Route 66 Is Turning 100. So I Drove All 2,448 Miles of It—and Watched It Burst With New Life

Route 66 is turning 100 in November and it seems to contain more curiosities and paradoxes than the Midwest has cornstalks.

Route 66 west of Seligman, Arizona, on Feb. 20, 2026. Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times/TNS

By Christopher Reynolds Los Angeles Times

Friends, motorists, fellow Americans: The road ahead is far from straight. But it will take us through eight states and dozens of small towns, past Muffler Men and Patel motels, beneath the bright lights of Tulsa and Tucumcari, up close to Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” and Angel Delgadillo’s barber chair.