It's one of the most famous roads in the world, and it runs right through New Mexico.

Route 66's 99th birthday was on Tuesday, but just wait until next year. For what it is was and will be, the celebration of the Route 66 Centennial will be a trip through time, a reacquaintance with America, and the embodiment of the freedom that came with the advent of the automobile in the 20th Century.

It's an opportunity to be reminded of who we were. And maybe who we still are.

The "Mother Road," as it's known, ran from Chicago to Los Angeles and came to the Land of Enchantment when it still was very much the Wild West.

"It's so vital to preserve what you can," said Melissa Beasley-Lee of the New Mexico Route 66 Association. "The whole Mother Road through all eight states is actually a playbook of

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