I’ve long been fascinated by Route 66 – the freedom, adventure and hope it represented in its heyday, and the heritage, passion and nostalgia it reflects today.
My first solo trip was a tour including a section of the ‘Mother Road’ in California, and it had me captivated. The neon signs, original motels, abandoned gas stations and red-chequered diners felt like stepping back in time, and I’d wanted to return ever since. So when I got the chance to explore a section of it in Missouri, I jumped.
This Midwestern state doesn’t get the glory of its westerly counterparts – there’s no Arizonian desert or Californian glam; it’s a politically red state with remote, rural small towns, crossing into the oft-stereotyped Ozark Mountains.
I was travelling at a time of Trump tariffs and international US scrutiny, but I wanted to put politics aside and meet the communities that call its landscapes home. Route 66 seemed like the perfect way to do that. Inaugurated in 1926 and thriving until the late 1950s, this historic road, which stretches 2,448 miles from Chicago to California, has witnessed its fair share.
Politicians and presidents have risen and fallen during its time. It has seen bank robbers and gangsters, as well as the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, when farmers and other workers travelled the entire route to seek a new life out west. It survived the Second World War, when troops and military equipment were transported along it.
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It thrived on post-war freedom and the mainstream rise of cars, bringing new opportunities for adventure and a new-found ability to travel for fun. It has long transcended any one moment, and it’s this window into the past that so intrigues me.
And while the westerly stretches tend to get the glory, it’s in Missouri that much of the action happened. It’s while I’m here that I learn Springfield, Missouri – a small, friendly city of around 170,000 – is known as the birthplace of the route, since it’s the spot where it was named 66.
As we traverse the state’s 300-mile section across five days, I’m surprised by just how much history is here. Examples are everywhere; in the pint-sized Ozark city of Joplin, we glimpse the house where gangsters Bonnie and Clyde hid out for 12 days in 1933, before killing two law enforcement officers in a shootout (it’s now on Airbnb for as little as £120 a night, for anyone who fancies literally walking in their footsteps).
At the Meramec Caverns – a mainstay Route 66 attraction since it opened in 1933 – we learn how Wild West outlaws Frank and Jesse James hid deep underground here in the 1870s. At an ordinary-looking square in Springfield, we see the spot where America’s first Wild West shootout ever happened.
It’s not just the stories themselves that fascinate me; it’s also the sheer passion of those keeping them alive.
We see it everywhere we stop. At the Gillioz Theatre in Springfield, opened in 1926, executive director Geoff Steele tells us about the history and preservation of this storied arts venue, which still hosts theatre shows and films today.
He paints a vivid picture of what it was like in the Route 66 golden era. “Travellers would drive in the cool of the morning, pull over somewhere and explore,” he says. “Springfield was a booming metropolis, so they would come to the Gillioz Theatre, catch a show in the day, eat dinner and then travel on in the cool of the evening.
“People were so excited about Route 66 because it was a pivotal point in American expansion,” he says. “The ability to now just get in your car in Chicago and drive all the way to the Pacific Ocean created opportunities to explore America like never before.”
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As with just about every other place we visit on the route, we hear stories of those who came to the theatre back in the day – including Elvis, who apparently “snuck out of his sound check” before his performance at the nearby Shrine Mosque to watch a film here, and was found sitting on the backseat by a policeman.
Those stories are still being made; Chappell Roan (the American singer-songwriter and global LGBT+ icon) hails from the nearby town of Willard and had her first performance at the Gillioz Theatre at 15. She also shot some of her famous ‘Hot to Go’ video here.
There’s plenty more of this kind of heritage elsewhere on the route. Just outside of Springfield, we visit Gary’s Gay Parita, a replica of a Sinclair gas station originally opened in the 1930s (named after the original owner’s wife, Gay Mason, and its second owner, the late Gary Turner).
Turner set about rebuilding the gas station in 2004 after the original burned down in 1955. Today it’s owned and operated by his daughter, Barbara Barnes, and her husband George, who welcome us with open arms and are among the friendliest people I’ve ever met.
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“Just make yourselves at home!” says Barbara as she proffers us fresh watermelon and snacks in a way that makes me feel like I’m visiting a long-lost aunt.
Barbara explains how she wanted to retain the vibe of this legendary spot – a long-time drop-in for anyone travelling the Mother Road. Rusty trucks, retro gas pumps and other Route 66 paraphernalia sit between outdoor plants. We gather inside a corrugated hut, filled with red-and-white chequered tables and old Coca Cola posters, as the couple share their stories with us.
“Paul McCartney came here when my father ran it,” says Barbara. “The Hairy Bikers came through in 2017 – they told me the hot dog I made them was the best they’d ever had!”
“I’m doing this for the love,” she adds. “I feel like everybody along Route 66 is doing the same things I did with my dad. There’s a real sense of community along the whole route, and that makes it very special.”
That vibe runs throughout every place we go to. In St Louis, we stop at Ted Drewes, a roadside drive-in that’s been passed through the family since 1941. It stands in classic Route 66 fashion; a low-key, slatted white building specialising in frozen custard (ice cream made with egg yolk and flavoured with everything from cookie dough to root beer, blueberry to butterscotch).
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In Kirkwood, we stop at Spencer’s Grill, an old-school American diner that’s also been operating since the Forties, where tiny round red stalls line the bar and staff chat like you’ve known them for years. Burgers, pancakes and hearty breakfast dishes are served on plates the size of a small child, and locals gaze in admiration of our British accents.
In Carthage, we pull up at a drive-in cinema where rows of viewers watch through their car windscreens beneath a pitch-black sky, and I feel like I’ve literally stepped into a scene from Grease. Nearby, we stay at the Boots Court Motel, where “King of Hollywood” and Gone With the Wind actor Clark Gable once stayed, and where retro radios sit in the rooms, recreating the nostalgic vibe of yesteryear.
Route 66 today isn’t just about recreating the original businesses, though; it’s about establishing new ones too. We pass so many quirky attractions that feel like the modern equivalent of what travellers would have experienced back in the day.
Among them is the Laumeier Sculpture Park, an outdoor art gallery where more than 60 sculptures sit across 105 acres of lush parkland and woods. In Joplin, I find myself having plenty of Insta-fun at Shifferdecker Park, whose series of huge paintings, sprayed onto the streets, offer 3D illusions to mark the Route 66 Centennial.
It’s this sense of blending old and new that keeps Route 66 alive. And it’s in the city of St Louis, where our trip actually began, that I see this fusion at its best. This is the home of the Gateway Arch – the largest monument in the US, built to symbolise the city as a gateway to the west, where original capsule carriages still carry visitors to the top.
It’s also here the steel-beamed Old Chain Rocks Bridge was built in 1929, crossing the Mississippi River and marking the entry point for Route 66 in Missouri. Closed to vehicles in 1970, it’s now restored and pedestrianised, welcoming cyclists and walkers who come to stroll along it, connecting visitors to the past in a way so much of Route 66 does.
And that’s really the magic of the Mother Road. At a time of global upheaval, there’s a comfort in seeing something that has remained, in so many ways, frozen in time, yet in others renewed and refreshed.
I’ll long remember my journey through this underrated state, where locals are preserving their heritage with admirable passion. It’s their stories that really make a trip here – and I can only hope they continue to be preserved and told in the years to come.
How to get there
British Airways will be operating direct flights four times a week from London to St Louis in Missouri from April 2026, with return fares starting from £529. From here you can rent a car to drive the route.
Laura was travelling as a guest of Visit Missouri.
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