Collect your car and begin your Route 66 holiday. You can start your trip at Grant Park, the exact place where Route 66 begins.

Most of today you will drive Route 66 through Illinois farmlands on your way to St. Louis, the crossroads where highways from Chicago, Kansas City, Memphis, Nashville, and Indianapolis meet. The city was originally the focal point of Indian trails that ran all across the US and the jumping off point for Lewis and Clark’s Expedition of Discovery to open the West through the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. It will also be your jumping off point to points south and west, as you begin your classic journey through the wide open spaces.

Springfield, the Illinois State Capital, is Abraham Lincoln country. He left here to serve as President of the United States during the most awful period in American history, the Civil War and returned as a fallen hero, a casualty of the same war. New Salem where Lincoln lived and worked for six years has been reconstructed. Costumed interpreters bring the village alive. The Lincoln Home National Historic Site is the centerpiece of a four block historic neighborhood. The President’s Tomb, Presidential Library and original law office are also open for touring.

As you cross from Illinois into Missouri on your Route 66 holiday, you’ll be crossing the historic Chain of Rocks Bridge. Be sure to stop at Ted Drew’s Frozen Custard, serving Route 66 travellers since 1929. In St. Louis, the original Route 66 road tracked through town very near the Gateway Arch and we definitely recommend riding the elevator inside Arch to the top of the 630 foot structure. Spectacular views of the Mississippi River await you on your holiday. In the evening, you can catch up with the St. Louie Blues, which were born right here and taste the fruits of Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest brewer.

Nowhere is Route 66 more at home than in Oklahoma, where the pavement follows the contours of the land as though it has always been there. In the dust-bowl years of the 1930s, fifteen percent of Oklahoma's population started out on Route 66 in single cars or caravans carrying all their belongings, children, hopes and dreams with them. This section of your holiday takes you through rolling countryside once the haunt of Native Americans, later the territory of cowboys and outlaws and along part of the famous Cherokee Strip.

For many people traveling the old Mother Road during its hey-day, New Mexico presented their first glimpse of the more exotic cultures of the Southwest. To people who had never left the Midwest before, it was as if they had entered another country. Back then, the Native American and Spanish cultures were much stronger, not having been diluted as much with contemporary life. It was a fascinating heritage of old Indian Pueblos that dated back to before European colonization and Santa Fe and Albuquerque that looked like they could have fallen straight out of Mexico with adobe buildings and a Spanish plaza in the middle town. What adventure and discovery these lands presented; a phenomenal contrast to middle America.

Unique to New Mexico also was the number of Mom and Pop businesses that sprung up along the classic Route 66. Some are still there. More amazing are the materials used to create workable spaces for the businesses. Crates left over from World War II became the walls of a motor court. Oilcans became shingles used to roof a service station. Cast away bottles and road-side trash became the material to create a wondrous road-side attraction. Dinners could be ordered from a catalog and shipped by railroad to their destination. These are the same icons you can marvel at on your Route 66 holiday - the road that so represented America’s love affair with the automobile. As a result, New Mexico still has the most miles of original Route 66 that can be driven today.

On you way between Amarillo and Tucumcari, New Mexico, be sure to stop at Cadillac Ranch to see the ten tail- finned Cadillac's buried in the sand.
Once nicknamed “Six-Shooter Siding,” Tucumcari, New Mexico got its start in 1901 as a rowdy railroad camp filled with saloons and outlaws. Soon, it became one of the many small railroad towns in the southwest with a flagging economy and diminishing population. Today, Route 66 is critically important, since it was the new businesses that were established along Route 66 which allowed Tucumcari to hang on, when other towns failed completely. Realizing that they have one of a handful of authentic road-side towns still intact and thriving has promoted a renaissance and revival among the gentlemen and businesses who just refused to let this wonderful piece of Americana and the American “road trip” pass away entirely. Let the signs that read “Tucumcari Tonight!” beckon you to this interesting place.

Today visit the Petrified Forest National Park on your Route 66 holiday with it's thousands of acres of petrified trees.

Approx 30 miles from Holbrook is the fascinating Meteor Crater. Over 22,000 years ago a meteorite blasted a huge hole, nearly a mile across and over 500 foot deep into this plateau.

On site the former USA Museum of Astrogeology has been remodeled and includes new displays on the never-ending process of impacts and collisions in our solar system. The Meteor Crater Interactive Learning Centre includes twenty-four exciting exhibits, making it the most extensive and informative museum of its type on planet earth. Also included in the Learning Centre are two interactive computer displays that contain information and high-tech graphics on space, meteorites and asteroids, the solar system, and the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet that impacted Jupiter.

Everybody has to visit Las Vegas once in a lifetime and today is your day as your Route 66 holiday brings you right there!

It’s a city founded on entertainment, glitter and fabulous night life. You can of course, try your hand at gambling, or let your hair down, enjoy yourself, take in a show, and otherwise let yourself be entertained! As they say in Las Vegas, “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

Las Vegas has seen unbelievable expansion since it emerged from the desert 100 years ago, with sights and sounds that are enjoyed by over 38.9 million holiday-makers every year. They stroll in some of the most glamorous, unique hotels in the world, eat at five-star restaurants and expansive buffets, play in pools, health spas and golf courses. Sometimes (many times, actually) they even marry each other.

Enjoy whatever you choose to do - afterall this is your holiday!