Get off the beaten path and explore the hidden-gem destinations within a few hours of the Mother Road! Includes numerous photos and illustrations. Known as the Main Street of America and the Mother Road, US Route 66 is the nation’s best-known highway. This lavishly illustrated book steers you from Chicago to Los Angeles, traveling through the lowlands of the American Plains and the high plateaus of New Mexico and Arizona, from the Great Lakes to the mighty Pacific Ocean, and through major metropolises and remote country towns. Best of all, it lets you branch away from the Mother Road and encounter gems hidden beyond today’s standard motels and tourist traps—the quaint frontier communities that date back to the nation’s westward expansion; the legacy of ancient native cultures; and the awe-inspiring natural wonders that have graced these lands since time immemorial. State parks, wildlife refuges, museums, historic sites, literary landmarks, and much more are there to be explored within a few hours’ drive from the path of Route 66. The fifty trips included here offer new travel opportunities for the thousands of road-trippers who follow this legendary route, looking for something more. “The road and this book recall a time before franchise restaurants and chain motels choked America’s highways . . . the guide consists of 50 driving tours, which include plenty of side trips.” —Arizona Republic