2025 MILES OF POSSIBILITY ROUTE 66 CONFERENCE Joliet, IL Oct. 9-11, 2025
Presented by
Heritage Corridor Destinations
Registration Now Open! Join Us in Joliet, Oct. 9-11, 2025.
ROUTE 66 MILES OF POSSIBILITY ANNOUNCES DATES AND KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR 2025 CONFERENCE
The Tenth Annual Miles of Possibility Route 66 Conference will be held Thursday – Saturday, October 9-11, 2025, in Joliet, Illinois, with the theme “Road to the Centennial.” The main conference activities will take place at the Joliet Area Historical Museum (JAHM) on Route 66.
The keynote speaker is Rhys Martin, author and photographer from Tulsa, Oklahoma. His love of travel was awakened in 2009 when he sold all of his possessions and left the country. For ten months, he lived out of a backpack and explored southeast Asia and Europe. When he returned home, it was with fresh eyes for his home state. As he drove the back roads of Oklahoma, Rhys discovered the significance of historic Route 66 to the greater American story. He has traveled all 2,448 miles of the Mother Road and continues to seek out the quiet Main Streets of the Midwest.
Rhys Martin, Keynote Speaker
Rhys's travel writing and photography has been featured in numerous publications, including Tulsa People Magazine, This Land Press, Route 66 Magazine, Nimrod Journal, The Oklahoman and Tulsa World. He also wrote the book Lost Restaurants of Tulsa, which features the stories of nearly 50 iconic eating establishments from the city's past. Rhys is the President of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association and serves on multiple boards and commissions related to the Mother Road and its upcoming Centennial in 2026. He loves to connect with people and share his experiences.
The complete slate of speakers, evening activities, and host hotel information will be announced soon.
The 2025 conference is made possible by the City of Joliet, Heritage Corridor Destinations Convention & Visitors Bureau and Joliet Area Historical Museum. Additional presenters of past and present conferences include: Bloomington-Normal Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, City of Edwardsville, Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau, Illinois Coal Museum at Gillespie, Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66, Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, McLean County Museum of History, Ryburn Place at Sprague's Super Service, Town of Normal, and Visit Springfield Tourism Bureau.
Registration for the conference sessions (Friday-Saturday, October 10-11, 2025) is now open at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/10th-annual-3-day-miles-of-possibility-route-66-conference-tickets-1366114337759
For updates and fun facts, go to https://www.facebook.com/Route66MilesOfPossibility and @route66_milesofpossibility on Instagram. Register now to secure your place in the 2025 version of the only annual, ongoing conference event dedicated to Route 66!
For more information, visit https://route66milesofpossibility.com, or contact Cheryl Eichar Jett by email at route66mop@gmail.com.
2025 venue -- the Joliet Area Historical Museum in Joliet IL
In 2025, the Miles of Possibility Route 66 Conference returns to the Joliet Area Historical Museum (JAHM) in Joliet, IL, (where the third annual event was held in October 2017)!!
Past and current presenters:
Event History
The first conference was held at the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville, Illinois, in 2015. Subsequent conferences were held in Bloomington (2016), Joliet (2017), Carlinville (2018), Normal (2019), all-virtual (2021), Pontiac (2022), Bloomington-Normal (2023), and Edwardsville (2024). Each event has featured a combination of some of the biggest names on the contemporary Route 66 scene - historians, authors, explorers, photographers, artists, and cartographers - and also experts, academics, and professionals featuring the local history and culture of each host city. Each year, social and networking activities plus great music, film, or other cultural opportunities round out the weekend schedule. The event rotates along Illinois Route 66 to showcase different communities, each supported by the area convention and visitors bureau!
Event Highlights
From the first conference held at the historic Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville in 2015, we knew this was a special kind of event. Gathering Route 66 aficionados, historians, authors, artisans, travelers, and explorers from across the U.S. and around the world, the annual event offers presentations, programs, workshops, Route 66-focused arts and entertainment, and social and networking activities.
It is the only annual conference that focuses on the history, preservation, and economic development of Route 66. "Route 66 Miles of Possibility" is now a nonprofit organization to provide greater capacity and expertise for future events! Now in its tenth year in 2025!
Contact Us
Do you have questions or comments about the event? Do you need special accommodations? Send me a message, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.