Product Description

This lavishly illustrated book guides the reader along iconic Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles - from the Great Lakes to the heaving Pacific Ocean, through Great Plains and high plateaus, major metropolises and remote country towns. Presenting fifty backroad journeys, this book points the way to gems beyond the tourist trail: quaint frontier communities, ancient native cultures, awe-inspiring natural wonders, and of course the small towns, service stations, eateries that operated when Route 66 was flourishing, some now revitalized, some ruined reminders of a bygone era. Find state parks, wildlife refuges, museums, historic sites, literary landmarks, and much more, all a short drive off Route 66, awaiting the traveler who is looking for more on this legendary road.Whether you are a nostalgia buff, armchair traveler, group of enthusiasts taking your cars and traveling on holiday, or simply off for a two-week family break, this book is a detailed travel guide and fascinating historic document in one volume, and bound to appeal to the legion of Route 66 fans worldwide.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #191645 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Review
Only venturing away from the freeway will you find the undiscovered remnants of Route 66's legandary history, according to author Jim Hinckley. This guide to the American Mother Road is broken down into managable detaours, enabeling you to discover places where 'the neon still glows and the diners still serve apple pies with fruit picked from the orchard across the road'. Hinckley devotes time to places that are usually only driven through, including tiny mountain communities in Missouri and a remote village in Arizona where mule trains still deliver the post. Route 66's popular attractions are also covered: the Grand Canyon, cities such as San Diego and wild lfie parks. The guide's photography highlights the variety of stunning sites, from iconic Route 66 cafes and memorabilia, abandoned Texas towns to stunning waterfalls and desert landscapes. --Lonely Planet magazine, December 2008&;Stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles, the legendary Route 66 is an iconic landmark all over the world. There are Route 66 associations in more than 20 countries and its popularity now means that many of these coutries even offer Route 66 package tours. But ironically many who would seek the wonders and treasures of Route 66 miss delightful gems waiting to be uncovered just a short detour from the Main Street of America. This is a journet into the backroads along America's Main Street, expoloring the nation's past and it's natural splendours. More than a simple travel guide though, this lavishly illustrated book not only shoes Route 66 as a brdige to the past and the living time capsual that it has become, it also provides a wide array of often overlooked attractions, historic sites and scenic wonders. --MG Enthusiast;Stretching form Chicago to Los Angeles, the legendary route 66 is an iconic landmark all over the world. There are Route 66 associations in more than 20 countries and its popularity means that many of these countries now even offer Route 66 package tours. But ironically, many who seek the wonders and treasures of Route 66 miss delightfu; gems waiting to be uncovered just a short detour from the Main Street of America. More than a simple travel gudie, this lavishly illustrated book is a visual treat, sure to inspire dreams fo visiting this most famous of highways. Not only does it show Route 66 as a bridge to the past and a living time capsual, it also provides a wide array of often overlooked attractions, historic sites and scenic wonders. --Triumph World, February, 2009 For a more in-depth look at anothr classic route, Route 66 Backroads is perfect. Follow the iconic road across the USA, trversing prarie and vast plains en route --Wanderlust magazine, February, 2009&If you ever plan to motor west. Take my way that's the highway that's the best. Get your kicks on Route 66 ... A whole generation grew up with those spine-tingling lyrics to the rock song.That, and maybe Jack Kerouac's On The Road, inspired young men, and women, to go West and when they had arrived in the US seek out and travel the fabled highway.They probably know it winds from Chicago to LA - more than 2000 miles of motorway.But writer Hinckley, and three photographers, suggest here that the real American experience lies among the highways and byways just off the so-called Mother Road., or Main Street USA.In a lavishly-illustrated 200 pages, complete with helpful maps, they take the reader and traveller into places where momma still makes apple pie the American way and where new and unimagined delights await the determined explorer.Route 66 carves a giant S shape across the North American continent, from beside Lake Michigan in the North, to the shores of the Pacific in the West. Along the way it takes in familiar place names like St Louis, Oklahoma, Amarillo. --Daily Mail, February 2009This is your essential guide to 'scenic trips and adventures from the Mother Road' --Route 66 magazine, Winter 2008

For many petrolheads, Route 66 is the road trip to end all road trips. Stretching form Chicago to Santa Monica, it passes through some of the most spectacular scenery that the US has to offer. many of the older buildings and towns have now dissapeared completely, but there are still some gems to be found, especially if you travel of teh beaten track. This new title from Voyageur Press takes you on a journey throguh some of the lesser known routes as you come of the 'Mother Road'.The book has 50 different routes, stretching along the length of Route 66, beautifully captured with some breathtaking phootgraphy. Now, where's my passport and driving license? --American Cars World, Sept, 2009

I have been enjoying in the last few days a beautiful book named Route 66 Backroads: Your Guide to Scenic Side Trips & Adventures from the Mother Road. It was written by Jim Hinckley and features photography by Kerrick James, Rick Bowers, and Nora Mays Bowers. The title is somewhat misleading, but not in a bad way. Before looking through the book, I had assumed that it would highlight 66 sites and other places of interest nearby. While sites such as these are covered, the scenic side trips take you far away from the Mother Road, showing many of the other interesting areas within the eight Route 66 states... The photography throughout the book is stunning, and the narrative compelling. I give the book my highest praise: it makes me want to jump in the car and take a road trip-WindyCityRoadWarrior dot com--What s different about this tome: It offers 50 side strips on the road from Chicago to L.A., detours that could bring you face to face with the neon/big fins/diners/motels feeling you re looking for. If only I hadn t gotten rid of my 57 Chevy...LA Times--If you intend to explore route 66, this book will serve as a helpful guide. And even if you are not planning such a trip, the book s photographs provide a remarkable catalog of natural and manmade wonders that will hold your interest --RV Life, August 2008

From the Author
If you have a fascination with the American southwest, the American culture built around the automobile, or the wonders of Route 66 these books are for you. In Backroads of Arizona the author shares his passion for this amazing state by introducing the reader to its many hidden wonders. The award winning Big Book of Car Culture is a fun filled romp through all things automotive from the evolution of crash test dummies to Route 66, from the lowly Model T Ford to the legendary Pontiac GTO. The inspiration for Route 66 Backroads was a circa 1950 billboard that encouraged travelers to see the wonders on Route 66 as well as those found with a short detour north or south. This books takes that concept to a new level and introduces the reader to a lost world of Americana, historic sites, and stunning natural wonders.

About the Author
It could be said with some authority that Jim Hinckley was born to explore the back roads, the forgotten places, and the lost highways of America. His first trip west on Route 66 was in 1959 at the age of one and family legend has it that he learned to read by using an atlas to chart the course of adventures from border to border and coast to coast. In the summer of 1966 his family relocated to the deserts of Arizona and built a home along a section of Route 66 bypassed in 1953. Jim jokingly says his first impression of the new neighborhood was not favorable as it reminded him of the place warned about in Sunday school. Along this forlorn stretch of iconic Route 66, and the miles of dirt tracks across the desert, Jim learned to drive, to appreciate the durability and reliability of vintage trucks, and to enjoy the company of the hardy folks who called that rugged land home. He also developed a deep love for the raw beauty of this land and an incurable fascination for the history that unfolded there.In the years that followed he succumbed to the romanticism of this Technicolor wonderland and worked as a cowboy on historic ranches in New Mexico and Arizona, as a miner, as an Indian agent, and a truck driver. He also embraced his passion for vintage vehicles, made manifest in the use of vehicles such as a 1926 Ford or 1946 GMC as daily transportation, and developed an unquenchable curiosity about automotive history. Using these passions and adventures to add flavor, dimension, and color to his work Jim has written more than 2,000 feature articles and five books. He is currently an associate editor with Cars & Parts magazine and his book, The Big Book of Car Culture, was the bronze medal recipient at the International Automotive Media Awards in 2006. Jim currently resides in Kingman, Arizona, the proclaimed heart of historic Route 66, with his wife of twenty six years, Judy, with whom he shares the many adventures of exploration along the back roads, and two ancient cats. These adventures are shared through daily postings on a blog, www.route66chronicles.blogspot.com. He is a board member for the Route 66 Association of Kingman and the Society of Automotive Historians. His most recent book, Ghost Towns of the Southwest, is scheduled for release in the spring of 2010 and two other books, Ghost Towns of Route 66 and US 6, The Lost Highway are in the initial stages of development.

Customer Reviews

Route 66 Backroads
Having driven Route 66 in 1973 this book gave me much more insight into the treasures within easy reach of the Mother Road. I intend driving it again, this time on a Harley in the next couple of years. I will now have to plan a longer trip to see some of the many places we always miss. A superb book, well worth buying. I would recommend it to all former travelers of Route 66 and for wannabe Route 66ers it is required reading. A much needed guide and a very well written travelling companion.

a n expensive dream
by now you may have realised that i,m in love with the mother road.i,ve driven a lot of it but i have dream to drive it all.problem i have a wife who hates driving in the states so at the moment thats all it is a dream.dave.but its agood book