While traveling on the Mother Road in central Oklahoma this afternoon, it occurred to Emily and I that Route 66 News may be nearing its fifth anniversary.
Emily whipped out her trusty iPad, linked up to a 3G connection, and within two minutes made this discovery while checking the site’s archives.
“It’s today.”
I’m back at home now, so that gives me just a few hours to mark this five-year milestone. Five years isn’t much for most people, but it’s downright seasoned for the Internet.
I started Route 66 News because I felt the Mother Road needed a timely one-stop source of information from the newswires, plus a smidgen of original content. The original goal was to average one story a day. In reality, it’s been more than double that. Even I underestimated how dynamic Route 66 was, and it belied the argument that it’s an “dead, tired” road.
Less than a week after Route 66 News launched, it was faced with its first bona fide crisis — a developer had purchased El Vado Motel in Albuquerque and vowed to flatten it for luxury townhouses. Route 66 fans and Albuquerque residents rallied to the cause. It took a few years, but control of the historic motel was wrested from the developer’s hands to the city’s. El Vado is still standing, and I’d like to think Route 66 News played a small role in helping make that happen.
Since inception, Route 66 News has published more than 4,600 posts and approved more than 7,000 comments. The spam filter has screened more than 500,000 junk comments.
Route 66 News has logged more than 2.1 million page views total, an average of over 1,100 daily.
The post “A Route 66 Guide to the ‘Cars’ movie” from 2006 remains the most popular post by far, with more than 173,000 page views. It still gets between 60 to 80 views a day, and always sees a bump up in traffic when the Disney Channel airs the film.
And since the beginning of the year, we’re starting to make a few bucks with an arrangement between our platform, WordPress.com, and Google Adsense. We’re a long way from gaining a penthouse floor, but at least the revenue is helping cover many of the expenses of this site.
Through all this, I’m grateful for all of your readership and your news tips. Without you, this site wouldn’t have much of a reason to exist. Thank you, and happy traveling.
Thanks for everything Ron! And Happy Birthday from your friends here at Vintage Roadside.
Here’s to the next five.
Thank you for all your hard work! It’s a great site with tons of info and great links, that I visit every day.
No …. Thank You! 🙂
Hope you read that comment correctly. It was meant as don’t thank us … we thank you.
I don’t want you to think I was saying “No thank you” LOL 🙂
Congrats! This is a delightful blog to read.
You know how important I think you are…Happy Anniversary!
I’m an 80 year old fan of “ROUTE 66” ever since I traveled her with my parents back in 1948. Loved her! Than came the TV show, “ROUTE 66”, which actually didn’t travel ON her very much but I loved the show just because of its title: “ROUTE 66.”
Every time I get on the computer and find a new post from you, Ron, I get excited. ALWAYS very interesting and brings back fond memories from 1948
and of my first love, “ROUTE 66.” KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK, RON, it is APPRECIATED. Ross Bunch
Happy Anniversary
Happy Anniversary
Pour a cheerful toast and fill it
But be careful you don’t spill it
Congratulations!
Happy – FIVE
You have been a great source of information. Thanks for giving your opinion and balance it with facts that make for interesting reading.
Ron yoy have done a GREAT JOB keeping us informed.Jeff Meyer THE ORGENAL ROUTE 66 ROADOLOGIST
Congratulations! I’ve been visiting here for several years now since I’ve done art festivals along Route 66 and use your site for information.
I hope good things for the future of Route 66 News.
Anthony Ross
Congratulations, Ron. This blog is such an important information-disseminating entity, and one I’m sure most good roadies, such as me, check every single day.
Congratulations on 5 great years! It’s on my list of “daily” bookmarks.
Thanks for starting this site, Ron, and keeping it amazingly fresh for five years. Quite a feat. This is a huge and vital resource for EVERYTHING Route 66.
Ron & Emily,
I have not yet read the other posts to this message, I will after I make my post.
WOW! has it only been that long?
WOW! has it only been that short a time?
Either way your work has paid off for all of us. At one time I would hear from people that it was Swa’s site they were quoting from now it your has been added to the mix. Keep up the GREAT work and thanks for being a part of the road.
I am a little late on posting but congratulations to you and your wife for your five years of keeping us all up-to-date on Route 66 happenings. I hope you have enjoyed the time and travels. You do a great service for us all.
Great work, Ron! I enjoy the site and read it often. Thank you for all the effort it takes.
Thank you for putting together this cyber slice of the road. I’ve enjoyed reading it and viewing the links regularly for the last few years and learning more each day.