Partly buried in this Carthage (Mo.) Press article about a Japanese television crew filming Route 66 sights is intriguing news about the languishing Red Oak II complex northeast of town. The visit to Red Oak II comes at an exciting time as renovation work nears completion on the Black Hen Restaurant, which will reopen this … Continue reading Red Oak II reopens this summer
Illinois 66 group offers free kids’ memberships
The Illinois Route 66 Association is doing a really cool thing to help boost interest of Route 66 to children -- it is offering free memberships to anyone in the U.S. under 18 years old. From the association's Web site: Junior members will receive a membership card, membership decal and a junior newsletter. Coming soon, … Continue reading Illinois 66 group offers free kids’ memberships
Kellyville cabins torn down
A set of long-abandoned, rock-faced tourist cabins just off old Route 66 east of Kellyville, Okla., was torn down Monday afternoon. I received word from Route 66 fan Frank Gierhart of Sapulpa that the bulldozers were out Monday. Arriving there, I saw that the cabins were still standing, but a backhoe was digging a big … Continue reading Kellyville cabins torn down
Right in time
This video, using the Rolling Stones' version of "Route 66" as accompaniment, manages the trick of showing footage of each town or state's attractions as the lyrics come up.
Riders wanted
Roger Kramer's Cycling Blog, based in my old stomping grounds of St. Louis' metro-east area, has alerted me that the League of Illinois Bicyclists will mark National Trails Day by traversing all 369 miles of the Route 66 Trail in Illinois. The big event, called Route 66 Trail-Breaking, is June 2. There are 14 legs, … Continue reading Riders wanted
Pops of Arcadia documentary
Here's a short documentary about the building of the Pops convenience store on Route 66 in Arcadia, Okla., complete with a 66-foot-tall pop bottle. Interviewed are Route 66 historian Jim Ross, who lives near Arcadia, and Pops architect Rand Elliott of Oklahoma City. On a related note, I recently e-mailed Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon, … Continue reading Pops of Arcadia documentary
A Zinger of a version
Barbra Zinger, a Brazilian country singer who sings primarily in Portugese, sings a countrified version in English of Bobby Troup's classic, "Route 66," in this video that doubles as a motorcycle travelogue:
Java stop
Travis Good had some interesting news from the Route 66 town of Dwight, Ill., that he posted to the Route 66 yahoogroup: Ron was showing me a new business in Dwight across the street from the Becker gas station. It looks like a big billboard with a mural on it. It turns out that it … Continue reading Java stop
Construction begins on Avery Plaza
A couple of news items today from the Tulsa World have relevance to Route 66: Construction has begun on the Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza, which is at Southwest Boulevard and Riverside Drive in Tulsa. It eventually will be part of a Route 66 museum complex. Organizers of the Route 66 Marathon probably will tweak the … Continue reading Construction begins on Avery Plaza
The sad story of Glenrio
Josh Burton of the Amarillo Globe-News does a bang-up job telling the history of Glenrio, a Route 66 ghost town on the Texas-New Mexico border that recently was named to the National Register of Historic Places. Burton talked to Phil Thomason, who wrote the proposal to put Glenrio on the National Register; Allen Ehresman, whose … Continue reading The sad story of Glenrio