14 best road trip routes

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Adventure awaits!

Moon’s road trip books offer practical tools to get you on the road and ready for an epic drive. Following the>Moon Route 66 Road Trip features itineraries, travel tips, maps, key sights, and recommendations for where to eat and stay. This book also includes colorful photos and strategic trip ideas, so you can fully explore the history and charm of the Mother Road.

Find your way

Use this book to follow the historic route from Chicago to L.A. with turn-by-turn directions and streamlined travel maps. Moon Route 66 Road Trip is laid out for the classic east to west drive, with major chapters dedicated to each state. Hitting the road in Oklahoma instead of Illinois? No problem! Find information on rentals and arrivals to begin your Route 66 journey from any state along the way.

What to see and do

Choose where to spend your time with listings of the best food and accommodations in each region, or follow suggested itineraries to spend more time in key cities. Notable detours and side trips are included to allow you to plan for memorable experiences, like gawking at the Grand Canyon, cruising down the Las Vegas strip, or taking the High Road to Taos.

Get inspired

Author Jessica Dunham’s thoughtful approach provides travelers with both insight and inspiration: find neon photo ops, read up on the many women who have contributed to shaping and preserving the Mother Road, and get your kicks with suggested songs for each leg of the trip.

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Find Your Adventure

Get inspired with gorgeous, full color photos and curated lists of the best road trips for kids, foodies, outdoor enthusiasts, and more.

Get Ready to Hit the Road

Prepare for your epic road trip with helpful maps, tips for when and why to go, and clear directions to each route’s starting point.

Experience the Best of the USA

Uncover the top 5 adventures on each route, from hikes, beaches, and outdoor recreation to delicious pitstops and must-visit museums.

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INTRODUCTION

Iconic Route 66 is more than a mere highway that connects a metropolis on the shore of Lake Michigan with a metropolis on the Pacific coast. It is the stuff of dreams. It is icon of epic proportions that lures travelers from throughout the world to come experience American life as it once was and to seek the roadside ghosts from an era when Studebakers still rolled from the factory in South Bend. The old highway is more than a 2,291- mile (according to a 1936 map) ribbon of asphalt lined with dusty remnants, ghostly vestiges, and polished gems manifesting more than eighty years of American societal evolution. Along Route 66, from Chicago to the shores of the Pacifi c Ocean at Santa Monica in California, whispering breezes carry the voices of ghosts from the Civil War that blend with those of French explorers, Native Americans, Spanish conquistadors, and pioneers fulfilling a young nation’s Manifest Destiny.

CHAPTER 1: ILLINOIS

Roadside ghosts and roadside time capsules abound in Illinois, but ghost towns are a rarity and are of a different nature than those found farther west on the plains and desert sands. The rising tide of urban sprawl that spawned the interstate highway and that swept Route 66 from center stage during the last half of the twentieth century began here with the transformation of the venerable two-lane into a four-lane super slab.

CHAPTER 2: MISSOURI

In the Show-Me State, much of Route 66 follows the old Wire Road, a vital communications and transportation road that was at center stage in some of the bloodiest fi ghting of the Civil War. Many of the weathered headstones and monuments in shade-dappled cemeteries perched on ridges above the old road stand in silent testimony to these dark times. In stark contrast is the colorful glow of neon, refurbished or remembered, that sheaths many towns along the double six in Missouri. This garish façade harks back to the glory days of Route 66.

CHAPTER 3: KANSAS

It might seem odd to include Kansas in a book about ghost towns found along Route 66. After all, less than fourteen miles of Route 66 run through this state. Though the three towns along this section of highway are quite historic, only two have sizable populations. Still, Galena (population 3,168), Baxter Springs (population 4,344), and Riverton (population 600) are key components in the story of Route 66. They are also shadows of the boomtowns that they once were.

CHAPTER 4: OKLAHOMA

From the Kansas state line to Texola, Oklahoma, a cornucopia of dusty little towns line Route 66. All have surprising and colorful histories. A few hover at a point between being the busy centers of commerce they once were and becoming ghost towns, but only a few have withered to near complete emptiness.

CHAPTER 5: TEXAS

In the Panhandle, the ghost towns of Route 66 are few, but the ghostly remnants of those towns that have faded to mere shadows are many. Most towns in the Lone Star State along the old double six share the common foundational element of agriculture, but each followed a different path in its rise. For some, it was oil; for others, it was the railroad. In others, it was cattle and watermelons. In one, it was all of the above plus women’s undergarments.

CHAPTER 6: NEW MEXICO

The ghost towns of Route 66 in New Mexico are unique among those found along this historic highway. They are also some of the oldest.

CHAPTER 7: ARIZON

The ghost towns of Route 66 in the Grand Canyon State are a diverse lot of mining camps and railroad towns, rough and tumble cattle towns and tourism meccas, with two lanes of asphalt linking them all.

CHAPTER 8: CALIFORNIA

In the Golden State, the ghost towns of Route 66 appear as forlorn, weathered islands in a sea of harsh, forbidding desert landscapes. Only a thin line of pockmarked asphalt tethers them tenuously to the modern era and keeps them from vanishing unnoticed beneath the desert sands.

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Fully Redesigned

Packed with color coded icons and beautiful images to help you easily plan your next adventure.

Comprehensive

Itineraries, maps, travel tips, and other special features to acquaint you with the destination and provide honest recommendations to help maximize your time.

More Color Photos

The new Experience chapter provides the perfect mix of photos and the best of the best lists to fuel your wanderlust.

Travel Inspiration Overload

Visit fodors.com to continue your exploration.

Ready for more?

Complete your holiday planning with other guides from our series.

Connect with other travelers.

Visit the Fodor's forums to get real time advice & recommendations from other travelers like you.

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Get there with the new, 2021 National Geographic Road Atlas: Adventure Edition

Travel across North America using easy-to-read, accurate maps showing highways, secondary roads, scenic routes, mileage markers, recreation areas, and points of interest. Navigate urban areas with detailed downtown city maps and metropolitan area insets. Take the guesswork out of traveling and trip planning with a comprehensive place name index, mileage charts, and cross-referenced pages. This atlas has the quality and accuracy you expect from an organization that has been mapping the world since 1915.

Built to last

This atlas features a heavy duty black plastic spiral binding and a durable clear/frosted plastic protective cover. These enhancements greatly extend the lifespan of the atlas. No more covers falling off and pages pulling out from everyday use. This atlas is built to last.

America’s 100 top outdoor destinations

Make your next road trip extraordinary by visiting one of America’s top 100 destinations for hiking, backpacking, climbing, cycling, paddle sports, skiing, snowboarding, and birding as selected by National Geographic Editors.

America’s 24 favorite National Parks

Plan your next visit using the park profile section that includes maps, photos, tips on top sights, popular trails, campgrounds, and lodging for 24 of the most popular National Parks in America.

Great design leads to great road maps

The cartographers at National Geographic spent months developing the design specifications for the state road maps included in this atlas. They carefully chose the colors, line weights, typography, and feature compilation to create the most accurate and easy-to-read road maps in the market today.