Chicago to LA (Route 66)

[stanthecaddy]

We generally looked to get to most places by 7pm. If I recall something along these lines...

Litchfield - just after 7pm (made it to the Ariston at 7.50pm they close at 8pm)
Lebanon - again just after 7pm
Edmond - about 9pm (long driving day)
Amarillo - about 8pm
Albuquerque - very early, about 5.30pm
Holbrook - 4pm ish
Grand Canyon - 4pm ish again
Kingman - 6-7pm ish

I think you'll be fine to just turn up at most places. In each of these places there were several alternatives available in the event of no vacancies.

[apet20]

That is great news to hear. Where did you grand canyon area where you? we were thinking of staying near the north rim. do you have any where to suggest we stay there?

[stanthecaddy]

Unfortunately we focused our trip to the Canyon based on arriving at the South Rim. Therefore, I never looked into any accommodation at the North Rim.

[thestand]

Last summer my wife and I drove route 66 from Chicago to LA and then up the coast to San Fran. Along the way we took in the Grand Canyon (South Rim) and Vegas. We did it in 3 weeks which seemed like a good length of time. In the early days we were getting on the road by 8.30/9.00am and getting to our destination by about 6ish. As the holiday progressed we relaxed a little more and had later starts but I didn't feel we suffered for this, we were still able to make plenty of stops on the route. I'd gladly post up any stats or itinerary for anyone doing this run. :-)

[Mark Sedenquist]

Did you have reservations for each of your stays or did you just find places along the way?

Here are some tips and observations about our thoughts about reservations -- and one of the things to consider is to try to hit the "seam" between the day and night shifts of the motel desk manager. Obviously if there are insufficient motel rooms in a given town this doesn't work very well -- but just about every desk manager is paid a bonus based on the percentage of occupancy of the motel and often times you can negotiate a lower rate for a night's lodging if you manage to arrive at the motel right before that shift change. An occupied but discounted room always trumps an empty one on their personnel records. Generally that shift change happens 4:30 to 6:30 and I have had good luck with asking for discounted room in those periods. The other time that works well is at about 10:30 am when the liklihood of further non-reserved check-ins is diminished.

Mark

[stanthecaddy]

thought i'd post a link to my blog
not as in depth as yet, but i will update it.

[PNW Judy]

Enjoyed your blog! I still kick myself for driving through Winslow and forgetting all about "the corner". Ack!

[stanthecaddy]

Thanks for that PNW Judy. It was my first attempt at a blog.

Vinny Jones used to be a soccer player here in England. He has since gone into the movie business and now lives in LA.