Route 66 trip - May/June ‘21

[bflint]

I’m seriously thinking of taking a Route 66 road trip this year, in May and/or June. I’d start in Chicago and then head west to Santa Monica.
Have any of you done this trip and if so do you have any observations you could share? I keep my bikes in Georgia, so I’d have to ride to Chicago from Atlanta first, and when done I’d ride back to Atlanta from California. I thought about shipping the bike to California, flying out to get it, and riding the route in reverse... but I’m not sure if that’s a smart idea or not. If I ride round trip, I’m thinking the trip would take 30 days, give or take, and would cover somewhere around 5000 miles. If I shipped it, I could save a week but the hassle seems a bit much. If anyone has done this ride, in any fashion, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I have ridden most of Route 66 (I-40) both ways from San Diego to Flag Staff to St Louis and back several times. Its basically the quickest way for me to get from west coast to east coast. I have always been fascinated with this route since I re-started riding 5 years ago. Love the motels and bridges and old towns and Blue Whale and etc. Segment thru TX panhandle runs parallel to new highway (just like 50 feet away) and is well maintained. The problem is that the "mother road" has so many segmented sections that are glued together with so many tangents. You have to spend time planning what you want to see because the segments not all posted/signed very well. Best signage for me was in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, & Arizona ... PS I did not plan anything .. I just spun off the I-40 when I caught site of something. I have always thought that this would be a cool route to do with family/friends in a car because several times I have met groups, from all of over the world) at the 1/2 way point (Midpoint Cafe, Adrian Tx) who took 2-3 weeks driving from Chicago to Santa Monica and spending quality time site seeing and doing family stuff. I think some states embrace the tourist potential of Route 66 and are maintaining thier segments, but not all I think. On my last ride thru OK, In noticed that the truss bridges I previously rode over had been replaced, with one of the old ones stored back off on the side of the road. Maybe we can hook up this summer. Current challenge for 2021 is daughter is due with our 1st grandchild in June so I am under considerable pressure to support this event