The state you are referring to is of course Kansas, which only has 13 miles of Route 66 passing through it's southeast corner. You can read more about the Kansas section of Route 66 on our site here: http://www.66chips.com/KS.php

If you drew a straight line from Chicago to Los Angeles the line would go through the entire length of Kansas. What's more the old Santa Fe trail cut through the state already. It would have made perfect sense for Route 66 to follow this route. However Cyrus Avery, who was one of the original idea guys behind Route 66 was from Oklahoma. He foresaw the tourist dollars for his state by having the highway cut through OK rather than KS and lobbied long and hard for the highway to head south before heading west, thus virtually bypassing Kansas.

Dave
Cheques in the Mail, Inc.