Cain't Get No More Historic Than This

The intersection of Historic Route 66 and Historic Route 66.
(Note added at 10:30 PM: The actual intersection is on the other side of that tall evergreen and the house. Historic Route 66 does not make a right turn up their driveway, although the sign does sort of make it look that way.)

The road on the left is now Illinois Route 4. In Missouri, they call their highways highways, as in Missouri Highway 100. In Illinois we call them routes, as in Illinois Route 100.

But, we generally still pronounce route as "rout" (rhymes with pig snout). Everyone used to, until Nat King Cole decided root 66 sounded better than rout 66 when he recorded the song.

So...the road that you see on the left in the picture is Illinois rout 4, which used to be US root 66. Below are the lyrics. Decide for yourself if Nat made the correct choice.

If you ever plan to motor west,
Travel my way, take the highway that is best.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.

It winds from chicago to la,
More than two thousand miles all the way.
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.

Now you go through saint looey
Joplin, missouri,
And oklahoma city is mighty pretty.
You see amarillo,
Gallup, new mexico,
Flagstaff, arizona.
Don’t forget winona,
Kingman, barstow, san bernandino.

Won’t you get hip to this timely tip:
When you make that california trip
Get your kicks on route sixty-six.