Route 66

As a young seafarer heading into America in the 1970s, I wanted to see the Golden Gate bridge more than anything else, but always ended up elsewhere in the US and Canada. So when I got the opportunity to ride along from the Great Lakes to the Great Ocean, I said to myself, why not And that&rsquos when I first heard about the Legend of the Mother Road, or Route 66. So, first things first &mdash there is no one specific long road known as Route 66 &mdash it is a collection of various bits and pieces, often disputed locally too. But to give you the general idea, this is how it goes Chicago-St Louis-Oklahoma-Albuquerque-LA. Or Illinois-Missouri-Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas-New Mexico-Arizona-California. Certainly not on the tourist track, and not a drive that you can attempt in a standard rental car unless you get lucky with one of those one-way return deals, where they almost pay you to reposition their vehicle. Next, driving in the US can be a slog. Be prepared for the whole nine yards as far as rules and regulations go. And thirdly &mdash once you&rsquove researched the maze that Route 66 is on the Internet, do try to keep in mind the various points where you can get back to mainstream modern America&rsquos road network, too. Not much one can say about Route 66 in a short column, but if you do finally make it to the Golden Gate Bridge, then another heritage route you can try is a mix of &lsquoEl Camino Real&rsquo (San Diego to San Francisco) as well as &lsquoThe Hippie Trail&rsquo (Highway 17, San Jose to Santa Cruz).