to add, there are no daily targets in this list with the exception of the first few days. We intend to go with the flow as much as possible, taking each day as it comes, so long as we are in San Francisco for our flight home in early December. How we get to San Francisco from the end of the Santa Monica Pier, 450 miles to the north, is anyone’s guess right now… 🙂
| Section | Distance (Miles) |
| Chicago O’Hare to Best Western Hotel | 1.99 |
| Best Western Hotel to Chicago Marriot Hotel | 23.06 |
| Chicago Marriot to Joilet | 55.67 |
| Joliet to Pontiac | 65.91 |
| Pontiac to Normal | 32.21 |
| Normal to Lincoln | 36.34 |
| Lincoln to Springfield | 28.51 |
| Springfield to Litchfield | 57.45 |
| Litchfield to Chain of Rocks | 50.7 |
| Chain of Rocks to Webster Groves | 25.95 |
| Wester Groves to Springfield (another one!) | 232.66 |
| Springfield to Joplin | 72.26 |
| Joplin to Vinita | 70.55 |
| Vinita to Tulsa | 63.4 |
| Tulsa to Arcadia | 99.69 |
| Arcadia to Oklahoma | 27.34 |
| Oklahoma to Amarillo | 286.57 |
| Amarillo to Tucumcari | 122.53 |
| Tucumcari to Santa Rosa | 60.19 |
| Santa Rosa to Las Vegas (not that one!) | 68.42 |
| Las Vegas to Santa Fe | 69.71 |
| Santa Fe to Cedar Crest | 52.71 |
| Cedar Crest to Albuquerque | 26.28 |
| Albuquerque to Gallup | 191.87 |
| Gallup to Holbrook | 119.61 |
| Holbrook to Winslow | 41.19 |
| Winslow to Flagstaff | 61.01 |
| Flagstaff to Williams (Grand Canyon detour) | 161.2 |
| Williams to Kingman | 130.7 |
| Kingman to Needles | 124.05 |
| Needles to Barstow | 160.71 |
| Barstow to Victorville | 36.99 |
| Victorville to Applewhite Campground | 29.39 |
| Santa Monica Pier | 85.82 |
| TOTAL MILES | 2772.64 |