Route 66

  I will now "move" over to the Texas Panhandle and work northward from there. I had been in the Texas Panhandle about a dozen times, maybe more, I don't know the exact number of times. However, on this trip that I made last fall, I ventured into the eastern part of the Panhandle, which was new and unfamiliar territory to me. My trips in the past usually took me into the western and southern parts of the Panhandle and, occasionally, the northwestern part.
  After spending the night in Amarillo, I headed east out of the city, trying to follow old Route 66 as much as possible. I usually had to drive on Interstate 40, but at most of the exits, I got off the freeway and explored what I could of "The Mother Road."  Most of the legendary highway is still there, in varying states of repair or disrepair. In places, there is even more than one alignment of the famous highway. During the highway's heyday, it was re-routed several times as it was continually improved. The oldest alignments are dirt or gravel. These oldest alignments date from the days before 1937. That is the year that the highway was completely paved from end to end, from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. Before 1937, the road was paved in some places, gravel in some places and dirt in still others.
  There are some stretches where the old highway has completely disappeared and other places where it is now on private property and, thus, not accessible to visitors. Most of it is still there, though not all of it is in driveable condition unless a person has a 4-wheel drive vehicle.
  There are even some stretches where the former federal highway now serves as a state highway. Some stretches of it are even still a  federal highway, functioning as a business loop through several towns. It is known as Interstate 40 Business Loop in these short stretches.
 There are even two alignments of Route 66 through Amarillo, the original routing, which followed Third Avenue and then jogged south to Sixth Avenue, went right through the heart of downtown. The later alignment, known as Amarillo Boulevard, was built north of downtown and was much, much wider than the original routing.