much of the route is marked not all of it is, and historic signs are often taken by less respectful souvenir-seekers.

A lot of old 66 has survived as frontage road to the interstate. Despite this I found it easy to ignore the interstate and concentrate on the two-lane, imagining how it would have been to drive the road fifty years ago. I liked winding through all the little towns along the way, seeing surviving attractions of the road's heyday alongside relics and ruins.

Outside of the United States many other countries have formed Route 66 groups as well to support and promote the road of legend, including Canada, France, Japan, Germany, Holland and Italy, among others. These groups provide information to tourists heading for Route 66 and sometimes sponsor tours for groups. It is not at all uncommon to encounter foreign motorists on a Route 66 journey.

In the 2006 film Cars , hot-shot race car Lightning McQueen finds himself lost in the dark on the backroads en route to California [Race cars have no headlights, you see. ] . By the light of day he discovers he has found, much to his dismay, Radiator Springs,