Historic Route 66: Americana on the go

The Midpoint Café, in Adrian, Texas, is the midway point along "America's Main Street," Route 66. Chicago is 1,139 miles one way; Los Angeles is 1,139 miles the other way. Like our country, the road is celebrating an anniversary, too, and there's only one way to celebrate.

Route 66 begs to be driven. You don't have to do it in a '57 pickup, but we borrowed one anyway, just for the fun of it. Riding shotgun with us is Michael Wallis, journalist, author, and longtime Route 66 historian. "Nothing about Route 66 is predictable," said Wallis. "It's a word you should never use. That's why I like it. It's unpredictable."

Celebrating its 100 years requires a lot of looking back in our rearview mirrors.

In the 1930s, Route 66 was a highway of hope – the "Mother Road," as John Steinbeck called it, for those fleeing the Dust Bowl.

By the '40s it had become a place to get your kicks, and by the '60s, drivers found its endless expanse a pretty "easy ride."

But Route 66 had its dark stretches, too. In states shrouded by Jim Crow laws, Black Americans were advised where and where not to drive. Wallis said, "Sometimes, the Mother Road could be an abusive mother."

Long since decommissioned, Route 66 once stretched from Illinois all the way to California – some 2,400 miles through eight states. And along the way, it offered scenic vistas and roadside curiosities – something our Charles Kuralt knew a thing or two about.

Reporting in 1975, Kuralt found one such Route 66 curiosity west of Amarillo. "I said, would you look over there? That looks for all the world like 10 Cadillacs nose down in a wheat field." Cadillac Ranch remains a must-stop to this day.

If you go up the road to Tulsa - you'll find a land of giants – towering characters lining the road, including Buck Atom the Space Cowboy, imagined by Mary Beth Babcock. She runs a Route 66 gift shop in what used to be an old filling station.

CBS has been down this road before, of course, meeting all kinds of people, like 99-year-old Angel Delgadillo, a retired barber in Seligman, Arizona, whom we first met in 1989. Back then he described Route 66 to "The CBS Evening News": "It touched millions and millions and millions and millions of people, for years and years and years and years and years."

But once nearby I-40 was finished in 1984, everything changed. "When they opened that highway, the traveling public took to I-40 like ducks take to water," he told us.

Route 66 became the road less travelled. The bones of old motels and bars and restaurants litter the route, beaten by time and the desert sun.

"For a while, Route 66 was forgotten," said Lillian Redman. When "48 Hours" visited her back in 1993, she was bemoaning that life had somehow sped up – whizzing past her Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico. "People went as fast as they could, everywhere they could go," she said.

Even so, some tourists did slow down (from time to time, anyway), which at first puzzled Angel Delgadillo: "I finally asked myself, what are these people looking for? It finally dawned on me. They're looking for America of yesterday."

He got the idea that if parts of the road were designated "historic," it might just bring people back, like scenic viewpoints signs that convince drivers to stop. And it worked. Tour buses now arrive in Seligman almost every day.

Back in Tucumcari, New Mexico, at the Blue Swallow Motel, rooms are now usually booked solid – and while Lillian Redman is no longer here, it's still family run. "This is a little bubble, back into the 1950s and the '60s," said Dawn Federico. "We call it our little happy bubble. And it's a neat place to be."

She and Rob Federico don't call themselves owners; they're caretakers, they say, of a rich roadside ritual. For decades, travelers have pulled in to the Blue Swallow as strangers, but after watching the sunset together, they often hit the road again as friends.

"While we're the ones keeping it rolling, it's the folks that keep it alive," said Rob.

Route 66 is a paved Norman Rockwell – a two-lane thread where the progress of the East meets the traditions of the West, and became part of our national tapestry.

"It was always a beloved road," said Wallis. "Always."

If you're looking for the fastest way to get somewhere, your GPS probably won't bring you here. But if it's the open road you want, with all its possibilities and surprises, there are two lanes waiting for you to find Americana on the go.

     
For more info

• Route 66 Centennial
• Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program (National Park Service Guide)
• National Historic Route 66 Federation
• Route 66 Road Trip Planner
• "Route 66: The Mother Road - 100th Anniversary Edition" by Michael Wallis (St. Martin's Griffin), in Trade Paperback format, available August 25 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• michaelwallis.com
• Midpoint Café, Adrian, Texas (Facebook)
• Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, Texas
• Buck Atom's Cosmic Curios, Tulsa, Okla.
• Blue Swallow Motel, Tucumcari, New Mexico
• Angel & Vilma Delgadillo's Original Route 66 Gift Shop, Seligman, Ariz.

     
Story produced by Michelle Kessel. Editor: Remington Korper.

Join CBS for "The Great American Block Party 250," a primetime special on Saturday, July 4, hosted by CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil and Entertainment Tonight's Nischelle Turner, featuring live musical performances, celebrations around the country, and the largest fireworks show in history in the skies over the nation's capital. Tune in July 4 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream it on Paramount+ and CBS News 24/7.

See also:

• Almanac: Historic Route 66 ("Sunday Morning")
• From 1991: Bill Geist travels Route 66, the "Main Street of America" ("Sunday Morning")