Route 66 National Park Road Trip

Route 66 is the iconic American road that stretches over 2,400 miles from Chicago west to Los Angeles. It touches parts of 8 states from the Midwest all the way to the Pacific Coast.

Originally built in the 1920’s, this “Mother Road” was not completely paved until 1938.

Alignments of the road changed often over the next 100 years, as improved sections of the highway were built and routes adjusted. In the early years, many sections of the route simply were simply small roads that connected one small town to the next. It didn’t receive an official federal route number for the first few years of its existence. However, over time the route was more formalized and became a Federal Highway and designated as “US Route 66”.

Today, Route 66 is no longer a conglomerate of smaller roads connecting city to city. It is mainly subsections of Interstates 55, 44 and 40. The small town charm is not lost however as you take mini road trips off the Interstate in the various cities. We do our best to outline some National Park Service sites that are within striking distance on this trip, but there is so much to see that we never mention.

Road Trip Notes

There will be over 35 hours and 2,300 miles in a vehicle, so please spend an appropriate amount of cash on a quality rental car. You’ll need room for supplies, bags, camping equipment (if you’re up for that type of thing), and of course your whole family. I always suggest getting the largest vehicle you can afford, and to reserve it with the rental car company as soon as possible. Don’t just show up to the airport kiosk and ask for a car – you may be presented with very limited options.

This trip follows the old Route 66 path… mostly. In order to throw in visits to the Petrified Forest and Joshua Tree, we had to deviate from the main path slightly. However, it should be noted that since most of this trip is located on large Interstate roads, the only way you’re really going to view anything of significance is to make small stops like this.

Our Route 66 Itinerary

This itinerary is a bit different from all our others. Our planner below does not mention places you should stay, or any specific driving times from one place to the other. This is because a trip like the one we’re outlining here should be extremely fluid. Here is a rough estimate of how we see the days being broken down, but in the end it’s up to you to construct the trip as you see fit.

This is our sample Route 66 itinerary, with estimated driving hours and mileage between each stop. Each night is spent in a different city, with anywhere from 1-4 hours of driving between them.

Day	From	To	Hours	Miles
#1	Chicago, IL	Springfield, IL	4	250
#2	Springfield, IL	St. Louis, MO	1.5	100
#3	St. Louis, MO	Springfield, MO	3	215
#4	Springfield, MO	Tulsa, OK	3	180
#5	Tulsa, OK	Oklahoma City, OK	2	120
#6	Oklahoma City, OK	Amarillo, TX	4	266
#7	Amarillo, TX	Albuquerque, NM	4	290
#8	Albuquerque, NM	Sun Valley, AZ	3.5	277
#9	Sun Valley, AZ	Flagstaff, AZ	1.5	100
#10	Flagstaff, AZ	Needles, CA	3	210
#11	Needles, CA	Twentynine Palms, CA	2	130
#12	Twentynine Palms, CA	Santa Monica, CA	3	150
#13	Santa Monica, CA	Los Angeles, CA	1	11

Route 66 Waypoint Attractions

Many of these are outlined in much greater detail below. However, we wanted to give you a more concise list of the must-see attractions you can find in each of the cities we plan to stay in.

• Chicago, IL – Indiana Dunes National Park
• Springfield, IL – Lincoln House Historic Landmark
• St Louis, MO – Gateway Arch National Park
• Tulsa, OK – John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park
• Amarillo, TX – Cadillac Ranch
• Sun Valley, AZ – Petrified Forest National Park
• Flagstaff, AZ – Walnut Canyon National Monument and Meteor Crater Natural Landmark
• Needles, CA – Mojave Desert National Monument
• Twentynine Palms, CA – Joshua Tree National Park
• Santa Monica, CA – Santa Monica Pier