Santa Monica to Chicago — the whole country, in a single road.
Established in 1926, Route 66 was the first highway to run coast to coast without a compass — just follow the signs, state by state, and eventually the Pacific appears. People drove it in the other direction too: west out of the Dust Bowl, west with everything they owned, west because staying was no longer an option. The route carried both kinds of people at once — those chasing something and those escaping it — and asked no questions either way.
