I thoroughly enjoyed this book, for I like anything with Route 66 and two I grew up in a town where the Route went throughout the town and was actually Main Street. Yes, our town went through a change because of a freeway and the direction took most traffic away from our town. Here in this book, you find other stories about towns like the one I grew up in ones that made it, and ones that went by the wayside. You also find out about towns along the Route and the history of the town and some interesting facts that are tied to each one. The pictures were helpful for people that don’t know about the Route but this is really a wonderful book at least for me, very much worth the read.

Cover: Cute!

Travel books are comfort books. They’re there to take you on a journey—always appreciated—and show you new places. Or, old places you can’t get enough of.

Here We Are… on Route 66 belongs to the latter category.I think I read a decent chunk of Route 66-related books, and I’m still coming back for more: there are so many attractions, so many cool places, and signs.

You see, I have a soft spot for signs, what with the neon colors and the burned-out letters, rust spots, and the sun-stained whites. On Here We Are… on Route 66 they’re predominant, giving the book a real Americana feeling. Buildings and various attractions complete the visual package, which is the best feature of Here We Are… on Route 66.

Writing-wise, I enjoyed the many historical facts Hinckley filled his book with. They’re interesting and of the lesser-known kind for the most part.

What could have been handled better? Other than the ellipsis in the title—I mean, come on—captions. It’s not that easy to match pictures to descriptions, and the Kindle format doesn’t help either.

Special Mention

66 Motel, California
Blue Swallow Motel, New Mexico
Conoco green station, Oklahoma
Baxter Springs station, Kansas
Mingr Moss Motel, Missouri
Deep Rock gas station, Illinois
Cafe, Illinois
The whole Texas chapter, okay

4 stars on GR.

Most people know about Route 66 but not like this! This was such a cool book I almost want to get an rv and set off on a road trip! I loved all the pics and the stories!

Here We are… on Route 66 is a compact guide to the famous road trip with a selective historical twist. Each chapter focuses on a state beginning in Chicago and weaving all the way to California. It is full of interesting photographs, both old and new of famous landmarks and attractions as you follow the route. Lots of interesting facts, figures and historical details are included. The book will leave you itching to follow the trail yourself. A great book for real adventurers and those of the armchair type.

This is a great book to go out and buy if you have dreams of following Route 66! I found it hard to read in the NetGalley app. I downloaded it to the kindle app and that was difficult also. It is simply the way the book is set up.

My husband and I are planning a trip to at least follow parts of Route 66. I will definitely but this book for our planning.

Route 66 has fascinated me since I got to drive part of it a few years back.

This book is awesome! Chock full of great places and their stories - the history is amazing! This book would be the perfect driving companion!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.

This offering from the well respected author on Route 66 was a delight to read. It was informative and colourful. If you have a passion for Route 66 travel and the history of The Mother Road you will enjoy Hinckley’s ‘Here We Are…’
My thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the digital copy in exchange for my review. I enjoyed reading this and would recommend to Route 66 fans.

A book about... Route 66. And that is is. A bit of history, a bit of fun and a bit of America.
This is he book you need if you want to do Route 66 as it tells you what you need to know. Although not a tour guide type of boo it is well researched and gives you an insight to this famous thoroughfare.

Great for history buffs, great for travelers and great for armchair travelers as well. I love the small towns, the stops along the way and a window into the past rather than a guide book of the present and future which I found quite intriguing.

Great book that lets you travel from the past to the present.

Obviously thoroughly researched, this book has a lot of information to digest! I found the writing style a little on the dry side so it was hard going at times. It's less a travel guide and more a historical document of Route 66. There are some really nice photos and it would make a great coffee table book or gift for history buffs, travel enthusiasts or Americanophiles alike.

I reckon I am not the only one who has "Drive down Route 66" on their bucket list, but it's the reason I applied to review "Here we are ...on Route 66". There's a chapter for each state the route runs through and the history of the locations you'll encounter along the way. As other reviewers have said, it is a little dry to read and there can be an overwhelming wealth of information - that's not to my preference but anyone interested in the history of the regions will benefit from the thorough research that went into the book.

From my perspective, I think it would make a brilliant coffee table book. I loved the pictures selected from each part of the route from the beautiful to the bizarre - the devil's rope museum run as a tribute to barbed wire!

Perfect for armchair travelers, history buffs and bucket listers like myself. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Although I haven’t driven the full length of Route 66, I am a pretty big fan, and I have quite a collection of books, maps, and magazines (yes, there was a “Route 66” magazine published quarterly) about the Mother Road. So I was eagerly anticipating reading (and adding to my collection) “Here We Are . . . on Route 66: A Journey Down America’s Main Street” by Jim Hinckley.

So this book is definitely different from all of the guidebooks out there. For one, there is very little about the tourist destinations that make Route 66 interesting and unique. This book is mostly a history of a sampling of small towns along the route. Although Mr. Hinckly usually starts with explaining the alignment(s) of Route 66 through town, the rest of each feature is mostly about the history of the town, from it’s founding to its rise and fall (and sometimes re-rise as Route 66 becomes more popular). Some of the information is quite repetitive – the further west we move, we find out that each town started out as a Native American trail, then a railroad stop, and finally a mother road stop on the highway. Other than a few hotel histories (and a tourist trap or two), very little has to do with the road, other than causing a rise and fall in the towns’ fortunes. The pictures are wonderful – some are very evocative of what the road looks like today, others are historic pictures and postcards – but all of the pictures are uncaptioned, leaving one wondering what we are looking at.

Overall an interesting addition to the Route 66 library, but it leaves one wanting more. And if one is looking for a guidebook, there are better options out there.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Quarto Publishing Group – Motorbooks via NetGalley. Thank you!

I'm currently traveling along Route 66, from Texas to Barstow. This is the second time I've traveled this route while living in an RV full-time and spending weeks along the route. I thought it would be neat to read a book on the topic. So when I saw this book on Netgalley, I jumped on it. L

This book has some neat information, but it is all very basic. A little bit of history a neat destination or two, and that's about it. If you are completely unfamiliar with Route 66, this book may be more interesting. I expected a bit more history or maybe just a little more information in general on each place. Maybe lists of must see attractions/historical sites or a list of fun facts for each. The most popular are mentioned, but there are more out there.

I also struggled reading the PDF format, but that's just me being picky.

Thanks for the opportunity to learn while I travel!

This makes me want to pack up everything, and do the whole route. Great book for anyone who's fascinated by this route. Illustrated and written well

Due to download constraints, I wasn't able to review the full 100 days.  The book separates out the 100 days by season, with 25 activities for Summer, Fall, Winter & Spring.  While this book is geared towards children, a lot of the activities and learning can be done by anyone of any age!  There are recipes, outdoor activities, ways to help your community and all sorts of fun activities included. Some of the summer activities I'd most like to try are: tying knots, making smores and kayaking! There are a lot of great ways to fill the days of summer vacation in the book.  I also was able to get a sneak at some of the Fall activities as well - and my favorites of those that I checked out were: Make wax leaves, see a symphony concert, and a "day trip to another country" - which is essentially finding a neighborhood near you that might celebrate cultures different than your own.

If you have kids with adventurous spirit, I am sure they will find plenty to do within this book - I only was able to look at a portion of it, and it gave me plenty of ideas as well!

I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I love Route 66 and since i live in California where there is a large section of it, I am always looking for new things to see and learn about it. I absolutely loved it. Thank you.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book isn't quite what I expected. It's more of a historical look at Route 66 and some of the cities along the way. There are some pictures and some information from selected cities, largely focusing on the Midwest.

The book doesn't cover as much as I thought and is pretty dry. It also fails to touch on the history of Indigenous peoples in the areas highlighted.

Overall not what I was expecting.

Unfortunately I wasn't a fan, I found it pretty dry when the Route itself has so much life in it - the style didnt suit the subject. I also struggled with the column style layout, the font, the lack of maps within a travel book.

That said, some of the photography was decent.

Full of new and vintage photos (unhappily none with captions0 looking at select cities and towns along Route 66. The essays give historic and architectural information about each twon.

Not quite the book I was expecting, this offers rather dry historical write-ups to key places along Route 66 – nothing unifying the cities to give one enveloping social history of the roadways concerned, nothing about what it's like to drive it, just the local history. So what did I learn? Well, that Cuba was on the Route, for one. Some sections, such as the one concerning caves Jesse James potentially, but probably didn't, hide out in outside Stanton, Missouri, easily show the richness and quirky possibilities of the book, but they never really took flight in my mind. Also, having so many wonderful architectural photos with not one caption was a bit irritating.

"Here We Are ... on Route 66" by Jim Hinckley provides a delightful description of the history of 32 of the towns along the famous Route 66. Each of the 8 chapters in this book focuses on one of the states that Route 66 passes through: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Rather than a current guidebook to the Route, this book is a window into the past of each of the towns covered. Nearly every page has a colorful picture or two that celebrates the history of locations on this thoroughfare. The entries on Holbrook and Winslow (both in Arizona) were particularly nostalgic to me. (Also Santa Fe and Amarillo to a lesser degree...) I was slightly surprised that neither Chicago nor Saint Louis were covered. Though, this is reasonable since clearly each needs and has a number of dedicated books.

My only complaint is that this book did not include any maps. Though digital maps are readily available, so it can be argued that this is not a serious omission.

After reading this book, I am convinced of two things. (1) Even though I have driven pieces of Route 66 in all States except for Kansas, I need to drive the entire route in one trip. (2) While doing so, I need to listen to the audiobook version of the entertaining descriptions of each town as I approach them.

I recommend this book to people interested in Route 66, American nostalgia, and U.S. history in the past 125 years or so.

I thank the publisher and author for graciously providing a temporary electronic review copy of this work.