Road Tripping Route 66: St. Louis, Missouri, to Amarillo, Texas

A Route 66 St. Louis to Amarillo road trip

This guide picks up where the St. Louis section leaves off, heading west from Missouri through the Ozarks, across Oklahoma’s open plains, and into the Texas Panhandle, ending in Amarillo. The full stretch covers roughly 900 miles if you add in some detours and is best enjoyed over five to seven days. The terrain shifts dramatically as you go — limestone bluffs and forested hills give way to wide Oklahoma skies and eventually the flat, windswept expanse of the Texas Panhandle.

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Sections:

• Cuba, Missouri
• Rolla, Missouri
• Springfield, Missouri
• Tulsa, Oklahoma
• Oklahoma City
• Amarillo, Texas

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Cuba, Missouri: Legendary caves and outdoor murals

St. Louis to Cuba drive time: 85 miles/1 hour, 20 minutes

Your first major stop west of St. Louis is Cuba, Missouri. But about 25 miles before reaching Cuba, you have options. You could head to Augusta, Missouri, the country’s first official American Viticultural Area that predates Napa by decades. Or, you can stay on Route 66 until you hit the town of Stanton. It’s home to one of the best detours on the entire Missouri stretch: Meramec Caverns.

Meramec Caverns is Missouri’s largest cave system and first opened to the public in 1935. It became famous partly for its promoter’s legendary ad campaigns, including the invention of the bumper sticker. Guided walking tours run about 90 minutes and take visitors past underground lakes and enormous stalactite formations. The caves were used as gunpowder factories during the Civil War and outlaw Jesse James allegedly used the caves as a hideout (though that may be a tall tale).

After checking out the caves, head to Cuba, an Ozark town that earned the nickname “Route 66 Mural City.” In 2001, the town commissioned a series of outdoor murals to mark Route 66’s 150th anniversary. Now, there are 14 huge paintings spread across downtown, each depicting a scene from local or American history. Free walking tour brochures are available at the Cuba Visitor Center, or there’s an online map you can follow.

Also in Cuba is the neon-signed Wagon Wheel Motel, dating to 1938 and thought to be the oldest continuously operating motel on Route 66. You can usually tour the property, even if you’re not staying there.

Rolla, Missouri: Stonehenge and Ozark scenery

Cuba to Rolla drive time: 24 miles/25 minutes

The drive from Cuba to Rolla along the old route is one of the most scenic stretches in Missouri, with sweeping bends, wooded hills, and little traffic. The town itself has several good places to eat. Chief among them is A Slice of Pie on South Bishop Avenue, known for turning out fruit, nut, cream, and meringue pies for decades.

Rolla is a college town (the Missouri University of Science and Technology), though it’s best known for its odd roadside attraction: a half-scale replica of Stonehenge. It was built in 1984 on the university’s campus to show off high-pressure water jet stone-carving capabilities. It’s free, open to the public, and genuinely strange in the best possible Route 66 way.

Depending on how much time you have, there are plenty of detours near Rolla. You can access the trails of scenic Mark Twain National Forest in about 40 minutes, wet your whistle at the St. James Winery, or nerd out at the Ed Clark Museum of Geological History.

Springfield, Missouri: Where Route 66 got its name

Rolla to Springfield drive time: 111 miles/1 hour, 45 minutes

Your second Springfield of the trip (if you started in Chicago) is Springfield, Missouri. This is where the name “Route 66” was officially decided in 1926, earning it the title “Birthplace of Route 66.” The History Museum on the Square tells that story, and is well worth an hour or so of your time.

Springfield is also a good place to get a feel for what it was like to stay at one of the route’s early motor lodges.  The Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven was built in 1938 and still has original sandstone cottages — plus, bragging rights: Elvis Presley once stayed there.

On your way out of town, stop at the Gay Parita Sinclair Filling Station about 25 miles west of Springfield. The original station opened in 1930, burned down in 1955, and was later reconstructed by a couple who wanted to restore its vintage appearance. It’s now a popular photo stop covered in Route 66 memorabilia, and the owners welcome guests who want to swing by and take a look around.

Before crossing into Oklahoma, Route 66 passes through the southeastern corner of Kansas for 13 miles, making it one of the shortest state stretches. It’s worth a quick stop in Galena, where four vintage Route 66 vehicles are on display at Cars on the Route, including a restored 1929 Kan-O-Tex gas station that inspired the character Mater in Pixar’s Cars.

Tulsa, Oklahoma: The ‘capital’ of Route 66

Springfield to Tulsa drive time: 181 miles/2 hours, 45 minutes

On your way out of Springfield, consider stopping for an hour or two in Joplin, Missouri. There, the Joplin History and Mineral Museum tells fascinating stories, from the region’s mining history, to its connection to baseball legend Mickey Mantle, to the city’s connections to gangsters Bonnie and Clyde — some of the items they left behind are on display.

Just before Tulsa in Catoosa is the Blue Whale, a 20-foot-tall, 80-foot-long concrete whale built in 1972 by a zoologist as an anniversary gift for his wife. It sat on a swimming hole for years before being moved to the current location. It’s now a free roadside stop and one of the most photographed landmarks on the Oklahoma stretch of Route 66, with a grand reopening on May 30.

Then, head on to Tulsa, officially designated the Capital of Route 66 in 2024. Route 66 runs 28 miles through Tulsa, and it’s one of the best-preserved urban stretches on the highway. The state’s Route 66 Association has lots of resources online for trip planning, from interesting detours to events happening along the route.

Tulsa is a good place to wander on foot, going by the restored vintage Meadow Gold dairy sign and stopping into the old-timey Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios souvenir shop, marked by oversized statues of a space cowboy and cowgirl. When it’s time to grab some grub, Mother Road Market in the Tulsa Market District is Oklahoma’s only nonprofit food hall. It also has a Route 66-themed mini golf course inside.

Oklahoma City: Museums, neon, and a round barn

Tulsa to Oklahoma City drive time: 108 miles/1 hour, 35 minutes

On your way from Tulsa to Oklahoma City, there are at two key stops you should make. The first is the Round Barn in Arcadia, a two-story barn built in 1898 and considered an engineering marvel at the time. It’s the only round barn on Route 66 and now houses a free museum and gift shop. Just town the road, Pops 66 is impossible to miss thanks to the giant glowing soda bottle standing out front. It’s a gas station and diner that stocks hundreds of varieties of soda, including some intentionally unusual ones. While it’s not a historic stop — it opened in 2007 — it is a fun place to browse and shows that the quirky personality of the road’s businesses is still alive and well.

Oklahoma City is worth a full day, especially as it probably has the most robust culinary and lodging options of anywhere on this section of the route. The First Americans Museum opened in 2021 and is one of the most impressive museums along the 2,500-mile route, sharing the histories and cultures of Oklahoma’s 39 First American tribes. Also worth a stop is the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, remembering the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. For an evening out, grab tickets to a show at the Tower Theatre, a restored 1936 Art Deco venue that regularly hosts live music and movie screenings.

For a mid-century overnight, the Classen Inn is a recently restored Googie-style motel from 1963, decked out in pop art furnishings and 1960s-era murals. It feels like pure Route 66 in motel form.

Amarillo, Texas: Cadillac Ranch and Texas-sized stops

Oklahoma City to Amarillo drive time: 260 miles/3 hours, 40 minutes

On your way from OKC to Amarillo, make plans to stop at one of the most iconic buildings along Route 66: the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Café, built in 1936. The building’s over-the-top Art Deco curves and soaring tower were designed to attract attention from drivers on the road — and they still do. It’s now a visitor center for Route 66, and if it looks like you’ve seen it before, it may be because Pixar’s animators used it as the inspiration for Ramone’s House of Body Art in Cars.

Next, you’ll arrive in Amarillo, the largest city on the Texas section of Route 66 and a natural place to spend a night. The city’s 6th Street Historic District covers the original path of Route 66 through town and still thrives with antique shops, art galleries, and restaurants spread across more than a mile of historic storefronts. The National Park Service has an excellent list of historic buildings to check out in the district. Come dinnertime, the GoldenLight Cafe and Cantina has been serving up burgers since the 1940s and hosts live music on weekends. Elsewhere in town, the Western Horseman Club has free country and line dancing lessons every Monday night. Or if you’re feeling truly ravenous, go to the Big Texan Steak Ranch, home of the 72-ounce steak challenge — finish the steak and all the sides in under an hour and it’s free.

The city’s most famous attraction is just west of downtown: Cadillac Ranch, a public art installation created in 1974 by a San Francisco art collective and funded by a local millionaire. The installation includes 10 Cadillacs from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s buried nose-first in a field at the same angle as the pyramids of Giza. Visitors are encouraged to bring spray paint and add to the ever-evolving layers of graffiti already covering the cars. It’s one of the first major “only in America” type of crazy roadside attractions you’ll encounter on the route — but certainly not the last.

For a side trip worth the detour, Palo Duro Canyon State Park is 30 miles south of Amarillo. As the second-biggest canyon in the US, it’s often called the “Grand Canyon of Texas,” with hiking, biking, and horseback riding through red rock formations. There are also plenty of additional unique attractions nearby, like the “Devil’s Rope” Museum of Barbed Wire and the Pioneer West Museum closer to Shamrock, Texas. 

Next up: (Part 3): Road tripping Route 66: Amarillo, Texas, to Kingman, Arizona