Remember the “Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide” published by the National Historic Route 66 Federation? It was last published in 2015.
Those nostalgic for such a print publication might want to check out “Amboy Roy’s Guide to Route 66: Food, Lodging and Photo-Stops,” published by Fundamental Media.
Here’s what the publisher said about it:
For four generations, American and international travelers have driven Route 66 — the 2,448-mile road that runs from Chicago to Santa Monica, California — forming a kind of international fellowship along the way and leaving a unique mark on U.S. cultural history.
Amboy Roy’s Guide to Route 66 is written from the perspective of a photographer and long-haul truck driver who spent almost half his life on the mother road. That background shaped this into the ultimate handbook to the 66: food, lodging and photo-stops from one end to the other, with a foreword by Route 66 historian Jim Hinckley.
It’s also the natural companion for anyone who loves Cars, the Disney/Pixar movie that premiered in 2006 — eighty years after the first automobile hit Route 66 — and is currently enjoying its own cinematic encore.
The book is $25, plus $5 shipping. It can be ordered here. Mark Hamilton, aka Amboy Roy, has been working on the guide for about three years.
Federation Chairman David Knudson, who died just a few weeks ago, announced in 2018 that it would stop updating the “Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide.”
Knudson said sales of the guide had dropped. He said internet travel sites such as TripAdvisor.com, plus a lack of volunteers to update the guide, hampered the publication.
In the late 1990s and much of the 2000s, however, many motels and restaurants found the original guidebook to be a financial lifeline.
(Image of the cover of “Amboy Roy’s Guide to Route 66: Food, Lodging and Photo-Stops”)