01/05/2026
Have you ever wondered what Adrian, Texas, is known for on a U.S. map? Have you ever been on Route 66?
Let the new year start on Route 66! 🚗
This year marks 100 years of the Mother Road. Built in the 1920s, this stretch of highway from Chicago to Los Angeles quickly became the route of choice for goods and travelers crossing the nation.
With the onset of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, Route 66 carried both hope and desperation as citizens fled lives devastated by drought and poverty, only to find more of the same as they journeyed westward. It was a human condition elevated to literary heights by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath.
More than a decade later, as the Second World War ended, the nation’s prosperity rose again. Americans, now flush with automobiles and disposable income, took to the road for pleasure and discovery, and Route 66 became a symbol of freedom and adventure.
In Texas, 178 miles of Route 66 once traversed the Panhandle, cutting a straight path through Amarillo. A mile-long stretch of vintage Route 66 architecture still lines Amarillo’s 6th Avenue, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Today, travelers can still experience that spirit of the open road at classic stops like Dot’s Mini Museum and the Vega Motel in Vega, the Art Deco-style Tower Station and Café in Shamrock, the Midpoint Café in Adrian, and the iconic Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo.
Here’s to a century of stories, discovery, and the open road! Check out some other famous Texas stops along the route: https://texastimetravel.com/blog/route-66/
