Couple honors Route 66 centennial with kindness stops in New Mexico

A Route 66 kindness drive is turning centennial nostalgia into a local-economy play in New Mexico, with every 100-mile stop designed to put travelers in front of diners, shops and landmarks along Albuquerque’s Central Avenue corridor. The trip tracks the highway’s 100th anniversary in 2026, a year the Route 66 Centennial Commission says runs all through the calendar.

Ed and Jackie Fogle of Oklahoma have been traveling Route 66 in a 1926 Hupmobile, covering more than 2,000 miles on the Mother Road while celebrating 25 years of marriage. Their road trip fits a broader centennial push that links the old Chicago-to-Santa Monica route with acts of kindness and with the businesses that still depend on people pulling off the highway and into town.

In Albuquerque, that means the spotlight falls on the stretch of Route 66 still tied to Central Avenue and West Central Avenue, where the road’s identity is inseparable from the city’s tourism brand. Visit Albuquerque has built a centennial campaign around that history, including a Route 66 Centennial section with an explore page and a timeline from 1926 to 2026. The City of Albuquerque also has a Route 66 Centennial page and a Route 66 Visitor Center page, signaling that the anniversary is being treated as a draw for visitors, not just a commemorative date.

Bernalillo County has taken the same view. The Bernalillo County Board of County Commissioners adopted the East Route 66 Sector Development Plan 2020 Update on Aug. 11, 2020, a move that put preservation and corridor planning squarely into county policy. That matters now because centennial travelers are arriving with an interest in vintage signage, historic storefronts and the places that still carry the road’s name.

Congress created the official Route 66 Centennial Commission through the Route 66 Centennial Commission Act in late 2020 to study and recommend fitting ways to honor the highway. Local stakeholders, including the New Mexico Route 66 Association, Visit Albuquerque and city arts and culture officials, have treated the anniversary as a major heritage campaign, branding Albuquerque’s role as part of a celebration of The Mother Road.

That gives kindness stops a practical edge. A traveler who pauses for a good deed in New Mexico can also fuel foot traffic for corridor businesses, reinforce the city’s Route 66 identity and keep the centennial visible far beyond a single roadside photo.