The rhythm and blues standard “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” has been sung by motorists (and high school jazz choirs) since 1946. But no matter how many renditions of it exist, from Bobby Troup’s original to Bing Crosby to the great Nat King Cole, singing the song isn’t quite as thrilling as actually driving the world-famous highway – though it certainly does get you in the mood for it.

This year on Nov. 11, Route 66 celebrates 100 years of satisfying our wanderlust for traveling west. One of the original highways in the U.S. Numbered Highways System, it weaves through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Cali-fornia. And though it faced decline as the Interstate High-way System began the nation’s traffic to run through its cement veins starting in the 1950s, portions of Route 66 have survived, being rebranded as a National Scenic Byway under the official name “Historic Route 66.” We, of course, have other names for it, including “The Mother Road”

 Route 66 is a physical manifestation of the country’s triumphant arrival into the modern era, a place where adventure exists not only at its ending point but also in every town along the way, culminating in sights we’d only heard or read about. Case in point — advertising from the road’s early days encouraged us to take Route 66 to the 1932 Summer Olympics in California, where you’d see dazzling feats by athletes who would go on to become stars of the big screen, such as Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe. Route 66 would also go on to be immortalized in American author John Steinbeck’s Dust Bowl classic “The Grapes of Wrath.”

For midcentury American travelers, the Mother Road held wonder by the roadside, wherever you were headed. Motels shaped like Native American teepees. Full-service filling stations. Greasy spoon diners and cafes staffed by waitresses with beehive hairdos. And neon signs beckoning you from every direction (by the way, if your travels take you through Tulsa, OK, be sure to stop by the Route 66 Neon Sign Park and treat your eyeballs to a slice of colorful retro roadside delights; there’s a neon sign park in Roberts, MO, too).