Route 66
The first four days of this tour are on the best-preserved segment of U.S. Route 66. The famous highway was completed in 1926, going 2448 miles (3917 km) from Chicago to Los Angeles.
By the 1970's nearly all of Route 66 had been de-commissioned because it was replaced by Interstate highways. Most of what used to be Route 66 is now on or adjacent to expressways.
In 2000-2005, what remained of the original Route 66 was designated a national scenic byway called Historic Route 66.
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Most of Route 66 is not a good bike route because it's on or close to expressways and passes through the middle of several big cities.
The segment in western Arizona from Topock to Ash Fork is the most authentic and bike-friendly segment of Route 66 because it's far from expressways and big cities. The scenery is quite good and in many places it's easy to visualize how it was in the 1930's and 1940's.
Four days on Route 66 was plenty for me, though. Route 66 is all about nostalgia for the adolescence of car culture. I'm not very interested in car culture.
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