Of all America’s great highways built during the big road boom in the 1920’s, none epitomized American culture better than the National Trails Highway, better known as Route 66. Stretching from Chicago to California, it wove hundreds of miles through the Midwest and across Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Route 66 was the 20th century version of the golden road to the promised land.

In Arizona, Route 66 stretched 376 miles across the state, beginning at Lupton on the New Mexico line. A few miles past Kingman, the highway approached Oatman Hill, the last great obstacle before reaching the California line. In between, it journeyed across windswept plateaus, cedar-studded mesas, rolling hills, and through frontier towns such as Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Williams, Ash Fork, Seligman, and Peach Springs.

Arizona boasts the longest stretch of Route 66 still in existence between Chicago and Los Angeles. Beginning just west of Ash Fork, it separates from I-40 at exit 139 (Crookton Road) and becomes AZ 66 at Seligman. It continues westward from Seligman through Peach Springs and the Hualapi Reservation to Kingman. West of Kingman, the post 1950’s route again merges with I-40, but the original Route 66 cut through the Black Mountains.