Get your kicks with this new Route 66 guide. Here are the best road trip stops in Arizona

Corrections & Clarifications: ​The locations of two landmarks were incorrectly reported in a previous version of this article. Jack Rabbit Trading Post is about 18 miles west of Holbrook, and Holbrook is west of Petrified Forest National Park.

The next best thing to using a time machine? Visiting destinations that evoke a sense of nostalgia.

The roadside attractions of historic Route 66 can reawaken the emotional bond people have with the past time and place and now people can track down destinations using the Arizona Office of Tourism's new Route 66 Check-In Challenge. It's a mobile exclusive guide to Route 66, which doesn't require downloading an app and enables travelers to identify and check in to landmarks along the historic highway.

“Route 66’s colorful history, quirky attractions, lively dining and beautiful landscapes are the types of treasures that beg to be shared,” said AOT Director Debbie Johnson, in a statement. “Our latest passport is a perfect invitation to explore it for the first time or get reacquainted and find something new!”

When people check in using the passport and upload photos from the destination, it automatically enters them in a drawing to win prizes from the Arizona Office of Tourism and the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona.

State tourism officials partnered with digital experience developer Bandwango for the Route 66 passport, extending a collaboration that also included the Arizona Wine Trail Passport and AZ Parks Passport.

The Route 66 passport includes 25 stops spanning the west, central and east portions of Route 66, from Topock to the Painted Desert. Here are a few highlights.

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Jack Rabbit Trading Post

The Jack Rabbit Trading Post, about 18 miles west of Holbrook, is best known for the commanding “HERE IT IS” billboard adjacent to the building, which lies along a mostly desolate stretch of red desert road.

With the words written in large red letters next to the image of a black jackrabbit, the sign was part of an early owner's advertising campaign for the trading post that included painting 30 jackrabbits on the building's roof and a on billboards along the highway featuring the distinctive jackrabbit images, according to AOT.

The billboard is one of several Route 66 landmarks in Arizona referenced in "Cars." But in the movie, "HERE IT IS" appears next to a Ford Model T instead of a jackrabbit.

People visit the Jack Rabbit Trading Post to catch a glimpse of (and ride) the giant jackrabbit and browse the Route 66 souvenirs inside.

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Wigwam Motel

The town of Holbrook, west of Petrified Forest National Park, evokes kitsch on nearly every corner. It’s apparent from the seemingly endless line of tall, vintage gas station and trading post signs fighting to capture the eyes of motorists along Navajo Boulevard, to the giant, dinosaurs that greet visitors to Rainbow Rock Shop.

But one of its most enduring icons is the Wigwam Motel, first built in the 1930s and patterned after the teepees used by Plains Indians.

It was once part of a chain of motels called Wigwam Villages. At its peak, the chain operated in six different states, but the Holbrook motel is one of only three that remain open today, according to AOT. Another one is also on Route 66, in Rialto, California.

The Wigwam Motel served as an inspiration for the Cozy Cone Motel in “Cars.”

Standin' on the Corner Park

It's true that a corner in Winslow, Arizona inspired the lyrics penned by singer-songwriter Jackson Browne for his song "Take It Easy", made famous by the Eagles. Browne's car broke down in Winslow while he was on his way to Sedona.

But multiple sources, including the Arizona Department of Transportation, clarify it was a different Route 66 city — Flagstaff — where Browne saw the girl in the flatbed Ford.

Doesn't matter. "Take It Easy" put Winslow on the map.

People go there to see the Standin' on the Corner Park at the corner of 2nd Street and North Kinsley Avenue. The park features a life-sized statue of a man with a guitar, steps away from a red flatbed Ford parked at the curb.

The park hosts a two-day festival every September. This year's, scheduled for Sept. 23-24, will celebrate 50 years since the Eagles released "Take It Easy." The live music lineup is topped by the Eagles tribute band One of These Nights. That means you'll have the chance to hear them sing about standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, while standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.

La Posada Hotel

Before "Take It Easy", Winslow's claim to fame was serving as a stop on the Santa Fe Railway.

The La Posada Hotel was designed by trailblazing architect Mary Colter, who considered it her masterpiece. It was one of the Southwest's famed Harvey Houses, which were high end hotels and restaurants with a reputation for outstanding food and service.

In its time, La Posada was a destination for luminaries like Albert Einstein and former president Harry Truman. The hotel sat vacant for many years after it closed with the decline of rail travel, but it received a second life following a renovation in the 1990s. It continues to operate as a hotel and also is home to an acclaimed restaurant, the Turquoise Room.

Historic digs: La Posada Hotel in Arizona: Route 66 and railroad history

Meteor Crater

Imagine a rock smashing into the ground with a force 150 times greater than an atom bomb.

That happened more than 50,000 years ago near present-day Flagstaff, when a meteorite about 150 feet wide and weighing about 300,000 tons smashed into the ground and left behind a bowl-shaped hole.

That hole is now called the Meteor Crater, recognized as the planet's best preserved meteorite impact site. It was one of the Arizona sites Apollo astronauts used to prepare for the moon landing.

The U.S. Department of the Interior designated Meteor Crater a national natural landmark in 1968.

Conde Nast Traveler named Meteor Crater one of its new Seven Wonders of the World in 2020.

Oatman Hotel

Oatman, a former mining town about 60 miles north of Lake Havasu, draws curiosity from Route 66 travelers for its history associated with the town's gold mining boom of the mid-19th century.

The Oatman Hotel is one of the relics of this time, known for the thousands of dollar bills along its walls — a tradition that, according to AOT, started with miners who needed a safe way to store money and continues today with tourists.

Another curiosity that draws people to Oatman is its free roaming burros, descended from the herds brought in by miners. The burros, now Oatman’s main draw, were resilient through the community’s challenges including a devastating 1921 fire and the town’s relentless hot weather, according to the American Wild Horse Campaign.

Burros contribute to the town’s economic impact, in part because shops in the community make their money by selling burro feed to visitors. Just be warned that sometimes the burros themselves may wander into the shops.

Reach the reporter at Michael.Salerno@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salerno_phx.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Route 66 guide: Plan the best road trip to these attractions