The best Route 66 attractions that are worth the detour

While you can no longer fill up at the Soulsby Service Station, you can stop for photos at the old-school gas station that looks like a home with two pumps out front. When Henry Soulsby built the gas station in 1926, the structure was built to blend into the neighborhood. The family-run gas station stopped pumping gas in 1991, but it remains a popular nod to yesteryear. It's listed in the National Register of Historic Places and houses a visitors center and museum.

Address: 710 W 1st S St, Mt Olive, IL 62069

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Towering over the Lauterbach Tire & Auto Service is a giant fiberglass "muffler man," a popular sculpture used to advertise businesses and entice drivers along Route 66 to stop. Originally, the Lauterbach Giant held a tire, but now he carries an American flag. In 2006, he was decapitated by a tornado, but he has since been repaired.

Address: 1569 Wabash Ave, Springfield, IL 62704

Recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest covered wagon in the world, the 24-foot-tall Railsplitter Covered Wagon is a popular Route 66 photo op. The wagon features a statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting in the front, reading a law book. The wagon is parked on the front lawn of the Best Western Lincoln Inn, facing Route 66.

Address: 120 N Kickapoo St, Lincoln, IL 62656

Named to the National Register of Historic Places, the World's Largest Catsup Bottle is 170 feet tall and near—not on—Route 66. The oversized ketchup bottle was built in 1949 for the Brooks Food Group plant, which closed decades ago. The 70-foot-tall catsup bottle has a capacity of 100,000 gallons and sits atop 100-foot-tall steel legs. The massive bottle boasts a cap that has an eight-foot diameter.

Address: 800 S Morrison Ave, Collinsville, IL 62234

Formerly the world's largest rocking chair, Route 66 Rocker was imagined by Dan Sanazaro, who wanted to attract drivers to his shop. The massive 42-foot, one-inch steel rocker rocked when it was first installed, but the orange rocking chair has since been welded to its base. Years on, it remains a popular spot for a photo op.

Address: 5957 State Hwy ZZ, Cuba, MO 65453

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Take your eyes off the road and pull into a retro drive-in theater. The Route 66 Drive-in screens double features, rain or shine. A highlight of the experience, best enjoyed from the comfort of your car, is the intermission between films, during which a nostalgic intermission trailer is shown. Arrive early and stock up at the concession stand before the first show starts at dusk.

Address: 17231 Old 66 Blvd, Carthage, MO 64836

Created by zoologist Hugh Davis, the giant blue whale was made for his grandchildren to play on and swim. Today, children and adults can play and climb on the Blue Whale, which sits on a pond, but they can no longer swim here. There are picnic tables nearby, making this a great rest stop for children and a whimsical spot to take photos.

Address: 2600 OK-66, Catoosa, OK 74015

Built in 1930, this nostalgic photo op is a triangular 350-square-foot building with a supersized milk bottle on its roof. The red brick Milk Bottle Grocery is a tiny commercial building that has had many tenants (it is no longer a grocery store, as the name suggests). The rooftop milk bottle, made out of sheet metal, has been used by various dairy companies over the years for advertising.

Address: 2426 N Classen Blvd, Oklahoma City, OK 73106

With so many places along Route 66 serving hamburgers, Waylan's Ku-Ku Burger stands out thanks to its restaurant building that resembles a giant cuckoo clock. The retro burger joint has a drive-through for on-the-go dining and a throwback dining room. Fill up on old-school hamburgers, fries and shakes. 

Address: 915 N Main St, Miami, OK 74354

Created in 1974 by Stanley Marsh 3 and The Ant Farm, a group of hippie-artists, Cadillac Ranch is a roadside art installation featuring 10 Cadillacs positioned vertically into the dirt of a Texas field. The angled cars range from a 1949 Cadillac Club Sedan to a 1963 Cadillac Sedan deVille. Over the years, visitors have stripped off pieces of the cars to take as souvenirs. Today, visitors are welcome to come and graffiti the colorful cars.

Address: 13651 I-40 Frontage Rd, Amarillo, TX 79124

The creation of business owner Ralph Britten, the Leaning Tower of Texas was a roadside marketing gimmick meant to draw the attention of drivers and get them off the road and into Britten's truck stop and restaurant. Britten bought the water tower and hauled it out to Groom, Texas and purposely installed it at a tilt of 80 degrees, causing many unsuspecting drivers to think the tower was about to fall over. While the truck stop and restaurant burned down years ago, the leaning tower still attracts attention.

Address: I-40 U.S. Route 66, Groom, TX 79039

In the shadow of Cadillac Ranch is the VW Slug Bug Ranch, a parody of the Cadillac Ranch. The car graveyard features five Volkswagen Beetles. Look for an old motel sign nearby as the landmark to find these multi-colored Slug Bugs, which visitors love to spray paint and photograph.

Address: 1415 Sunrise Dr, Amarillo, TX 79104

Take a bite back in time at Delgadillo's Snow Cap, which started grilling in 1953. Pull up to the burger joint for burgers, malts, and milkshakes. Back in 2022, the drive-in broke the Guinness Book of World Records for "Largest Display of Milkshakes Varieties" by mixing up 266 different milkshakes. Their menu typically has a dozen or so flavors on option, perfect for adding some fries with your shake.

Address: 301 AZ-66, Seligman, AZ 86337

Even if you don't spend the night here, it's worth stopping at the Wigwam Village Motel #6 for a photo op. Since the 1950s, road trippers have spent the night in wigwams built by Chester Evert Lewis. His family runs the roadside motel today. Each wigwam sleeps two or four guests and includes the same furnishings from when the motel first opened.

Address: 811 W Hopi Dr, Holbrook, AZ 86025

The creator of this glass bottle wonderland passed away in 2019, but Elmer Long's Bottle Tree Ranch continues to grow in popularity. Long began collecting glass soda bottles and, as an adult, hung these glass soda bottles and wine bottles onto metal pipes, forming a garden of glass. The result is a kaleidoscope of color when the sun shines upon the bottle ranch.

Address: 24266 National Trails Hwy, Oro Grande, CA 92368

Since 2009, drivers who complete the drive on Route 66 can commemorate it with a selfie in front of an official sign marking the end of the Mother Road. The large sign, which is at Santa Monica Pier, says "Santa Monica 66 End of the Trail." It, and the memories of driving Route 66, is the ultimate souvenir.

Address: 200 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, CA 90401