At the age of 10 years old, my father took a road trip of a lifetime. He and his five brothers and sisters and mother and father crammed into a small 1962 Volkswagen with only the clothes on their backs and travelled the country.
From Illinois, they traveled upward toward Chicago and took their journey westward all the way to Washington and down to Oregon and Southern California. From Southern California, they took Route 66 all the way back to Chicago.

Americans are lucky. We don’t have to travel thousands of miles to other countries—everything anyone could ever want is here in the United States. We have the Great Plains, endless forests, two different oceans, deserts, snow capped mountain ranges, sandy, tropical islands, beautiful lakes, and enormous cities all in one country.
What better way to experience everything that America has to offer than to road trip on Route 66? Known as “the Main Street of America,” Route 66 covers 2,448 miles of American land. From Chicago to Los Angeles, this scenic highway serves as a true American landmark.

If you’re interested in checking it out, I recommend starting your journey at America’s third largest city, Chicago. From there, you can travel to St. Louis, Missouri and see the arc. After Missouri, Route 66 goes through Kansas and then Oklahoma. After Oklahoma, Route 66 covers Texas through the Texas panhandle and then goes to New Mexico and Arizona. Finally, Route 66 ends in Los Angeles, California at the Santa Monica Pier.

Route 66 offers a trip through America’s Heartland. It is widely known as the best road trip America has to offer and truly makes me a Proud American.