My Route 66 adventure:

For the record, here is the average of what I paid for regular gas in each state. Not all 16 states appear since I did not have to fill up in some of them. Oddly, the octane ratings in a couple of states - I don't remember which ones - were lower than the rest; instead of the usual 87/89/93, they were 86/88/91. But the car didn't seem to mind. I got most of the gas at Shell or Chevron but Conoco and even Circle-K were in the mix.

IN - $2.25
WI - $2.50
IL - $2.55
MO - $2.17
OK - $2.30
TX - $2.62
NM - $2.85
AZ - $2.91
CA - $3.75
LA - $2.30
AL - $2.36

So, to answer the inevitable question: did I get my kicks on Route 66? Absolutely! And I've already found enough other things to do along the way to merit another trip sometime in the future. Hopefully the nostalgia movement will get more of the shuttered businesses along the Route to reopen.

And there's no reason why, given enough time, the same can't be done on other older highways. Take US-41, which is the "old road" through my hometown of Marietta, GA. During this trip, I actually found myself on sections of US-41 in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin! So maybe next time I go to Chicago, I take 41 all the way. Why not?

 

I just calculated that my average motel stay during the 6 nights on Route 66 was just short of $80. 5 of the 6 were "traditional" independent motels that were the usual lodgings before the advent of chains in the '50s. The one that wasn't was a Holiday Inn Express, and it was the most expensive at $100.

For the entire trip, which included getting to and from Route 66, the average for all 14 nights was $83.50. I actually stayed in some chains that I hadn't stayed at in years: Howard Johnson, Super 8, Motel 6 and Rodeway Inn. I would say that all the lodgings that I stayed in were comfortable, well run and fairly priced. (Now, if only Wyndham would sell the HoJo food recipes to an active restaurant chain. I miss the Tendersweet fried clams!)

 

It's certainly the most exciting. Those hairpin turns going over the pass certainly demand your attention. And Oatman is so unique - take away the cars and suddenly it's 1880!

 

I found this delightful video on New Mexico's website. While it's specifically about the iconic Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, the conversations with the innkeeper and one of the guests point out why Route 66 is such a special road. They're right: the people you meet along the way are part of the enjoyment. I particularly enjoyed speaking with the foreign nationals I encountered. As I said at the beginning of all of this: Route 66 is a trip that everyone should take at least once in their lifetime.

 

If you want to see what Route 66 was like in its heyday, these books from Arcadia Publishing are a good place to start. They show dozens of images of motels, eateries, gas stations and attractions, some of which still exist, some which don't. Each book covers its state from east to west, and in urban areas the captions include addresses, so you can plug those addresses into Google Maps and see what's there now.
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US-41 is the main north-south route through my home town of Marietta, GA. Having been bypassed by the parallel I-75, it only gets real busy when I-75 gets jammed up during rush hour. There are still a couple of traditional mom-&-pop style motels, but even though they look fine, they don't appear in any travel guides, because they cater to a different clientele - when you see signs like "hourly rates" and "truckers' rates", you know to go elsewhere. It's a shame, because at one time, they would have been the places to stay in Marietta. (The nicest-looking one of those when I arrived here in 1996 was subsequently razed and replaced by a car dealership!)

During my drive north to reach Route 66, I encountered US-41 twice - crossing the Ohio River into Evansville, and on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago just before reaching the start of 66. I think the next time I drive to Chicago, maybe I'll take US-41 the whole way!

 

Next time I'm in Vegas.....

 

But of course! If you're in Winslow, you just HAVE to stand on the corner!

 

It turns out that such a book does exist. It's a bit dull in a way because all it shows is photos of bridges, with very little of the background shown for context. Fortunately there are some maps to show where on the Route these bridges are.

https://www.amazon.com/Route-66-Crossings-Historic-Bridges/dp/0806151994/

 

The US highways ending in "0" were intended to be the major coast-to-coast routes, but some of them, like 90, never made it all the way across, and others, like 10, 40 and 70, were truncated as the Interstates were built, though, unlike 66, none of them ever disappeared completely. Some of those sections became state roads, like WA-10 in the area of Cle Elum, WA, and CA-60, the Pomona Freeway.

I believe that your US-20 and US-30 are the only ones that still really go coast-to-coast; you mentioned 20 going from Boston to Newport; today 30 goes from Atlantic City, NJ to Astoria, OR.

Similarly, the routes ending in "1" were intended to be the major border-to-border routes, and some still do, like US-1 (Fort Kent, ME to Key West, FL). The one which has been truncated the most is US-91, which now exists only as a small section near Logan, UT; in southern CA it survives as a state route, CA-91, the Riverside/Artesia/Huntington Beach Freeway. The last of these, US-101, used to run down to the border but now ends in downtown L.A.; I-5 occupies the route from there south.

There were some oddities: US-6 was actually the longest in the system, going from Cape Cod to the southern CA area, though it has now been cut back to Bishop in California's eastern Sierra. And US-99 also went border-to-border, but has now been downgraded to state routes in all three Pacific states.

Outside of 101, three-digit routes were spurs off of one- or two-digit routes; the most notorious of these was the dreaded US-666; after a number of years that was changed, and most of it is now US-491.

 

I was talking about the US highway system (created 1926), not the Interstate highway system (created 1956). The Interstates used a similar numbering system, except that the longest north-south routes end in 5 rather than in 1.