Touring - Has anyone toured Route 66

Have you toured route 66? If so from where to where and what are your thoughts?

Not yet, but this is a dream of mine, also...:love:

Check crazyguyonabike.com there is a woman doin that right now but she has had a couple of setback because some health issues. The title of her journal is sweatin like a ***** at cowboy payday or something like that. She really keeps a detailed journal so give it a look. Her name is Linda

Route 66 no longer exists - certainly not the route 66 of song and fame.

As a touring option, it is one of the poorer choices since much of the original Route 66 has been overlain with interstate highways. Thus, you are obliged either to make long detours or to ride on the interstate. (Which is permissible in western states - - but why?)

There are Route 66 associations in every state that Route 66 passed through - but again, there are only sections, not a through route, in many states. Especially in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona - you will be riding on I-40 for much of the way. Even when you aren't, you will often be on service roads with 40,000 cars and trucks zooming by every day.

The proprietor of Crazyguyonabike tried to follow Route 66 and found it a total hassle of service roads and dead ends. There are much better alternative that give you a feel for what Route 66 used to be like and are safe and pleasant.

Not sure if any of this helps, but...

I've toyed with the notion, but will probably never do the route. I do wonder what it is like. I suspect that how much you like it will depend among other things on how traffic tolerant you are. Jamawani has some good points, on the other hand I know that he is way more inclined to seek out very light traffic settings, so for someone more traffic tolerant it might not be so bad. I have no experience at all with Rt 66 though, so take my comments with that in mind.

I know that I personally have found riding on the interstate widely variable experience ranging from "OK for a day or so where necessary" to "Really nice with no qualifier required".

For example, I actually loved I-25 in NE New Mexico (not part of Rt 66). Both the interstate and the access road there were very nice riding IMO and were actually my favorite part of that trip. There was a great view of the mountains, traffic was not that heavy on the interstate and the shoulder was wide and clean. The frontage road was often completely out of sight of the interstate, was well surfaced, and had almost no traffic.

OTOH the section of I-80 on the TA near Rawlins was just tolerable for the short while we were on it. It seemed plenty safe but was noisy and had poor scenery. The shoulder was also pretty debris strewn.

Tzuo Hann Law, wrote a Crazy Guy journal about his Long Way Home (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/longwayhome) trip. The first part of his journey was on Route 66. It's a very entertaining read.

Speedo

What jamawani wrote is correct. Route 66 officially ceased to exist 25 years ago. I'll add that much of the old route had some of the least interesting scenery you can find for a route connecting Chicago with LA.

much of the old route had some of the least interesting scenery you can find for a route connecting Chicago with LA.

+ A billion

Having traveled along much of the Route 66 country many times by car, I'd say that my aspiration to do it by bike are non-existent.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of better options out there.

This part thru Illinois, yes, from the League of Bicyclists below, pretty nice guide

http://www.bikelib.org/maps-and-rides/route-guides/route-66-trail/