In 1926, Route 66 was born, ushering in the age of the family road trip. Nicknamed “the Mother Road,” it helped fuel a boom in car sales and transformed overlooked towns into thriving roadside destinations built to serve the American traveler. This year, the legendary highway connecting Chicago to Santa Monica, California , celebrates its centennial, honoring not only its status as the country's most prominent artifact of transportation history, but also its cultural legacy. Travelers can still see original neon signs from the 1930s and old-school drive-up motels with communal firepits and radios instead of televisions. While many of the original auto courts and motor lodges have vanished, others have been thoughtfully restored, offering comforts that meet the needs of the modern traveler without losing their old-school charm.…