Madonna of the Trail August 22, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Highways, History.1 comment so far
Larry Harnisch, who writes a history blog, The Daily Mirror, for the Los Angeles Times, has an interesting post about the Madonna of the Trail monument that was erected in 1929 on Foothill Boulevard, aka Route 66, in Upland, Calif.
Harnisch writes:
These monumental statues were meant to venerate the pioneer spirit, but today, some people view them as the worst sort of 1920s Americana kitsch that romanticizes the role of women and diminishes their contributions to history. I think they make an interesting argument. Whatever your opinion, it’s clear Upland has changed since 1939.
The post includes two old newspaper clippings about the monument and, in a nod to modern technology, a Google Streets view of the monument now.
Madonna of the Trail was a series of 12 statues dedicated by the Daughters of the American Revolution along what was the National Old Trails Highway in the late 1920s. All of them still exist in the respective towns where they were dedicated: Springfield, Ohio, Wheeling,W.Va., Council Grove, Kan., Lexington, Mo., Lamar, Colo., Albuquerque, N.M., Springerville, Ariz., Vandalia, Ill., Richmond, Ind., Beallsville, Pa., Bethesda, Md., and Upland.
Chicago chicken trip August 22, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Food, Restaurants, Road trips.2 comments
The Chicagoland area is blessed with not one, but two, great fried-chicken restaurants on Route 66.
WLS-TV took a trip down the Mother Road to check out these places — Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket in Willowbrook and White Fence Farm in Romeoville.
Both places are more than 50 years old. And they’re less than 10 miles from each other.
The link includes the WLS video.
A toast to Strafford restaurant August 21, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Restaurants, Towns.add a comment
On Thursday, the owners of Bev’s Country Kettle restaurant in Strafford, Mo., served wine and beer with its usual fare of hamburgers, pork chops and tenderloin.
This shouldn’t sound like a big deal. But it was the first time that an eating establishment in the Route 66 town had served alcohol with meals in 53 years, according to the Springfield News-Leader. Bev’s had officially acquired a liquor license, although it wasn’t without a hurdle or two.
“We opened Oct. 13 of last year, and we’ve had a lot of customers who said they wanted to have a glass of beer or wine with their meals,” Bev said.
“I said something to our city administrator about that and he said we couldn’t do it.”
A trip to City Hall got the same response.
“I’m kind of a rebel,” Bev said, laughing. “I asked to see the ordinance and they couldn’t produce one.”
With nothing to stop her, the restaurant now offers Budweiser, Coors, Michelob and Corona beers, and St. James wine from Missouri.
“We started selling this last Friday, and everybody says, ‘how did you do that?’” Bev said.
According to a city administrator contacted by the News-Leader, the last time liquor could be sold by the drink in Strafford was in 1956. It was a tavern and pool hall across the street from Bev’s on Route 66. The pool hall went out of business that year.
Apparently other businesses in town had tried to get liquor licenses in previous years, but the resulting furor by townsfolk prevented it. But the request by Bev’s didn’t result in one peep of protest. And the city council approved it by a 5-1 vote. Bev’s owners celebrated Thursday morning with a glass of pink Catawba wine.
It had always been assumed there was an ordinance against liquor-by-the-drink in Strafford until Bev’s owners challenged the city to find it. It couldn’t.
So now you can sip a brewski when you order a meal at Bev’s instead of driving to Springfield for it.
Bev’s is at 101 E. Pine St. at Madison Street, less than 100 feet from Route 66.
Return to Route 66 — Part 7 August 21, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in People, Road trips.add a comment
Jim Luning has posted Part 7 of a video series of his and Tim Steil’s trip on Route 66 earlier this summer — on the 10th anniversary of their first trip to research their “Route 66″ book.
This video focuses more on Steil and how he’s changed since that first journey.
Zoning panel approves biodiesel plant near Kingman August 20, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses.1 comment so far
The Mohave County Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday approved an amendment to the county’s general plan and a zoning use permit that would clear the way for a biodiesel plant north of Kingman, Ariz., on Route 66, reports the Kingman Daily Miner.
Only one commissioner voted against the proposal. It will now go before the county board for final approval at its Oct. 5 meeting.
The commission had two meetings for the proposal to accommodate the dozens of people who wanted to voice their opinions about the biodiesel plant. Various media outlets have said that opinions were split 50/50 of those who supported and those who opposed the plant.
Then there’s this comment:
“People come to Route 66 for a piece of nostalgia and the America of yesteryear. They’re looking for those communities that have that mom and pop feel,” said Tom Spear, a member of the Historic Route 66 Association. The longest, undisturbed stretch of Route 66 runs through the area, he said. The association is not apposed to economic development, but there are more appropriate places for the plant.
If Spear is wanting an “undisturbed” and nostalgic stretch of Route 66, he won’t find it at the Valle Vista subdivision, which is across the railroad tracks and road from where the biodiesel plant would be. Valle Vista is a fairly new subdivision with an 18-hole, heavily irrigated golf course that obviously doesn’t fit with the region’s desert climate. I’ve seen Valle Vista, and there’s nothing nostalgic or natural about it.
Another member of the opposition team chimed in:
“There are more foreigners that know where Kingman is (because of Route 66) than Americans,” said Ron Stephen. “Why ruin it.”
I’ve got news for Stephen: Those thousands of foreign tourists who travel that 90-mile stretch of original Route 66 between Seligman and Kingman aren’t going to bypass it because of one little biodiesel plant. As I said previously, Route 66 is a complex historic highway that contains heavy industry and thousands of businesses as well as scenic vistas and natural splendors.
One person commenting in my previous post about the biodiesel plant made brought up some interesting things:
Sanguine points about the money hookers trying to claim Route 66 is a vestal virgin and must be preserved. I truly believe some of the worst ideas spring from plain folks under the guise of ‘protecting property values’. [...] Route 66 has been pimped every which way but loose since day one, now the folks in Arizona have come up with a new way. With their anyplace ‘but our backyard’ they’ve shown us all that being a Route 66 fan has some unusual bedfellows.
Tornado strikes Williamsville August 19, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Towns, Weather.1 comment so far
A tornado ravaged the Route 66 town of Williamsville, Ill., on Wednesday afternoon, destroying or damaging at least two dozen homes and businesses. No loss of life has been reported so far.
One of the casualties is the Route 66 Antique Mall (photo of the damage is here). According to the Springfield Journal-Register:
Jack Caldwell, one of five owners Williamsville Route 66 Antique Mall, said it appears that in the tornado touched down first in a cornfield just directly west of his building.
Two employees were in the one-story building of Interstate 55 as the storm approached. They sought shelter in a closet.
“And the only area that’s standing is an office, a break room and the closet,” Caldwell said in a phone interview. [...]
The mall, which houses about antique 100 dealers, is nearing its 10-year anniversary, opening in Nov. 1, 2000.
As he stood near the rubble that remained, he said it was too soon to say what was next.
Also damaged were a convenience store and the Williamsville Christian church. Two motorcyclists were hurt when they were blown off the road by the twister.
More photos of the damage can be seen at the City of Williamsville Web site.
Here’s a short video from the Journal-Register:
The Bloomington Pantagraph also reports nine homes damaged near the Route 66 town of Elkhart, including one that had its front ripped off.
UPDATE: Vendors of the Route 66 Antiques Mall are sifting through the remains to see whether any of their merchandise is salvageable. The mall’s owners haven’t decided whether to rebuild.
UPDATE2: Damage to Williamsville has been estimated at $10 million.
Biofuels plant decision may be today August 19, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Towns.2 comments
The Kingman (Ariz.) Daily Miner has a pretty good overview about a proposed biofuels plant that would be located near the Valle Vista subdivision off Route 66 north of town.
The county’s Planning and Zoning Commission may decide today whether to allow a permit for the plant. Proponents say the plant will create jobs and tax revenue. Opponents say they fear possible explosions so close to a residential area.
Looking over the commission’s approval of a small solar plant, with another still being considered, it seems the main complaint is that people say they want solar power, but they don’t want it there. Sheesh.
My take on the biofuels plant still applies. We’ll keep an eye on it and see what happens.
“Road Trip” recap August 18, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Road trips, Television.add a comment
I’d hoped by now to have watched Monday night’s episode of “The Great American Road Trip.” However, Firefox won’t allow the episodes to be viewed, my IE browser is balking at loading anything, and I was at the McCartney show last night.
However, this post from Reality TV Magazine does a good job at recapping all the action. The gist:
— The loud but oddly endearing DiSalvatore family, despite finishing near the bottom of almost all their challenges during the show’s run, scratched and clawed their way into the finals. They’ll be facing the Coote family from Illinois, which suffered its first defeat the previous week, for the grand prize of $100,000.
— The Pollard family from Alabama was eliminated from the competition.
— The remaining families spent a lot of time in the Route 66 town Oatman, Ariz., which is a good thing.
— The families also had another meal at Applebee’s, which is a yet another bad thing by the show’s producers.
Haven’t seen the night’s TV ratings posted yet. Will update when they appear.
Mother Road montage that wasn’t August 18, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Music.add a comment
The Paul McCartney concert in Tulsa last night was one of the best I’ve seen, and the postings I’ve read from other attendees on Twitter, Facebook and other Internet sites concur.
However, there’s this excerpt in a report from The Oklahoman that I need to mention:
After recalling his recent driving tour of Route 66, which took him through Oklahoma, he paused in front of the 20,000-strong crowd “to take a moment to drink it all in.” Then, as he performed “The Long and Winding Road,” photos taken on “the mother road” flashed on the fiber-optic screen behind his band.
The first sentence is correct. However, if there actually were photographs from Route 66 during “Long and Winding Road” montage, they were interspersed with images that definitely were not from the Mother Road.
Why do I know this? Because the montage contained many photos of saguaro cacti. As anyone who’s traveled the Mother Road would know, there was only one saguaro cactus to be found along all its 2,200 miles. And that lone cactus at the remnants of Ed’s Camp between Oatman and Kingman, Ariz., was killed by a lightning strike a couple of years ago.
While there may have been shots from Route 66 during that part of the show, it wasn’t apparent to this road veteran’s eyes (believe me, I was looking).
Not that it detracted from my enjoyment of the show …
Hello from Sweden August 18, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Music.add a comment
Here’s a pretty good rock version of Bobby Troup’s “Route 66,” performed by the Backbeats of Sweden.