Route 66 Trip Planning: Lodging and cars

Keith Mendel and I pooled our resources and came up with the itinerary and accommodations for our adventure along Route 66 in New Mexico and Arizona next February. We decided to avoid chain hotels and stay in more appropriate route 66 lodging when possible. We found our hotels along the route mainly through TripAdvisor.com. I started with the town we wanted to stay in and cross-referenced the hotel reviews with what I knew to be the old Route 66. Glenn Taylor recommended the Globetrotter lodge in Holbrook, AZ. I believe he found it through TripAdvisor as well.

  Our first night will be in Albequerque, NM at the Monterey Non-Smokers Motel (yep, that's really the name). The motel is on the old route 66 (Central Ave) near the Old-Town district. It has good reviews on TripAdvisor and I believe a single room is around $50.

  Our second stop will be in Holbrook, AZ at the Globetrotter Lodge. The hotel is on the old route 66 across the street from the Wigwam Village. They were very nice on the phone and gave us 10% off of the regular $50 rate for booking eight rooms.

  The third night will be at the Bright Angel Lodge inside Grand Canyon National Park. While the Canyon is not actually on route 66, I would not consider a trip to this area without a visit to this wonder. The lodge is a historic building right on the rim of the canyon. Single rooms are <$100.

The Hilltop has been around since 1954

  We'll be back on the old route for our fourth night. We're staying at the Hilltop Motel in Kingman, AZ. We got a group rate for booking the group, and the owner, Dennis, was very nice on the phone. In fact, his wife is a photographer and may join up with our group and show us some out-of-the-way places to shoot.

 Our last stop is the Stratosphere tower n Las Vegas, NV. It may not be the latest and greatest thing on the strip, but they gave us a nice deal. We got a group rate for our rooms, and free access to the tower and observation deck is included with your stay.

  There was a bit more trial and error involved with finding our rental cars. We found the best prices by going to each company online and checking rates. This ended up cheaper than sites like carrental.com and orbitz.com. Alamo was the cheapest option for car rental by far. We are picking up the full-size SUV's in Albequerque and dropping them off in Las Vegas five days later for just over $400!