Prior to leaving on my spring 2012 solo cross country road trip I purchased Route 66: EZ66 Guide for Travelers, 2nd Edition by Jerry Mc Clanahan (5 stars), Route 66 Adventure Handbook: Turbocharged Fourth Edition by Drew Knowles (3 stars) and Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways by Jamie Jensen (4 stars) from Amazon (best prices you'll find). My plan was to drive to Chicago, IL from Providence, RI and from there to Santa Monica, CA following old RT 66.
For the Providence to Chicago leg of my trip I used Road Trip USA. While this book gives you a general idea of the routes you want to take it is NOT a turn by turn guide (good driving directions would have been appreciated). It does give many sightseeing suggestions that I did use extensively. Paired with a good GPS unit or additional maps this book is idea for road trips throughout the USA.
On reaching Chicago I found RT 66 and switched over to Route 66: EZ Guide and Route 66 Adventure Handbook. I found RT 66: EZ Guide to be indispensible for traveling 66. I did manage to get lost in nearly every city I drove through as I was both driver and navigator but this would have been solved with the inclusion of the street name of 66 as it passed through cities. Route 66 Adventure Handbook was less useful. It does give you great ideas for sightseeing but finding these locations can be a problem. The addition of street addresses or GPS coordinates would be helpful! Highlights along 66 were Pontiac, IL, Meramec Caverns, the Painted Desert and Grand Canyon.
On reaching Santa Monica I had no plan so I pieced together several of the routes in Road Trip USA to return home. The highlights of the return trip were the Pacific Coast Highway and Yellowstone, not to be missed.
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