This year marks the 100th anniversary of America’s most celebrated highway, Route 66. Wisconsin is not on the storied road, but that’s OK, because we’ve got our own 66, and it’s actually 10 years older than its 2,448-mile sibling.
To commemorate the centennial, Wisconsin-style, I head out on a road trip down State Highway 66. It may only be 34 miles, but there’s more than enough for a rewarding couple of days of (very) slow cruising through the heart of the state.
The road begins in the hamlet of Alban, just west of the delightful Wisconsin Territories Farm Market, which sells fresh local produce seven days a week. It then curves south – passing cornfields and dairy farms, parish cemeteries and country taverns – before reaching Polonia, where waitresses at the Polonia Cafe serve homemade pączki and greet regulars by name.
Around the corner, a sign marks where a Polish religious order founded its North American ministry in 1874. Settlers from the country’s Kashubia region began arriving here in 1857, a history 66 commemorates as Wisconsin’s Polish Heritage Highway.
A few miles on, I come to Jordan Pond, where an early 20th-century power plant still stands. Before that, the spot was home to a sawmill that churned out millions of feet of lumber in the area’s 1890s logging heyday. When I reach the edge of Stevens Point, I pull over to stretch my legs on the Green Circle, a gorgeous 27-mile trail that rings the city. The section here traces the meandering Plover River, where Menominee and French voyageurs once canoed.
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After lunch at the thematically appropriate Rock ’N’ Roll Cafe – Formica tabletops, Elvis pictures, Route 66 wallpaper – I cruise into downtown Stevens Point. Here, Highway 66 becomes Main Street and is lined with charming businesses like Gepetto’s Workshop, a toy store open since 1981. It then skirts Mathias Mitchell Public Square, site of a Saturday farmers market and the Indigenous-owned Process, which sells home goods and locally made jewelry.
The square is also lined with some great dive bars. After tavern-style pizza at Bill’s, a Point fixture since 1958, I pull up a stool at the Elbow Room , where a sign announces, “Alcohol Here. Cigs & Cheese Too.” At night’s end, I crash at the local Days Inn. Point’s hotel offerings are basic, but this spot at least looks out on UW-Stevens Point’s 280-acre Schmeeckle Nature Reserve.
The next morning, I grab coffee at Ruby, just off 66. The Nelsonville-based roastery is a coffee cognoscente favorite and has collaborated with Bon Iver. Before leaving town, I stroll through Pfiffner Pioneer Park, on the banks of the Wisconsin River. It holds free summer concerts on Thursday evenings, when folks spread out blankets and nosh on food truck fare as the sun sets.
Highway 66’s home stretch runs southwest, paralleling the Wisconsin River and curving through pine forests and marshland. Just before the Wood County line, I follow a sign pointing the way to Rusty’s Backwater Saloon, half a mile off the highway. Part dive bar, part scrapyard, part riverside hideaway, Rusty’s is a local institution. It’s renowned for its fish fry and bloody mary, but everything tastes good in the bric-a-brac-strewn yard.
From Rusty’s, it’s a pretty nine miles to 66’s terminus at the intersection with Highway 34. It’s not the Santa Monica Pier, but I’m not complaining. Just a few miles north is Rudolph and its pilgrimage-worthy Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Co., while to the south is Wisconsin Rapids’ scenic riverside and Northwoods League baseball. The open road awaits, and there’s more to explore.
