A vintage Buick sits at the historic Blue Swallow Motel on Route 66 in Tucumcari, New Mexico on June 11, 2025. It opened in 1940. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune
ON ROUTE 66—Their stories follow a remarkably similar path. It starts with frustration, over skyrocketing housing prices in The Hague, or the pandemic’s impact on their jobs in Illinois, or the tedium of arranging flowers for weddings and funerals in Missouri.
