An unlikely spot for a canyon July 11, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions.2 comments
Last week, we made a side trip from Route 66 in Texas to Palo Duro Canyon, which is about 30 miles south of Amarillo. It’s definitely worth checking out.
The canyon lies in an unlikely spot. Like much of the Texas Panhandle, the nearby terrain is as flat as a tabletop. But, suddenly, when less than a quarter-mile away from the park’s gate, the land falls away and you see the colorful canyon reveal itself. It’s not nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, but it will impress.
Here are a couple of videos about Palo Duro Canyon, if you haven’t seen it yourself:
Sequel to CNG tour is planned July 10, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in People, Road trips, Vehicles.add a comment
Mark McConville and Keith Barfield, the duo from Alabama who just finished a tour of Route 66 in a 1966 Pontiac GTO powered by compressed natural gas, is planning to do it again next year, reports the Birmingham News.
This time, McConville and Barfield are hoping others who support their efforts to lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil will join them on their self-proclaimed “Drive to Inspire” campaign.
“Our goal is to make this an annual event,” McConville said during an interview this week from the Pontiac-Oakland Club International convention in West Virginia, where his 1966 Pontiac GTO converted to use compressed natural gas is on display. [...]
“Now that we have proven it can be done, that you can drive across the nation in vehicles using alternative fuel, we need to take this to the next level,” Barfield said. “We need more CNG fueling stations, we need people to do conversion of a vehicle from gasoline, or buy a CNG vehicle.”
McConville also said the response to the cross-country effort was “above and beyond what we expected,” including a CNG supplier who drove 600 miles from Salt Lake City to refuel the GTO during a dead spot in Gallup, N.M.
Here’s a video taken during the journey at POPS in Arcadia, Okla.:
Illinois Route 66 ambassador chosen July 10, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in People, Photographs, Road trips.add a comment
Freelance photographer Matthew Comer, 28, of Manchester, England, was picked as the United Kingdom’s first Illinois Route 66 Ambassador from more than 100 candidates, according to a story today in This Is Lancashire.
Following the nationwide search, Matthew has won the ultimate trip of a lifetime to Illinois where he will travel the iconic Route 66, discovering all of the famous landmarks that have inspired movies, songs and popular literature over the last few decades.
Matthew will fly to Chicago this month and will capture memories and experiences from his monumental trip to present to the British public via an online blog, consisting of photos and video snippets housed on www.gochicago.com.
At GoChicago.com, Comer wrote:
I am obsessed with all things American and specifically the American road culture. I am a freelance photographer that collects photographs from America and exhibits them in the UK to encourage people to go to America and explore. I have already been in the newspapers for my love of the American landscape and displaying my work to huge crowds of people. I did an 11000-mile road trip and fell in love with the American roads and everything they had to offer. During this trip we had limited time and many destinations to reach that it was hard to incorporate Route 66. To be able to fully explore Route 66 and have a platform to show it to the UK would be unreal. To be the UK ambassador for The Mother Road would be an absolute honour.
Sounds like they got themselves a good one. You can see Comer’s photography work here.
What happened to the Texola monument? July 10, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Highways, History, Signs.3 comments
A few days ago, I received an e-mail from Corkey Mayberry of Park Hills, Mo., asking me to solve a mystery.
In September 1955, he and his wife were on a Route 66 trip. The couple stopped to have their picture taken at a sizable stone monument in Texola, Okla., marking the spot of the Texas border. As you can see from the photo above, the main stone in the monument was shaped like the state of Texas.
In May this year, Mayberry decided to stop in Texola to see whether he could find the monument. He found the spot where the photo was taken 55 years ago, but no monument.
Corkey would like to know what happened to the Texas monument and whether it still exists somewhere. I’ve traveled through Texola for about 10 years, and don’t remember ever seeing it. I asked the Texas Old Route 66 Association about it, and they only thing they know is the monument has been gone for a very long time.
Earlier this week, I e-mailed the Texas Department of Transportation and asked whether it knew of the monument’s whereabouts. I have not received a response. If I do, I’ll post it here.
If anyone knows anything about the monument, let me know in the comments portion of this post, or shoot me an e-mail.
That isn’t the only monument to have vanished along Route 66 in Texola. This graceful art-deco monument stood in the tiny town during the 1930s. Nobody seems to know its whereabouts, either.
UPDATE: An important update to the story can be found here.
(Photos courtesy of Corkey Mayberry)
Take the byway that’s the best July 10, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Highways, Road trips.add a comment
Here’s a nicely compact video about the Route 66 National Scenic Byway in New Mexico:
For sale, piece by piece July 9, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in bicycling, Highways, Movies, Preservation.2 comments
This video clip from the 2006 documentary “Route 66 by Bicycle: Pedaling the Mother Road” tells about a fascinating section of abandoned Route 66 near Arcadia, Okla., that’s been put up for sale — in 1-foot sections for $66 apiece.
Better yet, the cyclists actually got to travel down the old road a bit.
The outfit that was selling the small parcels of Route 66 was on the Internet, but I can’t seem to find the site right now. But the old section of road is still very much there.
UPDATE: A couple of readers found the site. It’s at MyRoute66.com.
Victorville museum volunteer marks milestone July 8, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Museums, People.add a comment
The California Route 66 Museum in Victorville in a few months will mark its 15th anniversary, and longtime museum volunteer and officer Charlotte “Chick” Kirk recently celebrated her 80th birthday, reported the Victorville Daily Press.
The story behind Kirk’s involvement in the museum:
The museum opened on Nov. 11, 1995. On that very day, Kirk was taking her 14-year-old granddaughter Kristen Christmas shopping. Kristen asked to stop by the museum to buy something for her mom, who she claimed loved the lure of the 2,448-mile road stretching from Chicago to Santa Monica.
“I looked at her and said, ‘Kristen, I raised your mother. She could care less about Route 66,’” Kirk told the Daily Press.
But they went inside anyway and Kirk met the museum’s founder Mark Ward, whom she said pressured her to volunteer there. Once a week turned to twice a week, and in 1997 Kirk was elected president of the museum’s board of directors.
One person called Kirk “the Mother of the Mother Road.” I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that title already has been taken.
New plant sign touts Webb City’s Route 66 heritage July 8, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Signs.1 comment so far
Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Co. in Webb City, Mo., is marking its 60th anniversary and just opened a new building in town, according to the Joplin Globe.
That’s certainly noteworthy, but the real point of interest for Route 66 enthusiasts lurks in the plans for the land near the Cardinal Scale plant:
Mayor John Biggs said he anticipates the eventual construction of a new interchange along Missouri Highway 171 as well as a new road just east of the manufacturing plant, which he hopes will help trucks entering and leaving the plant site.
That area also is expected to one day house a Route 66-themed welcome park for visitors, said Chuck Surface, the city’s economic development director.
“We’re going to beautify this area by knocking down that house over there,” said Surface, pointing to a structure across the street from the plant. “We’re going to have a nice little Route 66 entrance park right there.”
Cardinal Scale already has taken advantage of those plans, installing a 55-foot lighted sign — featuring the phrase “Welcome to Webb City” and an image of the Route 66 road sign — on the east wall of its new building. That sign can be seen by westbound drivers as they enter Webb City from Highway 171, Sabo said.
The sign can be seen in this page about the dedication of the new building. Obviously, the Cardinal Scale logo is featured prominently. But the Route 66 welcome sign isn’t exactly tiny, either.
Call of the whacky July 8, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, People, Road trips.add a comment
This YouTube poster called “pappymeme,” aka Mondo Man, checked out a few Route 66 sights in Arizona and California and let loose his trademark Tarzan yell.
There’s more where this came from at his YouTube account, but I like these best, especially the bemused look from Bottletree Ranch owner Elmer Long. Maybe it’s because Elmer found someone more eccentric than he is.
Follow her east July 8, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in People, Road trips.add a comment
Claudia Heller, who’s written a bunch of recent articles about Route 66 in California for the Pasadena Star-News, tucked into a report about Route 66 enthusiast Kim Anderson that she’s about to write a series about the Mother Road during a trip from Needles, Calif., to Chicago.
Considering Heller’s well-researched previous stories, I’m looking forward to seeing what she has to say about Route 66′s other seven states.
Heller also has a blog here.