Route 66 Museums

Joliet, Illinois

“The first proper museum of the trip and the one that sets the scale of what you are riding through. The prison-history gallery is the surprise.”

Pontiac, Illinois

“A town that turned its whole wall into a museum. Park the bike, walk the murals, then go inside. The Hall of Fame is the heart of the preservation story.”

Clinton, Oklahoma

“Steve called the next stop "a fancy name for a petrol station." This museum was not that. It told the Mother Road story with an Oklahoma flavour and it was one of the better ones.”

Elk City, Oklahoma

“A big, generous museum with a recreated main street. Worth an hour if the day is not too hot.”

Chandler, Oklahoma

“A motorcycle museum on a motorcycle route. The old Thunderbird filling station it sits in is half the charm. We lingered longer than we planned.”

McLean, Texas

“A barbed-wire museum that doubles as the Texas Route 66 interpretive centre. It is exactly as daft and as wonderful as it sounds.”

Grants, New Mexico

“You ride a lift "down a uranium mine." The whole thing is underground and genuinely well done. A surprise between Albuquerque and Gallup.”

Santa Rosa, New Mexico

“Classic cars in a desert town. Pair it with the Blue Hole spring across the road and you have a perfect hour off the bike.”

Kingman, Arizona

“The best single museum on the road, in a 1909 power station. Three floors and the most complete telling of the route anywhere. Do it before you ride the pass.”

Victorville, California

“The last big museum and a good one. The desert run into town makes the air conditioning feel like a reward.”