Before You Drive Route 66: What the Road Trip Actually Involves

What Route 66 Actually Is — and Isn't

Route 66 is not a single, continuous road you can simply follow on a standard GPS. Officially decommissioned as a US highway in 1985, the original alignment survives in fragments — some paved, some gravel, some blocked entirely. Travelers piece it together using dedicated Route 66 navigation apps, printed atlases, and state-by-state guides. Before planning any itinerary, it helps to understand what the experience actually demands.

The route runs from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, crossing Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona along the way. That's eight states and roughly 2,400 miles. Most travelers who want to stop at key landmarks, explore small towns, and avoid white-knuckling it through long desert drives should plan for at least 10 to 14 days — more if pacing matters to you. See how to build a realistic daily schedule before committing to a day-by-day plan.

The appeal is real: roadside diners, neon-lit motels, wide-open landscapes, and a living record of mid-20th century American travel culture. But the practical demands are also real, and the travelers who enjoy it most tend to be the ones who prepared honestly rather than romanticizing their way into a breakdown in the New Mexico desert.

Tools and Resources You'll Need

Before working through the checklist below, make sure you have the right tools in place. Some of these are trip-specific; others apply to any long road trip.

The Route 66 Preparation Checklist

Work through these items before you leave home. They're organized by phase — not every item applies to every traveler, but each one addresses a real failure point that catches Route 66 drivers off guard.

A Few Realities Worth Naming Before You Go

Route 66 has stretches in western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and eastern New Mexico where towns are 40 to 70 miles apart and cell service is genuinely absent — not just spotty. A vehicle problem in those areas means waiting. Running a thorough pre-trip vehicle inspection before you leave is one of the highest-value things you can do for this specific trip.

If you're weighing whether a road trip of this length makes sense for your situation at all, it's worth reviewing the trade-offs between driving and flying for longer distances before you commit. Route 66 works best as a destination in itself — not as a way to get somewhere efficiently.

Finally, use a general trip planning checklist alongside this one to make sure documents, health prep, and packing basics don't fall through the cracks. Route 66 demands specific preparation, but it doesn't replace the fundamentals.