ROUTE 66: A TESTAMENT TO THE SPIRIT OF THE OPEN ROAD

Few roads in the U.S. capture the imagination quite like Route 66. For nearly a century, it has represented a distinctly American fascination with movement, discovery, and life beyond the horizon — an idea Harley-Davidson riders have always understood.

Route 66 earned the nickname "Mother Road" in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, but its story began long before it became an American icon. Established in 1926 as part of the federal highway system, the route stretched more than 2,000 miles across eight states, linking small towns, major cities, and everything in between.

Travelers came first. Then came the gas stations, diners, motor courts, and roadside attractions. Mile by mile, a highway built to connect the country helped create an entire culture around the open road.

Though you might expect the Harley-Davidson Archives to contain a trove of early Route 66 photographs, most of what we find from the road's first decades are passing references in touring stories published in The Enthusiast. In these accounts, Highway 66 is simply part of the route — a well-known road riders happen to travel on their way somewhere else.

Over time, that began to change. By the time Harley Owners Group® (H.O.G.®) entered the picture in 1983, the road itself had become the destination. Route 66 has hosted countless H.O.G. rides and rallies, but organized tours tell only part of the story.

Many riders simply wanted to be able to say they'd ridden it.

“With my mission accomplished, I headed south into Arizona toward Route 66, just so I could say I rode on that famous road (and to “stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona”),” wrote H.O.G. member Dennis Daniels in the July-August 2008 issue of Hog Tales.

Hermann J. Jakob of Cologne, Germany, used the Fly’n’Ride program to travel to the U.S. and made sure to take a spin from Kingman to Seligman in 2002.

Alex Chacón rode Harley-Davidson's Project LiveWire along Route 66 for six days, writing about the electric adventure in Volume 27 2014 issue of HOG magazine.

But some people want to experience it all.

“When I was 12, I traveled Route 66 with my parents in a 1957 Plymouth. I remember falling deeply in love with a truck stop waitress who brought me a chocolate milkshake. Thirty nine years later, I fell in love on Old 66 again, this time with AMERICA.” — Hog Tales, Sept.–Oct. 1996

In 1996, 425 riders left Milwaukee on June 7, and by the time they rumbled into California on the 21st, 3,000 people had participated in the "Ridin' Route 66" tour, including those who nabbed day passes and joined city stopover festivities.

The tour celebrated 70 years of Route 66 and sparked a scrapbook-worthy story in the 1996 Sept-Oct issue of Hog Tales, filled with memories shared through photos and quotes.

The 75^th anniversary of the Mother Road inspired the 2001 National H.O.G. Touring Rally Made In America: Route 66.

“This road of John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, Jack Kerouac, Mickey Mantle, and so many others is still the best path for drifters, dreamers, and pilgrims on a quest. The road paid its dues and evolved into a timeless monument to the people of the road and all that travel its length. This summer, the bold riders from around the world who answer the call and join H.O.G. in Chicago for the ride of their lifetime will know exactly what I mean.” — Michael Wallis, author and Route 66 historian, Hog Tales, Jan.–Feb. 2001

Those who registered for the ride that took place June 23 through July 8 could receive a commemorative t-shirt, silver Route 66 wings pin, pin set, illustrated map set, and a special edition watch.