10 things about Route 66 that you might not know

One of the most well-known and possibly the most beautiful roads in the world is Route 66. Between Chicago and Santa Monica, California, which is where the world’s biggest ocean “opens its wet arms,” it’s more than 4000 kilometres long.

You can stop in dozens of towns across most of the United States along the way.

Here are some interesting facts about the well-known Route 66:

1.A popular name for the route was “the mother road” by the American author John Steinbeck.

2. In 1938, Route 66 was the first national highway that was fully paved.

3. The street was named “Route 66” after a famous TV show in the early 1960s. In it, two young explorers drove their Corvette down the road for 116 miles.

4. Bobby Troup, who used to be in the military, wrote the song that helped make the route popular. More specifically, Nat King Cole’s hit song “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” from 1946 is a good example.

5. Which states had the least and most miles on Route 66?

Illinois – 301
Missouri – 317
Kansas – 13
Oklahoma – 432
Texas – 186
New Mexico – 487
Arizona – 401
California – 314

2,448 in total

6. The route goes through three different time zones.

7. The first McDonald’s on Route 66 opened in San Bernardino in the 1940s.

8. Lucille Hamons owned a petrol station in Hydro, Oklahoma, called Lucille’s Place, which was on Route 66. People called her the “Mother of the Mother Road” because she was so kind to poor people who came to her gas station on Route 66.

9. About 20 million cars, or 80% of all registered cars in the world at the time, were in the United States when Route 66 opened.

10. The U.S. National Historic Heritage Foundation recently named the Route as one of 11 U.S. sites that are in danger of going extinct forever because of natural disasters and careless people.