Nice sunset October 17, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Photographs.1 comment so far
The Southwest regularly has vivid sunsets, as Sandi Wheaton’s time-lapse photos from the Texas Panhandle show:
This is part of Wheaton’s Picture Route 66 project.
Bigfoot near Seligman? October 17, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Ghosts and Mysteries.1 comment so far
No, it’s not a joke. KTVK-TV reports that a Phoenix resident who’s building a cabin near the Route 66 town of Seligman, Ariz., claims he saw Bigfoot twice in a year there.
“Java” Bob Smallsback of Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. is in Seligman investigating:
Smallsback says he was called in after the most recent sighting and claims he was able to track the creature, finding what he says is a fingernail where the Sasquatch had stubbed his toe on a rock.
Smallsback says a team from Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. will be in Seligman for the next few months in hopes of making contact with the elusive creature.
Believe it or not, this isn’t the first reputed Bigfoot sighting on or near Route 66. There was a sighting in 2006 near Funks Grove, Ill. But, as usual, no one was able to prove the creature exists.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Bigfoot hunters provide more comedy — albeit unintentional — than the fun-loving folks at the Snow-Cap Drive-In in Seligman.
UPDATE: KPHO-TV also has video of its report on Bigfoot, including that ugly toenail that allegedly was found and an interview with Frank Kocevar, owner of Historic Seligman Sundries.
UPDATE2: Kocevar has set up a Route66Bigfoot.com site. Kocevar says on the site: “We are in daily contact with Tom Biscardi and ‘Java’ Bob from Searching For Bigfoot, Inc.”
The evidence of some sort of Sasquatch in the Seligman area appears to be a bit scant so far. But at least the investigators appear to be having fun traipsing around the admittedly lovely high desert.
San Fidel property named to National Register October 16, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Businesses, History, Preservation.add a comment
The former Acoma Curio Shop on Route 66 in the tiny Route 66 settlement of San Fidel, N.M., was named to the National Register of Historic Places effective Oct. 7, according to an e-mail Thursday from the National Park Service.
The shop is now home for Mary Trask’s Gallery66.us, an art gallery that sells and displays mosaics, paintings, photos, jewelry and fine crafts from several dozen artists.
More about the property from Trask’s Web site:
2003, Mary Trask and Mike Petzel left New England to move to New Mexico. They bought a 2 1/2 acre parcel right on Route 66 that included fruit and walnut trees, a house, several outbuildings and two extra dogs. The greatest thing about the place was it had a 100-year-old, 2000 square-foot adobe building with a pressed tin ceiling 11 feet tall that could be used as a gallery. At one time the building belonged to a Lebanese man named Fidel, whose son became a US senator. It’s been a grocery store, bar, shoe repair and tack shop, a church, cabinet shop and who knows what else. There’s lots of history in its thick adobe walls. The wide front porch is great for sitting, taking in the view of Mount Taylor, and watching whatever happens on Route 66.
Trask also told me on the phone that the property also had several motel cabins that she’s renovating.
Trask participated in the Route 66 oral history project in 2007, of which you can see photos that were taken inside her business here.
Multimedia 66 October 16, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Road trips, Web sites.2 comments
This grad-school project by a few California State University students is fairly well-explained in this video:
Here’s a summary:
The Mother Road is a Multimedia Graduate team working on a project thesis about Route 66. Taking an actual car, a 1969 VW Bug and modifying it with sensors and monitors, we hope to create a truly unique multimedia experience for our users. We plan to have the project complete by June of 2010. Any guidance, help or advice would be welcome.
The Mother Road
Graduate Project Team
California State University, Hayward, CA
I’ll post more information about this project when I can get it. It sounds intriguing, but I suspect they’ll need more time. The June 2010 launch date sounds a bit optimistic for something this complex.
Also, Sandi Wheaton, with her ongoing time-lapse photography project, is probably going to come as close as a virtual Route 66 road trip as anyone — at least until Google Street View documents all 2,200 miles of the road, which seems inevitable.
Elbow Inn turns into a real biker bar October 15, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in bicycling, Events, Restaurants, Road trips.add a comment
The Elbow Inn, a grand barbecue-and-beer joint on an old alignment of Route 66 in Devil’s Elbow, Mo., became a full-fledged biker bar Wednesday when it hosted a slew of bicycle riders on a cross-state tour, according to the Waynesville Daily Guide.
Hostel International-Gateway Council of St. Louis was taking cyclists on Route 66 from Miami, Okla., to Eureka, Mo., on a Cycle Route 66 event.
The Elbow Inn is a popular hangout for locals, Fort Leonard Wood soldiers, Route 66 travelers and motorcycle riders. But owner Terry Roberson said it was the first time he’d hosted a bicycle group.
“This is a real biker bar now,” Roberson said, “‘cause we’ve got both bikers here.”
Cycle Route 66 had overnight stops in Lebanon, Carthage, St. Robert and Springfield. Riders will conclude their trip in Eureka on Friday.
This may be the first cyclist event the Elbow Inn has hosted, but it likely won’t be the last. Cycling on Route 66 is gaining in popularity. And the Elbow Inn is known far and wide for its hospitality. One recent traveler can attest.
Graveyard tours included in Cuba festival October 14, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Ghosts and Mysteries, History, Towns.add a comment
Cuba Fest, an annual festival thrown by Viva Cuba in the Route 66 town of Cuba, Mo., is holding a chili cook-off, a trolley tour of the town’s many murals, and a celebratory gathering in front of Recklein Auditorium, according to an article in the Cuba Free Press.
However, it’s this activity during the festival that caught my eye:
A new event this year is the Sunday, October 18, “Echoes from the Past” Graveline Tour from 11 a.m. to the last tour, which ends around 4 p.m. The trolley loads every 45 minutes in the Recklein Commons area and travels by historical houses of the departed on the way to Kinder Cemetery. Tours are free, but donations will be accepted and used to continue the mural projects of Viva Cuba.
At the cemetery, various historical figures from Cuba’s past will tell their story to the trolley guests, as they wind their way through the cemetery. These tall tales from deep graves will make sure to bring truth to the quote, “We live as long as we are remembered.” Sunday’s “Echoes from the Past” cemetery tour promises to be an innovative Cuba Fest event, so get aboard for a fun and informative experience.
It’s not exactly a ghost tour, but the fact trolley passengers will be greeted by re-creations of long-dead Cuba residents certainly brought apparitions to mind — especially with Halloween just a couple of weeks away.
(Hat tip: Jane Reed)
An audio postcard from Route 66 October 14, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Radio.add a comment
National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” broadcast an eight-minute segment about Route 66 from New Mexico.
Go here to listen to it.