This began as a two-week road trip across the American Southwest.

The idea was simple: drive west, follow Route 66 when it made sense, take detours when something seemed worth seeing, and pay attention along the way.

The diary is a record of that journey—the landscapes, towns, people, history, conversations, meals, wrong turns, and small moments that made the trip memorable.

It isn’t meant to be a definitive guide to Route 66.

It is simply one journey through it.

And this is what I found.