Historic Route 66 (eastern states)Historic Route 66 (eastern states)Arrive in Amarillo, Texas Saturday, May 21, 2011
15 riding days, 1,216 miles, 81 miles per day
Fly home from Chicago, Illinois, Sunday AFTERNOON, June 5th
Note: This tour finishes at noon on Sunday in Chicago
$2,195 per rider (20 or more riders...limit 25 riders)
$2,495 per rider (19 or less riders)
Rider count based on April 1st final payment deadline
Single supplement $500
Route 66 first became a recognized highway in 1926. It evolved with different alignments that carried thousands of travelers from Chicago to California and back again. Our bicycle tour will explore these forgotten sections and link together many desolate pieces of original roadbed. Besides finding old concrete, we will experience the culture that defined America from 1920 to 1980. Route 66 is a unique tour that combines over 60 years of cross country history with a fun bicycle adventure.
The eastern half of Route 66, from the dusty streets of Amarillo, Texas, to the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago, bears scant resemblance to the western half of the route. Heading east, you soon leave behind the deserts and wide-open spaces as you exit the Texas panhandle and enter the surprisingly green and often breathtakingly lovely landscape of Oklahoma (where you'll also get to ride on some of the best-preserved original pavement on all of 66).
The corner of Kansas goes by in the blink of an eye, but no cyclist will soon forget the green (and sometimes quite steep) rolling hills of Missouri. This section of 66 boasts many old bridges, and it culminates in the historic (and now car-free) Chain of Rocks Bridge, which carries you over the Mississippi River to Illinois. Eventually, the hills finally give way to mercifully flat (if sometimes windy) farmland in the land of Lincoln.
Although there are some big cities along the way to Chicago (Tulsa and St. Louis, in particular), the eastern half is where Route 66 really earns its other famous nickname -- "The Main Street of America" -- as it goes from one small town to the next.
Somehow, each town has a claim to fame (Largest cross in the western hemisphere! The famous leaning water tower!), and they are proud of their Route 66 history. Take your time and you can visit everything from modern Route 66 museums to civic treasures like a painstakingly restored Sinclair gas station that's been turned into a visitor center. And no one will ever forget the welcome they receive in Erick, Oklahoma (where, fittingly, "King of the Road" composer Roger Miller grew up).
Although many of the original, old Route 66 motels, diners, and roadside attractions have vanished or been abandoned, this part of the Route still boasts some gems, including the famous Munger Moss motel of Lebanon, Missouri, and the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Oklahoma. As for food, you can still devour Ted Drewe's famous frozen custard in St. Louis and munch on a Cozy Dog in Springfield, Illinois, just like Route 66 travelers from decades past.
Somehow, the eastern half of Route 66 manages to perfectly complement the western. It's the baseball and apple pie to the western half's railroads and cowboy movies. Both are quintessentially American, which is why Route 66 will always be the most famous and fabled highway in the world.
Route 66 Pac Tour Details Photos by Jim Bradbury.
 
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