Route 66 – Chicago to Santa Monica
It was May of 2012 that we were last on Route 66. At the time, I was working and time off was hard to put together. We managed to pull together just over two weeks and got in Route 66 to the midpoint, just west of Amarillo.
We carefully researched the route at the time and used the book EZ 66 Guide for Travelers by Jerry McClanahan to lay out our trip. It was a great ten days, visiting small towns along the route, seeing relics of the old route, many lovingly restored, some just a ghost of what they were in the days when the road was king.
We did the ride in the Mustang, top down much of the way. To meet our schedule, there were some really long days of driving. When it was over, I vowed that I’d do it again, all the way to Santa Monica but I’d plan for a longer trip to allow more time to more leisurely explore the road.
It’s now 2018 and time for the return trip. Again, we used Jerry’s EZ 66 Guide and we planned a less hurried schedule because we can. We plan to cover the 2400-mile route in 4 weeks (28 days). We’re going to do the trip in the Mustang again, hopefully much of the time with the top down.
Since there’s not a lot of room in the trunk of the Mustang, I needed to get a bit creative to garner some extra storage space. After researching options, we decided to tow a small motorcycle utility trailer behind the car. The Mustang now has a hitch and a 24 cubic foot motorcycle trailer (painted the same color as the car) that gives us an additional space of just over three times the size of the trunk. And in a very fashionable package, I might add!
- Shout out here to Time Out Trailers (www.timeouttrailers.org) for having a great selection of options and a great end product that worked well with the car.
- Shout out here to Truck and Auto Elegance (www.truckandautoelegance.com) for working with us to get a compatible hitch and the perfect wiring solution to make a motorcycle trailer work with a domestic car (yes, there is a trick!)
In any case, the planning is done, the car is packed, and we’re all set to embark on the road trip of the year!
Sixty six, here we come!
Stay tuned for more posts along the way!