“Celebrate the Ozarks: Route 66,” a one-hour special about Missouri’s Route 66, will air at 7 p.m. CDT Friday, April 29, on KYTV (KY3) in Springfield, Mo.
Tim Leimkuhler, a news photographer at KY3 and producer of the program, says it deals with the Mother Road from Rolla, Mo., to just across the border in Galena, Kan.
In an e-mail, Leimkuhler said:
Unfortunately I was not able to cover everything between here and there because of time constraints, so I only hit on some of the most interesting, what is left, or what we have pictures of video of. I didn’t even have time to mention Joplin or show anything from there. Included are the Edwin Long Hotel and Mule Trading Post in Rolla, John’s (Modern) Cabins, Stoney Dell, Hooker Cut, The Elbow Inn, the Munger Moss Motel and museum in Lebanon, the Gillioz Theater, Bunion Derby, Steak and Shake, and Red’s in Springfield, as well as foreign travelers at the Rail Haven. Brief stop in Halltown and then on to Gay Parita. From there a brief look at Spencer and then on to Carthage with their little museum and drive-in theater. Another brief stop in Webb City at their new museum and then onward to Galena, Kan., to meet Dean Walker, 4 Women on the Route, and talk about the movie “Cars.” Near the end of the show we talk with Michael Wallis in Tulsa about his book from 1990, his role as the sheriff (in the movie “Cars”), and the people of the road. The show ends with a wrapup about the interstates and how the route has gone high tech — Facebook and YouTube videos.
Here’s a recent clip on KY3 of Leimkuhler talking about the special. He also posted teaser footage from the special on Facebook here.
Leimkuhler said the program will not be produced for DVD, namely because of copyright hassles regarding the “Cars” footage.
However, he said the program will be available for viewing on the Internet within a week or so after it airs.