New Book About Route 66 in St. Louis Now Available on Friends of the Mother Road Web Site

by Kip Welborn

Things to Look for On Route 66 in St. Louis Our organization is offering for sale a book I penned called “Things to Look for On Route 66 in St. Louis.” It is a book that I hope will guide you down the many alignments that Route 66 takes through the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County-from the Illinois suburbs on the “Eastside” to the Franklin County Line (and will hopefully compliment the new signs that you will find cruising Route 66 in St. Louis courtesy of the Route 66 Association of Missouri). It also points out various “places to look out for” while you are cruising the different alignments, as well as other tidbits about Route 66 in St. Louis. The Book is divided up into the “Salisbury” alignment (which crossed the McKinley Bridge), the “Chouteau” alignment (which crossed the Municipal/MacArthur Bridge); the “Official/Bypass Route” (which crossed the Chain of Rocks Bridge and went around St. Louis); the “City” Route (which crossed the Chain of Rocks and Municipal/MacArthur Bridges and went through the City of St. Louis.); and the later Routes which crossed the Veterans and Poplar St. Bridges. While not every twist and turn in these alignments is covered, you will hopefully see not only most of Route 66 in St. Louis but also a lot of what this great City has to offer. The book sells for $10.00. Mailing costs are an additional $2.25. A couple of bucks will go towards putting the book together, and the rest will go to Friends of the Mother Road, Inc. for preservation efforts (including its efforts to preserve the Luna Motel Sign in Mitchell, IL). It is in black and white and bound so that it is easy to flip the pages while you are cruising. Here’s a chance to figure out Route 66 in St. Louis and how to help icons on our Beloved Mother Road all at once. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. Friends of the Mother Road, Inc., thanks you for your patronage and your contribution to its preservation work….Kip Welborn, Friends of the Mother Road, Inc. Visit web site to buy

A Good Introduction to Route 66

If you know anyone who is curious about Route 66 and thinking about taking their first Mother Road trip, the recent Associated Press article “You can still Get your kicks on Route 66″ by Roger Petterson is a decent place to send them for an introduction. The article gathers together many good links that will help greatly in trip planning, including a couple that were around when my brother and I planned our first Route 66 trip in 1999.

One thing I want to comment on, the first sentence “Much of the route has been taken over by four-lane interstates, but scattered sections of U.S. 66 can still be driven between the Midwest and the Pacific Coast…” makes it sound as though most of the Route can no longer be driven. I estimate that between 80-90% is still there and drivable. It’s true that the interstates have taken over in the sense that they get most of the traffic, but most of the time Route 66 and the Interstates both exist side by side, and Route 66 functions as an outer road, a business loop through a town, a state highway, or as something else. In many places you can choose from more than one historic routing of Route 66 in an area. You do need help from specialty maps and guides to find all the parts, for although there is some signage to guide you along the historic route, it is not enough to navigate by alone. The Here it Is Map Series and the EZ 66 Guide are two of the best in my opinion, and there are many more to choose from, inlcuding our own Route 66 Association Map of Route 66 in Missouri.