A guide to Route 66, Unfiltered
Updated: Aug 13
Hannah and Hunter of @packthebus trace America’s most iconic highway, one stop at a time
BY Kay Esposito, June 16, 2026
ROAD TRIP
There is a stretch of road in America where time does not really move forward so much as it lingers, frozen in place, where you can still feel the history in everything along it.
Neon signs flicker. Diners feel unchanged on purpose. Vintage gas stations sit like they have been there forever. And the iconic U.S. Route 66, first established in 1926, still carries every traveler who has ever passed through it.
For Hannah and Hunter of @packthebus, that road became something more than a drive. It became a month-long journey connecting Illinois to California, stitched together by roadside stops, unexpected people and the kind of moments you cannot plan for. The two have known each other almost their entire lives, though not in the way people assume.
"We went to the same middle school and high school, so we grew up in the same neighborhood," Hannah says. "We didn't actually meet until college. It's kind of funny, we were orbiting each other for years and didn't even know it."
They even show up in each other's old photos without realizing it, background faces at school events, parallel lives that did not fully connect until later. The timing of their meeting would end up shaping much of what came next.
Pack the Bus started in a downtown San Diego apartment. Life had become routine in ways they did not expect. Rent, work and days spent indoors had replaced the adventures they imagined.
"We were living in a downtown apartment with no real sunlight," Hunter says. "At first it felt fine because we thought we'd always be out doing things in the city, but once everything slowed down, we realized how much time we were actually spending inside."
The contrast between what life looked like and how it felt became harder to ignore.
"I had this car I loved, but I wasn't using it anymore because we didn't have anywhere to go," Hunter says. "That's when we started thinking maybe we should be doing something that actually gets us outside again."
A camping trip changed everything.
"We had never really camped together as adults, so we asked a friend to take us out and show us the ropes. That first trip honestly changed everything for us. We came back completely hooked."
Not long after, they found a Volkswagen bus. It was never intended to become a full-time lifestyle.
"At the time it was just supposed to be something fun, a project, a weekend thing," they say. "We didn't buy it thinking this would become our life."
But it did. Weekend getaways turned into longer adventures, to Big Bear, Mammoth and beyond. Eventually, returning home became the hardest part.
"Every time we came back, we had the same feeling. We didn't want to go back to normal life. It kept happening over and over until we finally asked, 'Why are we going back at all?'"
In 2022, they stopped asking. They gave up their lease, transitioned to working remotely and set out with a loose goal of visiting every national park in the United States. During their first year alone, they explored 22 national parks. Route 66 came later, almost by accident.
"We had just finished an East Coast loop and realized we would be passing through Chicago on the way back to California," Hunter says. "It felt like the perfect chance to take Route 66 instead of just driving straight home."
They spent nearly a month following the historic highway from Illinois to California, traveling slowly enough to appreciate how dramatically the country changes along the way.
"I think it was less about getting from one end to the other and more about everything in between," Hunter says. "The landscape changes so much. You start in the Midwest, and by the time you hit the West, it feels like a completely different country."
For Hannah, the slower pace was the best part.
"I love stopping. I love museums, stamps, roadside attractions—all of it," she says. "There were days where we barely drove 60 miles because we kept stopping for something random. A sign, a diner, a museum we'd never heard of. That's kind of the point of Route 66. It pulls you off the main path constantly."
Some of the trip's most memorable moments came from those unplanned detours.
"We stopped at this neon sign display in Illinois, and the next day we randomly met someone whose family had been making those signs for generations," Hannah says. "He ended up inviting us into his shop and walking us through everything. That would not have happened if we hadn't stopped in the first place."
Another unexpected recommendation led them to Abraham Lincoln's Tomb in Springfield, Illinois.
"That same local told us about Abraham Lincoln's Tomb," Hunter says. "It wasn't on our list at all, but we ended up going, and it was one of the most powerful stops of the whole trip."
Farther west, in Tucumcari, New Mexico, the Blue Swallow Motel became one of the highlights of the journey.
"It still has the original neon sign and even rotary phones in the rooms," Hannah says. "It feels like stepping into a completely different time. You can tell it's been preserved with so much care."
Not everything about traveling Route 66 came easily. Without air conditioning in their vintage Volkswagen bus, planning around the weather became essential.
"The biggest challenge was definitely the weather," they say. "We don't have air conditioning in the van, so we had to be really intentional about when we traveled through certain areas. In New Mexico, we actually missed a blizzard by one day. If we'd been any later, we would have been stuck for days."
Still, they never viewed the journey as something to simply get through. Instead, Route 66 became something to experience. Their advice for anyone considering the drive is simple.
"Don't over plan it. Learn a little history before you go, but leave space for the random stuff. That's where the best parts happen."
And if you're hoping to drive the entire route, don't rush it.
"At least two weeks. But honestly, if you only have a few days, just pick a section and really sit in it. The western part is great for landscapes, but Illinois has a lot of the deeper history."
One of Hannah's favorite stops remains the Route 66 Hall of Fame Museum in Pontiac, Illinois.
That's where I got my first stamp. After that, I just started collecting them everywhere we went. Gas stations, diners, small museums, anywhere that had something worth stopping for.
By the end of the journey, Route 66 had become more than a historic highway. It became a reminder that the best adventures rarely happen on a schedule. The Mother Road doesn't ask travelers to race from one end to the other. It invites them to slow down, wander into forgotten towns, strike up conversations with strangers and pull over whenever something catches their eye.
For Hannah and Hunter, that ended up being the whole point. To help others experience the route, the couple created a comprehensive Route 66 travel map filled with their favorite stops, recommendations and hidden gems discovered along the way.
As Route 66 approaches its 100th anniversary in 2026, they hope more travelers will take the time to experience America's most iconic highway for themselves.
To learn more about Hannah and Hunter's journey, follow @packthebus on Instagram. Their Route 66 guide is available by commenting "guide" on one of their Route 66 posts, where you'll receive a link to start planning your own adventure.
Photography by Hannah and Hunter of @packthebus.
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