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There’s a certain ambition in deciding that the best way to celebrate a road is simply to drive it. On June 6, a caravan will leave the Santa Monica Pier and head east, arriving in Chicago on June 25. Twenty days, end to end, across Route 66—which is less a straight line than a collection of stories loosely agreeing to share pavement. They’re calling it the Route 66 Centennial Caravan, though it feels more like a moving reminder. Organized by the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership, alongside a web of state associations and preservation groups, the trip is meant to highlight what still exists—and what almost didn’t. The road, reframed as a “linear village,” stitched together by people who refused to let it disappear quietly. There are sponsors, of course—Best Western, Stuckey’s—but the real emphasis is on the smaller victories: volunteer efforts, restored signs, places that stayed open when it would have been easier not to. Along the way, they’ll meet other travelers doing their own versions of the same thing. Some will join for a day, others longer. The road has always allowed for that kind of flexibility. Even The Big Texan Steakhouse is sending its oversized mascot along, because no American road trip is complete without a bit of spectacle. The point, ultimately, isn’t just to celebrate 100 years. It’s to suggest there might be another hundred, if enough people keep showing up. More information is available at route66caravan.com  Comments are closed.
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