Russell A. Olsen

Much more than a ribbon of crumbling asphalt, Route 66 is a cultural icon revered the world over for its nostalgia value, an east-west artery pointing America toward all the promise that the great West represented. But as stretches of Steinbeck's "Mother Road" were bypassed and fell into disuse, so too did most of the bustling establishments that had sprouted up from Illinois to California to cater to weary travelers and hopeful vacationers alike....