U.S. Route 66
(colloquially known as the "Main Street of America" or the "Mother
Road") was one of the original U.S. highways. Route 66 was
established on November 11, 1926, however road signs did not go up
until the following year. The famous highway originally ran from
Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles,
covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). It was recognized in
popular culture by both a hit song and the
Route 66 television show in
the 1960s.
This portion of Route 66 was originally part of
the National
Trails Highway and today carries that name again.
On June 29, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
signed into law the
National Interstate and Defense Highways Act which initiated
the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highways across
America. As a result, many small towns that had once thrived along
the famed east-west Route 66 were bypassed by the new high-speed
interstate highway system. Faced with financial ruin, these
small
towns struggled to survive. This true story is
recalled in the 2006 Walt Disney Pictures film, Cars.
Route 66 was officially removed from the United
States Highway System on June 27, 1985 after it was decided the
route was no longer relevant and had been replaced by the
Interstate Highway System. This portion of the road bears "Historic
Route 66" signs and relevant historic information.
And the best part is there's way more caches
along Route 66 than along the Interstate!
When replacing the cache, it works best if you
put the logsheet in the lid (the smaller part) before screwing it
back onto the container.