New “Route 66 Dining & Lodging Guide” is available

The updated 16th edition of “The Route 66 Dining & Lodging Guide,” published by the National Historic Route 66 Federation, is now available to order.

The federation didn’t have the book listed on its 0nline store as of Saturday. However, it can be ordered from Amazon for $15.95 — although it’s “temporarily” out of stock. In early January, federation director David Knudson said in an email that copies of the book would be available in a few weeks. So, its arrival seems imminent.

For years, this has been one of the best guides to motels and restaurants along the Mother Road. Several dozen Adopt-A-Hundred volunteers check these establishments in over 100-mile increments of Route 66. (Disclosure: I was one of the volunteers on portions of Oklahoma and Kansas.)

Even so, deadlines and changes on the road keep this edition from being perfect. Shortly after the guide was printed, Cafe on the Route in Baxter Springs, Kan., closed around New Year’s, along with its Little Brick Inn B&B. And had Green Chile Kitchen on Route 66 in Yukon, Okla., opened a few months earlier, it likely would have been included in the book. Keep those things in mind when planning your travels.

The guide contains 188 pages in a spiral-bound form, with more than 500 restaurants or motels listed. Information includes hours of operation, physical addresses, phone numbers, websites, specialties, price ranges, amenities, thumbnail ratings, and other notes of distinction.

“The Route 66 Dining & Lodging Guide” includes old favorites, such as Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood, Calif., and Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant in Chicago. But it also includes a few new favorites, such as Burn Co Barbecue and The Campbell Hotel, both in Tulsa.

We always keep a copy of this guide in our car. You’d better get one, too.

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