Historic Route 66: Americana on the go

The Midpoint Café, in Adrian, Texas, is the midway point along "America's Main Street," Route 66. Chicago is 1,139 miles one way; Los Angeles is 1,139 miles the other way. Like our country, the road is celebrating an anniversary, too, and there's only one way to celebrate. CBS News Route 66 begs to be driven. You don't have to do it in a '57 pickup, but we borrowed one anyway, just for the fun of it. Riding shotgun with us is Michael Wallis, journalist, author, and longtime Route 66 historian. "Nothing about Route 66 is predictable," said Wallis. "It's a word you should never use. That's why I like it. It's unpredictable." Celebrating its 100 years requires a lot of looking back in our rearview mirrors. In the 1930s, Route 66 was a highway of hope – the "Mother Road," as John Steinbeck called it, for those fleeing the Dust Bowl. Migration to the West Coast along Route 66. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images By the '40s it had become a place to get your kicks, and by the '60s, drivers found its endless expanse a pretty "easy ride." But Route 66 had its dark stretches, too. In states shrouded by Jim Crow laws, Black Americans were advised where and where not to drive. Wallis said, "Sometimes, the Mother Road could be an abusive mother." Long since decommissioned, Route 66 once stretched from Illinois all the way to California – some 2,400 miles through eight states. …