A destructive development idea January 10, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Highways, Preservation, Route 66 Associations.add a comment
With the U.S. economy struggling, politicians are looking for ways to create jobs. But one office-seeker in Canadian County, Okla., has an idea that would prove destructive to a historic section of Route 66.
Larry Nance, an Oklahoma Route 66 Association county representative in El Reno, said at the association’s meeting Sunday that such an idea comes from Claude Wilkinson, a candidate for Canadian County District 3. And, sure enough, here’s a report in the Dec. 20 edition of the El Reno Tribune:
Wilkinson said another area crucial to Canadian County is its roads. He said he wanted to work on widening thoroughfares for farmers” vehicles, as well as establish a perimeter industrial road from U.S. Highway 270 to the new gas plant being built about one mile east of the intersection of that highway and state Highway 66.
“The traffic is congested through there, and that is not helping anyone in the area or the business traffic we need to encourage in the county,” he said. “Eventually, I would like to see that go past Fort Reno.
Nance said that Wilkinson wants to tear up at least five miles of original pavement of Route 66, from Fort Reno near El Reno to U.S. 270, and widen the roadway to help create an industrial road there.
An original Portland cement section of Route 66 west of El Reno, Okla.
Wilkinson is running for a seat left vacant by the car-crash death of the previous District 3 commissioner. The primary for the special election will be March 2, and the general special election will be April 6. At least two other candidates are running for the seat, and the sign-up period doesn’t end until later this month.
I don’t know whether Wilkinson is unaware of the road’s historical significance or whether he simply doesn’t care.
Regardless, it would be a good if roadies wrote letters of the editor to the El Reno Tribune and The Oklahoman, based in nearby Oklahoma City, and explain why removing or altering the original Route 66 in that area would be enormous loss.
The editor of the El Reno Tribune is Ray Dyer. He can be e-mailed at rdyer(at)elrenotribune(dot)com or written by snail mail at 201 N. Rock Island Ave., El Reno, OK 73036.
Here’s a link to The Oklahoman on e-mailing a letter to the editor, plus guidelines for doing so.
If enough letters are printed, we figure it could do one of two things.
First, they could persuade Wilkinson to back away from his plan to tear up the old Route 66 roadway.
Second, if Wilkinson proves intractable, the letters could persuade voters go choose someone else to be their county commissioner.
The key is to inform Canadian County voters about an important historical icon in their midst, and a possible threat to that icon.
Thrown to the lions January 10, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Religion.add a comment
Or, in this case, Labrador retrievers wearing big wigs.
Here’s the latest chapter of “Route 66: A Road Trip through the Bible,” with the Book of Daniel.
HGTV features Route 66 in segment January 10, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Television.add a comment
“HGTV Dream Home 2010″ spent some time showing off a sumptuous home in New Mexico, which you can watch here.
Here’s the segment about route 66 in the Albuquerque area.
(Hat tip to Rebecca “Kiki” Weingarten)
Tying the knot on Route 66 January 10, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Fashion, Magazines.1 comment so far
The Brides of Oklahoma magazine released its spring/summer issue Friday, which includes a photo shoot of wedding gowns on Route 66.
A behind-the-scenes video can is below. Sharp-eyed viewers will see the Round Barn of Arcadia and the Sidewalk Highway between Afton and Miami:
The magazine can be found at these bookstores.
A Route 66 Place January 8, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Gas stations, Magazines, Restaurants.add a comment
Home and Away magazine, a publication by AAA, posted an article about The Route 66 Place restaurant in Williams, Ariz.
One thing I didn’t know about it — it originally was a Texaco station that was built in 1926, the same year Route 66 was created.
More accolades for Bob Waldmire January 8, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, People.add a comment
Beloved Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire died several weeks ago, but the accolades are still coming in. The latest came today from Mark Yost, writing for the Wall Street Journal.
A choice excerpt, part of which I witnessed:
These were the people who showed up at the Cozy Dog in mid-November for “Bob’s Last Art Show,” part tribute and part fund-raiser. People like Ron Jones, 61, who drove eight hours from Bartlesville, Okla., for the event. He first met Waldmire 10 years ago at a visitors’ center in Arizona.
Mr. Jones is himself one of the highway’s famous personalities. His body is covered with tattoos of Route 66 sites such as the Rock Café in Stroud, Okla. [...]
These are just a few of the hundreds of people who crowded into the Cozy Dog for Bob’s Last Art Show, and the common themes were a love of the man and his love for the road.
“Once you get to know Bob, you realize what an ambassador for the road he is,” Mr. Jones said that day in November. “You think he’s going to be around forever.”
But when Waldmire showed up, it was clear that he would not be. He was frail, emaciated, and the cancer had turned his skin as yellow as a legal pad. When Mr. Jones first saw him, he broke down in tears and fell to his knees. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
A woman standing nearby, who’d never met either man but came here to celebrate Waldmire’s life, came over and said, “Can I give you a hug?”
That’s the kind of communal spirit that Waldmire instilled in others, right up to the day he died.
Multimedia 66 update January 8, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Computer games, Web sites.add a comment
A few months ago, we reported on a Cal State team that is working to present a multimedia Route 66 experience, using the skeleton of a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle, as a thesis project.
Here’s an update on the project, posted a few hours ago. The team hopes to be finished by June.
Pontiac to commemorate Diaz family’s Studs Terkel Award January 6, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Events, People.add a comment
The city of Pontiac, Ill., will give the Diaz family a commemorative medallion on Jan. 19 for their winning the Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award in October, according to a news release from the city’s tourism division.
From the news release:
Of their many contributions to the community, they are being honored specifically for devoting their collective energies to public art projects such as “Art on Mainstreet” and the Pontiac Wall Dogs Festival that help to promote the creation and appreciation of art, history, and our cultural inheritance. [...]
The Studs Terkel award is a program of the Illinois Humanities Council and annual honors those individuals who do volunteer work and have “demonstrated a sustained and significant contribution to furthering public understanding of the humanities in their community. These unsung “humanities heroes” contribute to cultural life through projects related to historic preservation, heritage, adult and childhood education, and the study of arts or music.”
The award honors Jane and Bill Diaz, along with their sons, Joe and Ben.
The Wall Dogs Festival brings in artists from a wide region to create new art mural on buildings in Pontiac’s historic downtown area. The city’s Route 66 heritage has been a theme to several of the murals. The murals of Pontiac can be seen here.
The ceremony will begin shortly after the city council meeting starts. A public reception to honor the Diazes will begin at 6 p.m. that day in the council chambers at City Hall.
Studs Terkel, who died on Oct. 31, 2008, was a controversial and beloved Pulitzer-winning writer and radio personality, based in Chicago.
Hot Rod Magazine event returns to Springfield January 6, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Vehicles.1 comment so far
For you Route 66ers who are vintage car fans, the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour will be returning to Springfield, Ill., this summer, according to the Springfield State Journal-Register.
It’s set for June 6 in downtown Springfield, and is expected to draw up to 4,000 vintage vehicles. It was held in the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield from 2005 and 2007.
Springfield is the only Route 66 stop on the seven-city tour, which begins in Newton, Iowa, and ends in Mobile, Ala. The promoter is Family Events/The Promotion Co., which also promotes the annual International Route 66 Mother Road Festival in Springfield.
This old road January 5, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Highways, History, Road trips.2 comments
This is interesting. YouTube poster jimvegas00 has posted a video of him driving a 1961 Volkswagen Beetle on an alignment of Route 66 near Kingman, Ariz., that predates the 1940s. You don’t see this segment documented very often.
He told me how he got to the alignment in Kingman:
Heading west on 66, at 4th St., turn (left).
Cross RR tracks.
Turn slight right onto Old Trails Road (at the intersection with Golconda Avenue).
Continue into the canyon for about three miles.
Return.
Here is the map of the approximate route. The interesting part is he turns around at a point near a railroad viaduct. He elected to go on the railroad right-of-way before turning around.
However, this map indicates if he had driven under the viaduct, he would have kept going three more miles to the hamlet of Harris, Ariz. Continuing south another three miles and then east, he would have linked up to an east frontage road of Interstate 40. After that he could have gone back north, crossed over I-40 and linked with Oatman Road.
This stretch to Harris apparently never was Route 66, but would have been an interesting side trip, if the road were passable. That’s a big “if.”