Book about ghosts along Missouri Route 66 will be published July 13, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, Ghosts and Mysteries, History.1 comment so far
Janice Tremeear of Springfield, Mo., is writing a book titled “Route 66 Hauntings in Missouri: The Show-Me State Ghosts of the Mother Road,” which concentrates on ghost sightings and other mysteries along or near Route 66, according to a story in the Springfield News-Leader.
Tremeear’s book will list Springfield as the birthplace of Route 66 and will include several of Springfield’s haunted locations, she said, including Pythian Castle and Landers Theatre.
Ghost stories taking place in Landers Theatre include a mother who dropped her baby, Tremeear said.
“People have seen the baby repeating its fall,” she said. “They’ve also heard the baby crying.” [...]
There are also locations in Rolla, Lebanon, Joplin and St. Louis. Sites in St. Louis include Lemp Mansion, Zombie Road, and Union Station, she said.
Tremeear expects the book to be out by October by History Press. That’s good timing … right before Halloween.
Tremeear also is a member of the Route 66 Paranormal Alliance, so she’ll be gleaning a lot of research material from one of her hobbies.
Route 66 nearly 60 years ago July 12, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Movies, Road trips.8 comments
Route 66 enthusiast and author Joe Sonderman said he recently acquired a DVD from an Albuquerque man of home-movie footage during a Route 66 trip in 1953 from Chicago to Los Angeles.
As Sonderman said on his Facebook account about the footage: “The Youtube quality doesn’t do it justice and it could stand some editing. But it is still freakin sweet.”
I agree.
I saw glimpses of the Abraham Lincoln home in Springfield; Will Rogers Memorial; the Oklahoma towns of Yukon and El Reno; the steep descent to the South Canadian River valley in Oklahoma; the Pony Bridge near Bridgeport, Okla.; Boulder Dam in Nevada; the lights of the Las Vegas Strip; and Cajon Pass near Los Angeles.
If you see other sites that I missed, please add your piece in the comments section.
A glimpse of the past July 12, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Restaurants, Television.add a comment
Here’s a television commercial for the Spring River Inn, off old Route 66 in Riverton, Kan.
The once-popular restaurant closed in 1996 and burned down in 1998. The only evidence of its existence is a now-decrepit neon sign near the former entrance.
An article to avoid July 12, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Road trips, Web sites.7 comments
Generally, I appreciate all of the Route 66-related articles that Helium.com has posted in recent weeks.
However, there is one exception: the “Places to avoid while traveling on Route 66″ by Eva Perry, which is loaded with inaccuracies or ill-conceived warnings.
I’ll summarize the problems that Perry sees on the Mother Road:
- A vaguely mentioned spot in Chicago near a quarry pit and Interstate 55 where the road “is not in great shape.”
- The Devil’s Elbow Bridge in Devil’s Elbow, Mo.
- Oatman, Ariz., because of its “wild mules.”
- Daggett, Calif., because of a section of Route 66 that “ends abruptly.”
- The Mojave Desert in California because the “road is not well-maintained.”
- “Glen Rio” (sic) in Texas, because it’s a ghost town.
- The “dirt road” Route 66 between Glenrio and San Jon, N.M.
- East St. Louis, Ill., because of its high crime rate.
I’ll tackle these in the order they’re listed:
- I’m not sure where this quarry is near I-55 in Chicago. An old section of Route 66 does lie in the suburb of McCook, Ill., that was damaged by alleged undermining by Vulcan Materials. But that’s been permanently closed to motorists for a decade. There’s no need to advise people to avoid it.
- The Devils Elbow Bridge indeed has deteriorated where its load restrictions prevent tour buses and large RVs from crossing it. However, the bridge remains open to those in passenger cars and motorcycles — the vast majority of Route 66 travelers.
- Those aren’t “wild mules” roaming the streets of Oatman. They’re semi-wild burros — descendants of the animals used in the town’s gold mines nearly a century ago. The burros can be pushy while begging for carrots (which Oatman businesses supply for a few bucks). But the burros generally stay docile and are hardly hazardous. About the worst thing that would likely happen is accidentally stepping in their, ahem, “road apples.”
- I’m not sure what section of road Perry is referring to in Daggett (again, she is very vague), except for maybe near a nearby military base. This dead end isn’t mentioned in the Route 66 turn-by-turn directions at Historic66.com. Even if this supposed dead end is unmarked (which I doubt), the small inconvenience of a turnaround is hardly a reason to bypass a town entirely.
- The road surface of Route 66 through the Mojave varies greatly in quality, but nowhere is it close to being worth avoiding. Even the most isolated stretches of the Mother Road remain nominally maintained because the road serves as a key link to Twentynine Palms, Amboy Crater, a Marines base, and other destinations.
- Avoiding Glenrio simply because it’s a ghost town was the item that made me shake my head the most. Most roadies would highly recommend seeing Glenrio because it shows what happened to many Route 66 towns when they were bypassed by the interstate. Glenrio once hosted more than a dozen roadside businesses and about 100 residents on a four-lane stretch of Route 66. Now, the eerily quiet Glenrio contains no businesses and maybe a half-dozen hardy souls. Here’s a testimony to the power of Glenrio’s story — John Lasseter cited it as a significant inspiration in the Disney-Pixar movie “Cars.”
- The “dirt” road between Glenrio and San Jon actually is a well-drained gravel surface. Sure, parts of the old road are pitted, and you seldom can drive over 35 mph on it. But its splendid desolation allows you a rare glimpse of how the Mother Road might have been in its earliest days, and provides a chance to see all sorts of wildlife. I rarely miss the chance to travel on this stretch.
- Of all of Perry’s misgivings, the advice to avoid East St. Louis might be the most prudent. East St. Louis indeed remains one of the highest-crime-rate areas on the Mother Road, and its street layout makes it easy to get lost. Even so, I lived near East St. Louis for eight years and traveled in it dozens of times. If you restrict your explorations to the daytime and stay aware of your surroundings, your time in East St. Louis should be uneventful.
Giving advice about Route 66 should be a public service. But, in this case, this Helium article turned into a public disservice.
Joplin museum may be moved into depot July 11, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Museums, Preservation, Railroad.add a comment
The Joplin Museum Complex in Joplin, Mo., may be moved into the historic Union Depot under a downtown development plan outlined by the city manager, according to the Joplin Globe.
According to the newspaper, museum officials are set to discuss the proposal involving the nearly 100-year-old structure on Tuesday. They said they would remain publicly noncommittal until they review the plan.
Current photos of the depot and artist’s conceptions of the reborn depot can be seen here.
The depot closed during the 1970s, and has deteriorated from neglect and vandalism.
The Globe reported:
Though the state is waiting for a formal plan from the city, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources says officials are anxious to work with Joplin officials on efforts that would end with a restored depot in city hands.
If so, it would be the first successful revitalization effort after several failed attempts to revive a local landmark. [...]
The depot was the subject of several failed attempts to rehabilitate it for commercial use, including one that generated at least three lawsuits against the developer. At one point, it was sold for $1,400 in back taxes, then was “rescued” by state ownership.
The Joplin Museum Complex, which includes an extensive collection of Route 66 artifacts, had hoped to move into the city’s Memorial Hall. But a one-sixth-cent sales-tax referendum to facilitate the $7 million move was resoundingly rejected by voters in April. According to comments to the Globe’s website and letters to the editor, many residents wanted the museum in the depot instead.
I and others were skeptical whether the long-decrepit depot could be rehabilitated. But local architect Chad Greer recently toured the building and said it was “in remarkably better shape than one (could) imagine.”
“That’s not to say that work won’t be required, but we feel strongly the building can be saved without compromising its appearance.” he said. “When you think about rehabilitating, compared to what it would cost to build a building of this caliber today, it makes such sense to preserve it.”
Contractor David Glenn echoed Greer’s take on the building’s soundness.
“The roof and the stucco are 22 years old, but they are still in a good shape,” he said. “It’s hard to damage a solid-concrete building. It is almost all poured-in-place concrete — even these round balls and platforms are poured concrete. You won’t see anything like that on a building today.
“Every structural element is rebar-reinforced concrete. Structurally, it is very, very sound. As a contractor or developer, I would not hesitate about redoing that building.’’
But based on what I saw with the depot, I’m betting that rehabilitating the structure and moving the museum into it would require considerably more than the $7 million it would have cost to move the museum into Memorial Hall. And there’s no mention on the source of the money.
But if public sentiment for the depot is strong, maybe Joplin residents are willing to spend more on that project.
(Hat tip: Ron Hart)
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.: