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In the 1940s and '50s, Route 66 was one of America's most popular highways, driving business to small towns from Chicago to Santa Monica. But today, the road and its people have been largely forgotten. Ghost towns, empty motels, and abandoned gas stations line its path. Chief correspondent Abby Narishkin grew up along the road. In celebration of its 100th anniversary, she drove down the old route herself to visit the people and businesses still keeping this Americana legacy alive.
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00:01I went to one of America's biggest steakhouses that draws in more than half a million guests a year.
00:08The Big Texan opened on the iconic Route 66 in 1960.
00:12But by the 80s, traffic on the old highway had nearly disappeared.
00:17My dad's business went from the full dining room to two people for the whole day.
00:21The steakhouse moved to a busier spot off a new interstate and survived.
00:30But plenty of businesses along Route 66 weren't so lucky.
00:34Back in the 1940s and 50s, it was one of America's most popular highways, stretching across eight states, from Chicago
00:42to California.
00:44I actually grew up right along Route 66, and I think I didn't really understand the historical significance of the
00:51road.
00:52Small towns built their economies along the road, dubbing it the Main Street of America.
00:59Today, some of these communities are ghost towns.
01:02There's not much left to it. It's largely abandoned. It looks like this.
01:09This year, Route 66 turns 100.
01:12So I drove down the old road myself to learn what made it famous in the first place.
01:17And meet the people and businesses still fighting to keep it alive.
01:21Without Route 66, we would not still be here.
01:25All to answer, what happened to America's most iconic road? And why should anyone still care about it?
01:39I started my journey at Ted Drew's in St. Louis, Missouri, where I grew up.
01:44Travis Dillon is the son-in-law of Ted Drew's Jr.
01:48He's carried on the family business since his passing.
01:50Here I am in my 70s, and I still hang around here.
01:54The creamery opened up on Route 66 in 1941, and it's stuck to the same frozen custard recipe ever since.
02:02I don't have any goals of franchising. I've turned them down my whole life.
02:06They whip together eggs and butterfat for the base, and stir in mix-ins to create new flavors.
02:12There's a certain recipe that's regulated. It's got to have so much butterfat, and it has to have so many
02:18eggs in it.
02:22I would say custard melts much quicker in your mouth.
02:27The kitchen uses this frozen custard to make its most popular item on the menu, the concrete.
02:34They say they invented the tree at this very location.
02:37Dairy Queen even tried to say they did, but fortunately we proved that it wasn't. We have some records of
02:44it.
02:45But mixing a treat as thick as cement takes a bit of a learning curve.
02:50Now your goal is to push the flavor throughout, and we go up and down to push that strawberry to
02:55the bottom.
02:57So you can see why I can spray myself pretty easily.
03:02Now there's a final touch.
03:06You can spray it everywhere.
03:08I'll take it off for you.
03:10And you pull it out the right time.
03:11So you can take the lid off and put it in this well back here.
03:15And reveal my creation.
03:18It's so thick you can flip it upside down, and it won't fall out.
03:21How many times are you able to flip it?
03:24I don't know.
03:25But it depends on how thick it is.
03:27I don't want to do it!
03:30Well, you could edit that.
03:33Did I get it on my hat too?
03:34Oh my gosh.
03:36Oh my gosh.
03:36You know what?
03:37I could be here 50 years.
03:38I'd still make a mess.
03:40When Ted Drew's first opened, it didn't serve concretes.
03:44And it wasn't on Route 66.
03:48The founder, Ted Drew Sr., played tennis and started selling frozen custard to support his family and career.
03:55And so he knew a friend that had a frozen custard recipe and he tweaked it.
03:59The business took off and he opened this location in 1941.
04:03They said, Teddy, Teddy, you won't believe it.
04:05We found a property right on Route 66.
04:08It became his busiest spot.
04:11The police had to come almost every weekend to move the crowds in.
04:15In the winter, when ice cream sales dropped, they used the lot to sell Christmas trees as traffic flew by.
04:23And 66 still brings them customers today.
04:27We have probably one bus a day average comes by with travelers.
04:32They could be from Australia, England, Japan.
04:36How are you here to come to Ted Drew's?
04:38Well, that's just one of the icons of the Mother Road, right?
04:43T.A. Brown is biking the whole stretch of 66, from Chicago to Santa Monica.
04:48The reality is, this is a ride of a lifetime.
04:51It's pure freedom knowing that I have to rely on myself and my machine.
04:57And we're going that way.
04:59He keeps a journal of his trips.
05:02What are you excited to see along Route 66?
05:04More of a feeling than what to see.
05:08It's this sense of adventure.
05:10You're going to run into rain? Of course you are.
05:13But to do it, you understand intrinsically why people write songs and books about doing it.
05:20But unlike T.A., many Americans today have forgotten about the road.
05:25This is a big deal to people outside our country.
05:29And that's really what's kind of sad is we take it for granted.
05:33So how did a highway that's neither the longest nor the oldest become so popular in the first place?
05:41In 1900, before Route 66, most roads outside cities were unpaved and disjointed and lacked clear signage.
05:50It took months to travel cross-country by automobile, for the few daring enough to try it.
05:57Then in 1926, the U.S. government implemented the first federal highway system.
06:02It drew routes by connecting local, state and national roads, which were originally based on trails carved out by Native
06:10Americans.
06:11It was the beginning of the nation's numbered highway system.
06:15Odd digits marked north to south, while even signaled east to west.
06:20The longest cross-country highways usually ended in zero or one.
06:25But Route 66 broke that rule.
06:28It connected rural communities across America to cities, enabling farmers to bring their goods to larger markets.
06:36In the 1930s, farmers traveled the route to escape the devastating Dust Bowl, heading west in search of jobs.
06:45During World War II, California factories used it to transport munitions.
06:51As traffic grew, motels and restaurants popped up to cater to visitors.
06:56The route helped small towns grow into bustling communities.
07:01Then in 1945, World War II ended, and travel restrictions were lifted.
07:08Families reunited and had more time and money to spend.
07:12Car sales spiked, and millions of Americans took to the road.
07:17Road tripping in America came into fashion, transforming Route 66 from an immigration and cargo roadway to a highway of
07:24thrills.
07:25Hundreds of small towns along the route opened auto shops, restaurants, cafes, saloons, and motor courts to attract business from
07:32passing drivers.
07:34You needed these small towns. You needed to take a break, and you needed a good night's sleep.
07:39Here in Tucumcari, New Mexico, Rob Federico and his wife Dawn own the Blue Swallow Motel.
07:46It's one of the last standing motor courts on 66, in business since 1940.
07:54This rotary phone is from the 1940s, and there's still a dial tone.
07:59The tile, the toilet, the porcelain sink, all of it's from the 1930s.
08:04Look, you can tell because your hot and your cold water are split.
08:11These type of motels were everywhere.
08:14Tucumcari boasted at one time 3,500 rooms.
08:17The cars of the 40s and 50s were not the efficient beasts we have today.
08:22You didn't get 400 miles to the gallon.
08:24You had to watch your water intake.
08:26You had to watch the tires and the air level of your car.
08:29When's the last time you had to take your wheels off your car, pack the bearings full of grease, and
08:34put it back on a four-hour job?
08:37Because these cars broke down all the time and needed so much maintenance, there were a dozen auto shops in
08:43this one small town.
08:45You dropped your car off the garage, you got a night at a hotel, you got a nice meal, and
08:50you're on the road the next day traveling.
08:53Rob and Dawn moved here from Chicago and took over the motel in 2020, determined to keep it exactly like
08:58it was in the olden days.
09:00Why did you want to buy it?
09:01Being in Chicago, it is the home of the sky rise, the high rise.
09:06Burnham, Sullivan, home of the original American architecture.
09:10We all know of French Provincial and Italian Renaissance.
09:13What about American architecture?
09:15This is one that fits the bill.
09:16So it was to own a piece of Americana that I'm going to run, maintain, live at, and try to
09:24keep the neon alive.
09:25Was it sacrilegious for a couple of Illinoisans to move here?
09:29No.
09:30We just went down old Route 66 until we ran out of gas.
09:34Right here?
09:35Right in front of the Blue Swallow Motel. How ironic.
09:38The creative director of Cars, Jay Ward, and his team drove down 66 while working on the movie, and based
09:44many of the characters and locations on communities they encountered.
09:48Yeah, he came by here on the anniversary of the Cars movie, and they've been back a couple times since.
09:55We were used as an inspiration for Sally's in the movie Cars.
09:58100% refrigerated air, coral color.
10:04Along Tucumcari's streets, you can see old gas stations, restaurants, and motels that were built on the road.
10:12Much of it is abandoned today.
10:16After dark, only some of the town still glows.
10:20I was just about to head back inside when we spotted a car all lit up.
10:25Come back.
10:26We waved down the driver.
10:28This is a 66, and that's the year I was born, see?
10:31That's the reason I bought this car.
10:34And he ended up bringing his whole crew with him.
10:37Oh my god, there's so many!
10:40Oh my gosh, ask and you shall receive!
10:44Oh my god!
10:47They customized their rides with embroidered naming, colorful piping, and the swankiest paint jobs I've ever seen.
10:54Mine's a 1966 Chevy Impala, and the only thing I've done to it is put the tires, the ribs, and
11:01the lights underneath it.
11:03Oh my gosh.
11:04And why are you out here tonight?
11:06Because we do this every night.
11:08We usually all get together, all these old cars, you know, and we just drive around and have a good
11:12time.
11:13Brings back memories, you know, of our childhood when we were in high school.
11:18Rocky Chavez invited me to join him.
11:20Got it.
11:21Okay.
11:22Can I sit in the front with you?
11:23Sure.
11:23And I was thrilled.
11:25I'm going cruising with Rocky!
11:27I'm so excited!
11:31This is freaking awesome!
11:37Rocky has lived in Tucumcari his whole life, and remembers when all these signs were lit up.
11:42Back in his heydays, this whole town was nothing but neon lights.
11:46It was so beautiful.
11:47I mean, every business was open.
11:50We had 2,000 motel rooms.
11:52We had 36 gas stations.
11:54We had like 32 restaurants.
11:58This used to be one of our theaters here.
12:01This was the Vista Tire.
12:03This was an old steakhouse.
12:06That was an old steakhouse.
12:08That was a drugstore.
12:09This used to be the big bank.
12:12There was almost 20,000 people at one time here.
12:15We had the railroad, the trucking companies.
12:18Levi Strauss used to be here.
12:20Driving down this boulevard when I grew up here,
12:22was so, so full of life.
12:26And now you pass here, all the buildings are boarded up.
12:28It just, there's nothing left, you know?
12:32So what happened to Route 66?
12:38In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act,
12:43which funded the construction of interstate highways.
12:47Instead of winding roads like 66 that connected towns
12:51and allowed businesses to pop up right along them,
12:54interstates bypassed communities completely,
12:57slicing as directly as possible across states.
13:00Some towns didn't even get an exit.
13:03So unless a business could afford a billboard,
13:06drivers sped by, not even knowing it was there.
13:09You have to build your infrastructure away from where it's been
13:12for 60, 100 years, 10 miles outside of town.
13:16Only corporations can do that.
13:18They can afford to build a new motel.
13:20The small mom-and-pop restaurants, hotels,
13:24were, they felt for God.
13:27By 1960, much of Route 66 was replaced by I-40,
13:32stretching from Oklahoma to California.
13:34So in 1956, St. Louis built this highway, Interstate 44,
13:38and this road completely bypassed Route 66.
13:42Interstate 44 also notoriously used eminent domain to cut entire communities in half,
13:50mostly Black communities in St. Louis.
13:53Communities protested as the final stretch of Route 66 was bypassed in 1984.
13:58But a year later, 66 was decommissioned.
14:03The government took away its federal highway signs and left it up to local towns and counties
14:08to maintain and keep its legacy alive.
14:12Hundreds of independent motels, diners, and gas stations closed as the route faded from memory.
14:17Now ghost towns stand as fossils of the highway's golden era.
14:25I decided to visit one on the border of Texas and New Mexico.
14:30But getting there on a decommissioned road has its challenges.
14:33Drive down Route 66, they said.
14:39I kind of missed the highway.
14:43Some places, it gets kind of convoluted.
14:46There's some discussion about which routes to follow to really be on the true mother road.
14:52Parts of it are unpaved, and on other stretches...
14:55I haven't seen a speed limit sign. I have no idea what the speed limit is along here.
15:12So we just got to Glen Rio here along Route 66, and there's not much left to it.
15:19It's largely abandoned.
15:21It looks like this.
15:30This is Route 66 right here.
15:32And on one side of the sign, it says last stop in Texas.
15:37And on the other side of the sign, it says first stop in Texas.
15:45This was a motel, and now it's completely abandoned.
15:52I knew we would come across some places that were abandoned, but very eerie to be in a town that,
15:59it seems, was given up on.
16:04The only remnants of Glen Rio are one resident and a new smoke shop, opened up three years ago.
16:11This is our little dispensary, a little home away from home, I guess.
16:17Is it trippy for you to be working in a place that doesn't exist, kind of?
16:20Oh, yeah.
16:21Well, time doesn't exist either.
16:22Because it's like, Texas is in Central and New Mexico is in Mountain.
16:25So it's an hour difference depending on where you are.
16:29You know, and then it's exit zero, so it's kind of like it's really just its own entity, its own
16:33energy, its own everything.
16:35And do you think that you could revitalize the town beyond just one person and one shop?
16:41I think so, yeah. I do, yeah.
16:43I'm a part of something that's really amazing.
16:47Back in the day, Glen Rio grew in popularity as an important stop on the railroad and right by the
16:53state line.
16:55People from New Mexico crossed over to buy cheaper gas in Texas.
16:59And travelers from Texas, with many dry counties at the time, drove here to buy alcohol.
17:04So there's a rumor that when I-40 bypassed Glen Rio, highway planners chose not to give this town an
17:11exit
17:11because they didn't like the people crossed over to drink.
17:14This bar here is where the state line bar used to sit.
17:19But in 1973, the owner was stabbed and died.
17:22And that's sort of noted as a pivotal point in history for this town
17:27because the state line bar never reopened after the killing.
17:31Over time, the town's population disappeared.
17:48But some places refused to be cut off.
17:51Like the Big Texan, an Amarillo steakhouse that originally opened on the Mother Road in 1960.
17:57When Route 66 was bypassed, my dad's business went from a full dining room to two people for the whole
18:04day.
18:04So they relocated the restaurant to I-40.
18:07And the pivot worked.
18:09Now it's one of the busiest steakhouses in America, serving more than 1,500 customers a day.
18:16I betrayed Route 66 and hopped on the interstate to see how they pulled it off.
18:21Oh my God, there it is.
18:25The first thing that stood out to me was just the sheer size of this place.
18:30Lives up to the name.
18:32This place is huge.
18:34And so is the kitchen.
18:36They whip up gallons of mashed potatoes, thousands of rolls, vats of homemade steak sauce, and cow balls.
18:44We're closer to a circus than we are a restaurant.
18:49Hannah Weeks has worked here for two years.
18:52And she showed me how they get it done down here in Texas.
18:55We do so much volume that we require that we have people here that can fix problems on demand.
19:02What are you working on today?
19:04Ovens, an ice machine, an air conditioner.
19:07Air conditioner, that's a big one.
19:09In this room, they cut hundreds of steaks a day.
19:13Eight and 36-ounce T-bones and tomahawks, all sourced from Texas.
19:17I just want you to see this rack here.
19:19This is all steak.
19:23The star of the show is this four-pound slab of beef.
19:26The cut that contenders try to conquer in their famous steak challenge.
19:33The competition has been a staple here since the restaurant's beginning.
19:37Back when The Big Texan was founded, motorists traveling through Texas
19:41wanted to see cowboys.
19:43If you go to Hawaii, you want to see girls in grass skirts.
19:47If you want to go to Texas, you expect to see cowboys eat in big steaks.
19:51So Bobby Lee's dad put the cowboys from the ranch across the street on full display
19:56on a platform in the middle of the dining room.
19:59They were rowdy and they were hungry.
20:02I can eat more than you. I'm stronger than you.
20:04It was the show. It was the real Western show that they wanted to see and it was genuine.
20:09To keep them there, he gave them one-pound steaks and dared them to eat as many as they could.
20:15The place was just a circus, total circus of people packed in there to watch these cowboys
20:19to see who was going to eat the most steaks.
20:21The steak challenge was born.
20:25But when I-40 cut through town, the motorists and the cowboys stopped showing up.
20:31Route 66 disintegrates and things got really, really, really tough.
20:37My dad's position, he had eight kids. He had, you know, 50 employees.
20:42By a stroke of luck, the founder owned a plot of land along I-40 where he sold alcohol outside
20:48the dry county.
20:49So he moved his restaurant there.
20:51It's one of the coolest stories.
20:53My grandfather shut the doors down at 10.30 at night on Route 66,
20:57moved all the restaurant equipment, all the tables, all the salt and pepper shakers into the new restaurant.
21:03It was open in the morning on I-40.
21:05And the show hasn't stopped since.
21:08You are about to witness the greatest steakhouse challenge in all of history.
21:12Without fail, every evening, contestants show up.
21:16Tonight, four guys took a seat at the cowboy table.
21:20They cannot stand up, they cannot get up, they cannot throw up or they will be disqualified.
21:25They have to finish 72 ounces of beef, plus a baked potato, a roll, three fried shrimp and a salad.
21:35All within an hour.
21:37If they do not, they owe the big Texan 72 fuckaroos.
21:42The restaurant livestreams the event and people tune in from around the world.
21:46If one of our cameras in the dining room gets a little off-kilter, all of a sudden we start
21:50getting calls from New Zealand or Australia or England saying,
21:56you know, we wager in our pub and one of your cameras is off and we can't see the eaters.
22:00Can you please fix it? We got a lot of bets running on this thing.
22:02I've learned that the winners of the 72 ounce steak challenge eat a ton in the week before to literally
22:07like expand their stomachs.
22:10And I've seen some interesting strategies.
22:12He showed up hungry.
22:13He hasn't eaten anything in 17 hours.
22:16He's eaten it with his hands.
22:18So we've got all sorts of strategies here.
22:21Tonight, Van Tran lost the bet.
22:23This is as far as I go.
22:26Tapping out.
22:27What's happening?
22:28I'm full.
22:29Why?
22:30I'm full.
22:31With 40 minutes left on the clock, we had ourselves another fallen soldier.
22:36He's sweating over there.
22:38He's sweating.
22:39But just as things were looking down, right around the halfway mark, Ramon Varela finished his final bite.
22:46Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!
22:53He is the 10,734th person to finish the 72 ounce steak.
22:58Do you feel bad?
23:00Not really.
23:01You can't think too hard about it.
23:03If you start thinking, no one would ever do this.
23:06I have all the strategy, but I'm never going to do it.
23:08I didn't have the stomach for the challenge, but I still wanted to try the food myself.
23:12I've actually never had Rocky Mountain oysters, so I can't believe I'm going to eat some cow balls.
23:20It's all chewy.
23:21It kind of just tastes like fried something.
23:24I'm going to try Bobby's steak, the center cut.
23:30And this ribeye.
23:31Look at the sides of this thing.
23:36And just tons of sides.
23:38My favorite side is definitely the mac and cheese.
23:42Yeah.
23:43Since Big Texans' lucky move to I-40, the Lee family has worked to avoid relying on a single road
23:49for their success.
23:50Well, we'll try this.
23:51Six months ago, Bobby's son, Patrick, started advertising their steaks on social media to draw in customers beyond the interstate.
23:59I posted, like, one video of, like, the 72-odd steak hitting a plate or getting in front of somebody.
24:04And that video just went super viral.
24:06Ever since, he's been filming himself out front.
24:10Grilling, flipping, and juggling.
24:13Breaks up the enzymes in him, makes him a little bit more tender.
24:16Kind of gets the air flowing around him.
24:18He's like, what kind of steakhouse is this?
24:22Building an online audience beyond the road has helped the Big Texan do better than ever.
24:27Over the years, they've added all kinds of attractions.
24:30A Longhorn Ranch, the Slug Bug Ranch, and a motel, complete with a Texas-shaped pool.
24:37Is this really what the West used to look like, or is this Disney version of the West?
24:40Disney version.
24:41And I don't mind saying that, because, you know, people enjoy it either way.
24:45Some Route 66 purists don't love that the Big Texan isn't on the Mother Road anymore.
24:51Others say that Bobby, his son, and the four-pound steaks have kept Amarillo on the map.
24:56They bring busloads of travelers to the town, just like the original highway did.
25:02It's very American. I'm enjoying it. Culture shock coming from Australia, but I love it.
25:08You mean you don't have 72-ounce meat challenges in Australia?
25:12Probably not. Probably not.
25:15For those that did not pivot away from Route 66, how hard is it to have a business on that
25:20road now?
25:21It's real hard. You're not going to get rich in one of those small towns.
25:27Get off I-40, go on Route 66 and discover what you see, the historic Route 66.
25:33Those people are sincere. Their product is good.
25:36And they represent the old world that way.
25:39And it makes for a better road trip, because it's not about the destination.
25:44You know, it's about the trip getting there.
25:47And we did exactly that. We avoided I-40 as we traveled to the Midpoint Cafe, located, you guessed it,
25:54right at the halfway point of Route 66.
25:59This place looks straight out of the 1950s, with its checkered tablecloths, old Coke bottles, and pies.
26:06Lots and lots of pies.
26:09I don't eat pie. I make enough pie that I don't eat pie.
26:12Brenda Bradley started running the cafe in 2018.
26:16I come down here, and then I married a different gentleman, and so he died.
26:19And I married another gentleman that's from here.
26:21I'm just on my first one, so...
26:23Well, I'm 65.
26:25I got time to catch up.
26:27You're still a pup.
26:28Yeah.
26:31But you're a beautiful one, I bet.
26:34This year, her business has tripled, thanks to the Road Centennial.
26:38They're standing out the line, 20 minutes out the door.
26:40Wow.
26:41That's busy.
26:42She's best known for her pies, and makes about 20 a day.
26:46This is my Elvis, which is chocolate, peanut butter, and banana.
26:48And then this is my chocolate peanut butter.
26:51I tried their New Mexico classic, green chili apple pie.
26:55It's great.
26:57Mmm.
26:58Not bad at all, huh?
26:59It's not as spicy as I thought it would be.
27:01No, it's not.
27:01It has just a little bit of a kick at the end.
27:05This cafe is nearly a century old, and Brenda told me keeping its legacy alive isn't easy.
27:11This is a day and night job.
27:13And at the end of this year, I'm going to sell, though, because I'm tired.
27:16Yeah.
27:16Okay.
27:17Who do you think is going to buy it?
27:19I have no idea.
27:20Hopefully somebody.
27:21You can't let it close, though.
27:22You've got to make sure it goes to the right home.
27:24It won't close.
27:24I will make sure it stays running all the time, yeah.
27:29This is a struggle that mom and pop saw for Route 66 face, keeping the neon lit.
27:34You're put in a position where if you mess up, the store may not be here anymore.
27:40You're part of a history that predates you by 80 years.
27:45Still, each of the places I visited continues to draw in crowds by staying true to its roots.
27:51I don't want it to ever be corporate in the franchises and chains and trying to be unique and genuine
27:57and honest and stick true to the heritage.
27:59You can't do it once a big company comes in.
28:02These mom and pop's persistence is the reason why the road's legacy carries on today.
28:08There's a lot of folks that are enjoying themselves and living and making a prosperous life on a highway that
28:12they said died in the 1980s.
28:14Why do you think we should care about Route 66?
28:17It's a great chapter of American history.
28:19You know, you hear the old stop and smell the roses.
28:23Spontaneity is the spice of life.
28:25Take the road.
28:26You're not traveling 80 miles an hour.
28:29Enjoy the journey.
28:30Isn't that what life's about?
28:31We live in a world where chain restaurants, chain hotels and gas stations have taken over the road trip.
28:38Wherever you go, everything's the same.
28:41And maybe for some, that's comforting.
28:43But when you come to a town like this, as disorienting as it might be that there aren't your familiar
28:49chains, it's very special.
28:52Every single restaurant, every single truck stop, every single gas station has a different owner.
28:57It's unique. It has a different theme.
28:59I think it's so special that that still exists in America.
29:03It feels more alive.
29:06You stop and really talk to someone.
29:09You make friends with strangers.
29:15Everything we saw on Route 66 was indicative of the creativity and the color that feels most American.
29:22I met an artist in Amarillo making jewelry out of old paint scraps from Cadillac Ranch.
29:28I was driving limousines and party buses for four years just to pay the rent.
29:32Now I don't have to do that.
29:34I met a restaurant owner making a name for Indian food down south.
29:38We wanted to do something on our own and we found this.
29:40I actually found this little place.
29:42If you look at our menu, we do like a fusion kind of thing.
29:45We do burgers.
29:46We do burritos.
29:47We do pizzas.
29:49That kind of stuff.
29:50But with the Indian twist.
29:51So that people who are like traveling on Route 66 to get them like in the door.
29:57I even got a motorcycle ride.
29:59You ready to go for a ride?
30:01I am.
30:01Thanks for taking me out.
30:03Longtime biker Dale Tyro on a whim invited me on the back of his Yamaha.
30:09I held on for dear life as we sped down Route 66.
30:25That was so much fun.
30:27She was a very good rider.
30:29I was impressed.
30:30She didn't fall off.
30:31It's not good when your passenger falls off.
30:34You got to turn around and go get them.
30:39Even abandoned spots stood out because they felt special.
30:45Like this old gas station built from the windows of a World War II airstrip control tower.
30:50See the doors bend to be at the same angle as the control tower windows.
30:55Ugh.
30:55What I would give to see that open again.
30:58Why do you think people should care about Route 66?
31:01Oh, Route 66 holds so many generations.
31:03If you travel from Missouri and go all the way to California, can you imagine the different cultures you would
31:10experience?
31:11It represents the freedom of being on the open road.
31:15Going where you wanted to go and just taking it all in God's country kind of deal.
31:20There's still some awesome places.
31:22There's still some awesome places.
31:22You need to go see it.
31:23The people that have kept it alive, you need to go meet them.
31:26They're all cool.
31:27I mean, people think it's just a road, but it's not.
31:29It's the path to people.
31:32If you decide to travel west, take this highway that runs my way, well, it's the best.
31:42Whether it was the food, the businesses, or the people, everything along Route 66 was one of a kind.
31:49Runs from Chicago to L.A. 2,000 miles along the way.
31:58Even a century later, it continues to defy odds.
32:02And remains, rightfully so, one of America's most legendary roadways.
32:08I actually grew up right along Route 66.
32:12Had my first job on Route 66.
32:14We went to the mall, like, on the road, so.
32:16It wasn't really this abstract thing in history because we were right along it.
32:20So it's been really fun to meet folks that are biking all the way down Route 66
32:25and families that are driving the whole thing.
32:28Because I think it's reminding me of the importance of this road for American history.
32:33And that a lot of us forgot that.
32:36If you decide to travel west, take this highway that runs my way, well, it's the best.
32:45And you get your kicks, Route 66.
32:50Get your kicks on Route 66.
32:57Thank you so much, David.
33:02So somehow I ended up in a car with this lovely man named Rocky.
33:06I'm going cruising on Route 66.
33:11This is pretty awesome.