California Route 66 Road Trip Pit Stop: Barstow

Barstow.  Barstow is not the first place that comes to mind when you think of a California vacation.  Barstow is known for being the junction of multiple major highways.  Barstow is known for its large rail yard.  Barstow is known for its military base.  Barstow is known for being a city you pass through on the way to somewhere else.  Barstow isn’t really known for being a highly sought-after travel destination.  But in the past, Barstow was an important stop on Route 66, so much so that it was one of the 12 Route 66 cities mentioned in the song (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 written by Bobby Troup and made popular by Nat King Cole in 1946.  Therefore, when we took a short Route 66 road trip at the beginning of the year to celebrate Route 66’s 90th anniversary, we made Barstow our first overnight stop so we could see Barstow’s Route 66 remnants and the memorials to this bygone era. 

Arizona Route 66 Road Trip Attractions

Arizona has the honor of having the longest stretch of Historic Route 66 in the nation.  While there is not much left of Route 66 in the eastern part of the state, western Arizona has approximately 140 miles of uninterrupted Mother Road stretching from Topock to Seligman.  To celebrate Route 66’s 90th anniversary, we took a road trip along Arizona’s Route 66 and visited Route 66 attractions and towns.

California Route 66 Road Trip Attractions

Route 66 was created to get people from Chicago to Los Angeles.  Route 66 was a popular road trip route in the 1950s, but with the creation of interstate highways, Route 66 became obsolete and the towns along it couldn’t survive being bypassed.  While Route 66 went all the way to Los Angeles, following the original Route 66 through western California is pretty impossible.  However, there are long stretches of California’s Route 66 in the eastern part of the state, especially between Victorville and Needles.  We decided to start the New Year by celebrating Route 66’s 90th anniversary with a short Route 66 road trip and drove as much of California’s remaining Route 66 route as possible.  While we drove Route 66, we visited a number of California’s Route 66 road trip attractions along the way.

Things to Do in Kingman Arizona on Old Route 66

When we were planning our short Route 66 road trip from California to Arizona, we needed to decide in which cities to spend the night.  We wanted to stay in cities that had Route 66 history, so Kingman, Arizona seemed like a good choice.  After all, it is one of the cities mentioned in Nat King Cole’s (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66.  Little did we know that there are so many things to do in Kingman, Arizona!  What we thought was just going to be a couple hours spent in this Route 66 town turned into almost a full day. 

History and Route 66: Things to Do in Flagstaff in One Day

An original section of Route 66 is preserved in Flagstaff Route 66 Park.

Flagstaff is a Route 66 town not like many other Route 66 towns.  While Route 66 bypassed a lot of towns, causing those towns to disappear, Flagstaff wasn’t affected in the same way.  Flagstaff was established in 1882 and has a lot of history that predates Route 66, so Flagstaff didn’t completely rely on Route 66 to survive.  Today it is a bustling college town with a historic downtown and some remaining remnants of Route 66.  While there are a lot of things to do in Flagstaff, many of Flagstaff’s historical and Route 66 sites are close together and can be visited in one day. 

Happy 90th Anniversary to Route 66!

California Route 66 between Victorville and Barstow.

I’ve become a little obsessed with how people in the past went on vacation.  Travel is such an important part of our lives; it’s how we get through the workday, knowing our hard work not only keeps food on the table and a roof over our heads but also provides us with the privilege of seeing how other people live on this great earth and touching and feeling and seeing history.  Travel is fairly easy and quick nowadays, but it didn’t use to be.  One particular type of vacation that fascinates me is the all-American road trip.  This is something we still enjoy today, but we can buzz from one destination to the next using our wide, multi-lane interstates.  It wasn’t always so quick, like when families hit the road and traveled along Route 66.  We kicked off 2016 with a short Route 66 road trip through California and Arizona to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Route 66 and get a glimpse of what it was like for families of the past to get their kicks on Route 66.