Route 66 road trip: Toronto to Scottsdale and back

Dreaming of a road trip in 2012? You might take some inspiration from a recent run by Toronto resident and Autoweek contributor Ronan McGrath.

Like many snow birds, McGrath migrates to Scottsdale, Ariz., for part of the year. But because putting the family's Great Dane on an airplane was expensive, a 6,000-mile round-trip road adventure was born.

With a good friend as co-driver, McGrath hitched a trailer to his Porsche Cayenne and loaded up the family Mercedes-Benz SL. This wasn't going to be a freeway-only run. McGrath used the trip to explore many of the surviving segments of U.S. Route 66, "The Mother Road," which winds from Illinois to California.

He chronicled his adventure and is happy to share it with us. The attached photo gallery is just a sampling of what he saw.

McGrath's trip is broken into three parts:

1. The trip from Toronto to Scottsdale. See the photos and comments here.

2. In Scottsdale, McGrath's Cayenne tackles some tough off-road trails. Read about it here.

3. The return to Toronto, via Las Vegas. All of the details are here.

Since you probably have some extra reading time right now, enjoy the drive with McGrath. And start thinking about your own 2012 road trip.

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