Touching on its legacy August 17, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Gas stations, Highways, History.1 comment so far
ConocoPhillips today posted this nifty video that talks about the history of Route 66 and historic Conoco and Phillips 66 gas stations along the Mother Road in Texas.
It’s good to see a major corporation at least acknowledge its history. Sometimes, in the quest to pave roads to the future, corporations forget where they’ve been. And Phillips 66, a division of the company, has considerable ties to Route 66.
Arizona roadie dies August 17, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in People, Route 66 Associations.1 comment so far
Vincent M. Salmon, a founding member of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, died Aug. 9 at age 81, according to an obituary in the Kingman Daily Miner.
He was a longtime educator and served in the Army during the Korean War. But here’s the stuff that’s most relevant to roadies:
Dr. Salmon has been a member, president, historian and volunteer for the Arizona Historical Route 66 Association of Arizona since 1988. He was involved in all 22 annual Fun Runs and his 1957 Chevy pickup graced many parades and events in surrounding towns as well as Kingman. He traveled historic Route 66 many times between Chicago and Los Angeles from 1946 until his death.
He was buried Saturday at Mountain View Cemetery in Kingman, and a reception was held in the Powerhouse Visitors Center on Route 66 in town. Donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association in memory of Vincent M. Salmon, P.O. Box 11454, Alexandria, VA 22312.
You also can pass your regards on to Jan at the Arizona Route 66 Gift Shop at the Powerhouse in Kingman. Here is the link for contact information.
A photo of Salmon can be seen here at the 2004 Arizona Route 66 Wall of Fame banquet.
(Hat tip: Rob Chilcoat)
Baden festival in St. Louis is Saturday August 17, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events.1 comment so far
St. Louis roadie Kip Welborn has alerted me to the Baden Taste, a festival that will take place from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday in the Baden neighborhood in the 7900 to 8300 blocks of Broadway in north St. Louis.
That’s on a section of old Route 66 south of the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. Baden Taste is a modest attempt to revive the spirit of the neighborhood’s annual Badenfest street fairs that once drew crowds as large as 100,000 before the it was discontinued in 1984.
Welborn said in an e-mail:
Baden was settled in 1833, that is working very hard to rebuild and maintain itself. There will be food, music, a car show, children’s activities and more! … If you have the opportunity, it would be a great way to see a part of Route 66 in St. Louis you might not often see, and patronize some folks on Route 66 who are trying to keep their Route 66 neighborhood alive!
The Baden neighborhood, unlike much of the rest of St. Louis city, actually saw a population increase in recent years. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a good article about Baden and its tenacity.
Slide in to the drive-in August 17, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Preservation, Theaters.1 comment so far
The Joplin Globe has a nice article and photo slide show about the historic 66 Drive-In theater in Carthage, Mo. Check it out.
The story contains a notable quote from a local historian:
“It (Route 66) reminds us of an era that’s passed us by,” said Brad Belk, director of the Joplin Museum Complex. “It went through Main Street. You couldn’t help but digest the landscape and get a real feel for the region you were in. You got that personal touch on Route 66 that I think is missing from the interstate today.”
I live in the same town that also has a drive-in theater off Route 66 — the Admiral Twin — and we feel very lucky to have it. I know of fewer than a half-dozen drive-ins still operating on the Mother Road.
More images from the Rock Creek Bridge August 16, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Bridges, Preservation.3 comments
Here are a couple of more recent images from roadie Brad Nickson of the Rock Creek Bridge, which carried an old alignment of Route 66, west of Sapulpa, Okla.
Volunteers cleared a lot of brush around the bridge during the weekend to help improve the sight lines to the bridge, and it appears they succeeded.
Bike ride on Route 66 in Illinois ready to roll August 16, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in bicycling, Events, Road trips.add a comment
The Bloomington Pantagraph has some details about an upcoming bicycle ride on Route 66 from the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge to the Art Institute of downtown Chicago from Aug. 29 to Sept. 3.
The ride will pass feature overnight stops in Carlinville, Springfield, Bloomington, Dwight and Joliet.
“The purpose of the ride is to promote the developing Route 66 Trail for bicyclists and other users so the history does not fade away,” said Ed Barsotti, executive director of the League of Illinois Bicyclists.
Barsotti said the league, Route 66 Trail Executive Council and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will do media interviews and visit local officials in towns along the way to raise awareness and encourage route improvements including signage, paved shoulders, connecting routes and off-road trails.
If you’re a member of the league, the ride is free. If not, it’s still just $25. Here’s the Illinois Route 66 Bike Trail’s main page; the registration form and information for the ride is here.
The Route 66 Trail has existed for several years in Illinois. However, it’s good that an actual organized event will be running on it. It’ll be interesting to see how many participate.
Rock Creek Bridge gets spruced up August 15, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Bridges, Preservation.1 comment so far
The Rock Creek Bridge, which dates to 1921 and carried an original alignment of Route 66 near Sapulpa, Okla., got a bit of a cleanup on Friday.
Longtime roadie Brad Nickson was there and had this report:
This morning some volunteer crews for AEP/PSO and OG&E cleared some trees and brush from around the Rock Creek bridge in Sapulpa. The crews were from Northeast Rural Services and McCoy Tree Surgery. This was a joint project of the Oklahoma Vegetation Management Association (www.okvma.com), the Oklahoma Route 66 Association and the City of Sapulpa. The city of Sapulpa also sent a few guys out with weedeaters to clean up some of the tall grass. On Saturday, the crews may be back with a bucket truck to get some of the higher branches. They feel that will open up the sight line to the bridge from the highway. I agree …
Here are Nickson’s photos of the cleanup:
KOTV in Tulsa also filed this report about the cleanup efforts. Here’s the video:
Live in London August 15, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Music.1 comment so far
Here’s a video I haven’t seen before — the Rolling Stones covering “Route 66″ during a gig in London in 1999. It’s obviously a fan’s video from a balcony, but it’s a good one.
Bobby Troup’s song is one of the first tunes the band recorded back in the 1960s.
Abe Lincoln wagon being moved August 14, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Motels.add a comment
The giant covered wagon on Route 66 in Lincoln, Ill., that featured a statue of Abe Lincoln in the driver’s seat is slated to get a new home at a remodeled hotel, reports the Lincoln Courier.
The wagon will be on the front lawn of the Best Western Lincoln Inn at 1750 Fifth St. in Lincoln. The wagon will be moved sometime next month. The hotel is near Business Loop 55, aka Route 66.
Geoff Ladd, Logan County’s tourism director who led the effort in early 2007 to move the wagon from Divernon, Ill., to Lincoln, says the new spot will be better:
Ladd said the new location for the wagon would be more tourist-friendly than its current location. Ladd said it could sometimes be problematic for tourists to turn into the current location.
“We’d like to have a permanent home for it,” Ladd said. “Where it is now was a great location. However, ever since they extended the median down Woodlawn … it’s very difficult to turn in and get to see it.”
The fiberglass Abraham Lincoln is 12 foot long (seated) and weighs 350 pounds. The wagon is 24 feet tall, 12 feet wide, 40 feet long and weighs five tons. The front wheels are 10 feet tall, and the back wheels are 12 feet tall.
As for the hotel, this Lincoln Daily News report indicates that the owners will be Route 66 supporters.
Road Crew on the road August 14, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Music.add a comment
Joe Loesch and two other members of The Road Crew country-music group have scheduled a couple of gigs in Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in October.
They will be at the Galena Car Show in Galena, Kan., from 7 to 8 p.m. Oct. 3, performing songs from the band’s CD, “Songs from the Mother Road.”
From 2 to 3 p.m. Oct. 4, the trio will perform at Afton Station in Afton, Okla.
Loesch explained the mini-tour in an e-mail:
We are primarily traveling the route for the joy of it. [...] If any other ‘mom & pop’ along the way wants us to sing a few tunes, we’d be glad to. [...] This year we invited Don King (he sings the lead vocals on the CD) to join us as he wants to experience the road as well. We’re covering 66 from the Chain of Rocks bridge to OK City. [The other Road Crew member tagging along is Woody Bomar.]
Here’s a video of the Road Crew performing “That Ol’ 66″: