Route 66 Turns 100, and the Party Started in Amarillo

Route 66 turned 100 this year, and in late September a new documentary celebrating the people who keep the Mother Road alive made its Texas premiere in Amarillo. KFDA NewsChannel 10 reported on September 25 that the film rolled into town as part of a cross-country roadshow — a love letter to the motels, diners, and neon-lit stops that refused to fade when the interstate came through.

What happened

Per NewsChannel 10, the documentary takes viewers inside the motels, diners, museums and roadside attractions that have become part of Route 66, along with the stories of the people working to preserve them. Amarillo is one of more than 40 stops on the documentary's roadshow from Chicago to Los Angeles, and Texas got more than a cameo. The city's two best-known Route 66 attractions, Cadillac Ranch and The Big Texan, both get their moment in the film.

The screening tour didn't stop at the big city, either. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Main Street of America Road Show scheduled its first Texas showing in Amarillo followed by an additional screening in Shamrock — a town of a few thousand people getting the same red-carpet treatment as Chicago and L.A. That feels right. That feels like Route 66.

Why it matters

The filmmaker's heart is in the right place. "The thing that captured my heart about it was the underdog towns," director Paget told NewsChannel 10, pointing to the small communities that kept going after the interstate passed them by. And this isn't just nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. Paget returned to the road and found longtime Route 66 figures still keeping traditions alive alongside a new generation taking over businesses and landmarks — a mix, he said, of legends who've lived on the road for decades and the folks who'll shape what Route 66 looks like in the future.

That's the real good news buried in here: the Mother Road isn't a museum piece. It's a working main street with new hands on the wheel.

The bigger Texas picture

The Panhandle has been gearing up for this birthday all year. TxDOT's 2026 Texas State Travel Guide and Official Travel Map pay homage to the centennial, with covers featuring the restored vintage Magnolia gas station in Shamrock, one of the most iconic stops along Texas' stretch of the highway. And the preservation money keeps flowing to real places: the National Trust says four Route 66 sites in Texas have received over $69,000 in grants to date, including the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock for improvements to windows, signage, and accessibility, and the 1958 Cactus Inn in McLean for exterior upgrades.

Texas only gets about 180 miles of Route 66, but it makes them count — brick main streets, art deco gas stations, a row of Cadillacs nose-down in a wheat field. It's the stretch of road that looks most like the postcard.

What you can do about it

Drive it. The Texas section runs through Shamrock, McLean, Groom, Amarillo, Vega, and Adrian — a full day if you stop everywhere you should, which you should. Eat where the locals eat, get the photo at the U-Drop Inn, and leave a few dollars in a small-town gift shop. These places survive on exactly that.

If a Panhandle road trip is on your list, our Texas collection was made for the passenger seat — starting with the Texas State Pride Tee, which is appropriate attire for standing in front of a 1936 gas station at golden hour.

Common questions

When did the documentary premiere in Texas?

NewsChannel 10 reported the Amarillo premiere on September 25, 2026, with a follow-up screening scheduled in Shamrock as part of the traveling Road Show across the eight Route 66 states.

What Texas landmarks are in the film?

Amarillo's Cadillac Ranch and The Big Texan both appear in the documentary. The broader film covers the motels, diners, and roadside stops along the whole route from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Is Route 66 in Texas worth driving today?

Absolutely. The Shamrock-to-Adrian stretch is compact, photogenic, and full of restored stops — and preservation grants are actively funding work at landmarks like the U-Drop Inn and the Cactus Inn, so the road keeps getting better, not worse.

Reported by KFDA NewsChannel 10. Details as published at the time of writing.