At the start of this summer, I was set to embark on a trip I’ve been wanting to take for a long time. I don’t remember when I first wanted to take this particular road trip, but over this last winter break, I finally decided this was the summer I would go. I planned to drive the entire Route 66 – Chicago to Santa Monica. I spent my winter break plotting my trip, all the stops I wanted to make, where I would camp (and made reservations). I picked a couple motels, so I’d have a few nights with some air conditioning. And then I waited. Summer could not get here soon enough.
I was a bit nervous about making the trek. (What if my car broke down and delayed me, and I’d have to change all my reservations? What if my plan for camping didn’t work out like I thought, and I couldn’t sleep?) Some folks were shocked that I would be driving the entire route alone. (Um, two weeks where I got to go wherever I wanted and stay for as long as I cared to and didn’t have to answer to someone else? Yes, please!)
I could see myself at the start – I could see myself triumphant at the finish!
But then Mother Nature had her say.
I only made it to the western border of Missouri, three days into my planned travels. The second morning, I had to leave early to skirt around a storm (that had been producing tornadoes…). The second evening, I made it to camp early so that I could avoid a second storm (that had been producing tornadoes…). The third evening, I landed at the campground knowing a bad storm was coming – only to learn my neighbors were a search and rescue team, and their presence meant things were about to get real nasty. The storm had already produced several tornadoes, and more were expected. (More about this exchange in a future post. And yes, I have photos of the rescue dog to share.) There was no way to skirt around this storm – no heading north or south to wait it out. AND a fourth tornado-producing storm was coming behind it. I admitted defeat and turned around – it was just too unsafe. (I will attempt the trip again next summer.)
But even in my short time on the route, I have some tips and tricks to offer.
First, take the trip you want to take. Don’t listen to anyone else who says you HAVE to do this or you HAVE to see that or that it only counts if you drive east to west. (Yes, there are people who believe west to east is the ‘wrong way’ to drive it.) Don’t let them tell you that two weeks (or whatever your plan is) isn’t enough. Decide for yourself how long you have to make the trip (regarding time, money, interest), and make your plan. If you only have two weeks, then plan for two weeks. If you have more time and can afford it, then take longer. You can probably drive the route in a few days, but you’re going to be driving the entire time. (Which, for some people, is enough.) You won’t see everything – but you can plan a trip for what you want to see and can reasonably afford.
Next, have a plan, but allow for the unexpected. There are SO MANY things to see along the route. There are books and apps galore that can help you with this. I used the website Route 66 Road Trip to start my plan (but there are MANY others, such as Driving Route 66, which has maps, and The Ultimate Route 66 Trip, which has interactive maps and discusses some attractions). I went state by state and read through what they had listed and included what I wanted to make sure I saw in a Word doc. I then mapped the distances between each stop, deciding how much I could reasonably drive each day, estimating how long I might stay at each stop. (Also tracked whether there was a charge or not. Budgeting is a good idea if you are like me and not independently wealthy. I managed to afford this because I set aside five bucks a day into a travel account for years, and since I went nowhere during the pandemic or really since, I had travel bucks to burn. So if you want to do this but don’t have a lot of disposable income, plan in advance so that you know what you should save before you head out. And plan extra high for gas prices just to be safe. Though the Trip Calculator website can help you make a more accurate estimate – even for your specific vehicle.) Make sure you plan extra time each day because you will see things as you drive that you just have to stop and see. 🙂 (There are also Route 66 group pages on platforms like Facebook, and people will post things that look interesting that you may want to add to your plan. I had to mute such groups because I couldn’t cram any more in!)
If you don’t have a weather app on your phone, download one. And then store all the towns (or at least major cities) you will pass through. It’s nice to do this in advance as you plan your trip. Then, you can delete cities as you pass through them – but you’ll have a heads up for weather. You want to be aware in case things like tornadoes might pop up or areas might have flash flood warnings (looking at you, entire state of Missouri!). You never want to be taken by surprise. (If it’s too much to have ALL those towns and cities on the app at once, or there is a limit to the number you can add, then you can plan a bit of time at night to delete ones you’ve been through and add more. I would recommend at least two or three days worth of towns/cities, though. Depending on the way a storm is moving, you can see if you should perhaps speed up that day to skirt around it or perhaps slow down so that it passes before you get there. Just be weather aware. And safe.
If your check engine light comes on your dash, be aware that AutoZone will check dash lights for free and let you know what the code points to. If the car is making noise or not driving well, don’t drive, of course. But if it’s driving fine, AutoZone is a great place to aim for. Also, I would recommend AAA (or other such roadside assistance). If you have roadside through your insurance, check with them about whether they charge for dispatches or not. My insurance went up because I had made a call – even though the driver never actually came out to my car (they didn’t provide the services I needed them to perform). Because the call had simply been made, though, my insurance got charged. I went back to AAA because it was cheaper than having my insurance go up again. (Also, some places will offer discounts if you are a AAA member.) There’s no worse feeling than being stranded on the side of the road. Doesn’t hurt to plan ahead simply to have that peace of mind.
I learned a lot after even only those three days. I do plan to take the route and go the whole way, but I will make some changes. I decided I will go out west on my ‘fast route’ plan, and then make my way east along 66. This way, I can wait behind storms as they move out of the way (and be able to hug the mountain going through the Sidewinder between Kingman and Oatman). Or if I do get chased by another tornado-producing storm, I won’t be backtracking. I can still complete the route. Also, I won’t be making reservations for camping the whole route. (I had to cancel all of them once I got back…) That second day, because I had to leave early to avoid the storm, I ended up at the next camp super early. If I hadn’t had that reservation, I could have kept going and made it a bit farther along my itinerary. There are so many places to stay, and as long as it’s not a holiday, it should be fairly easy to find a spot. Worst case scenario, I can find a cheap motel/hotel on any of those ‘discount’ sites that have commercials starring the likes of Kaley Cuoco or William Shatner.
Have you ever driven Route 66? Or taken another epic road trip? Share your own tips and tricks in the comments. 🙂
Ami Maxine 