Time-lapse road trip February 14, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Photographs, Road trips.1 comment so far
If you’ve got time to kill, you can watch this 76-minute video by Chris Gillham using time-lapse photography of a Route 66 trip from St. Louis to Santa Monica, then St. Louis to Chicago, in a 1965 Pontiac Parisienne convertible.
The camera he mounted shot an image every 10 seconds. The Route 66 trip was in June and July of 2011.
He had to jump on the interstate somewhat to make up for lost time, but he also made plenty of stops on the Mother Road as well. More of his photos can be seen here.
Singer-songwriter leading a Route 66 tour February 5, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Music, Road trips.6 comments
Fred Eaglesmith, a veteran singer-songwriter whose tunes have been recorded by Miranda Lambert, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, and other musicians, is the headliner for a Route 66 Tin Can Caravan on the Mother Road in September.
A few details about the tour from the website:
An eighteen-day road trip down Historic Route 66, from Chicago to LA with roots rock icon Fred
Fred Eaglesmith
Eaglesmith at the helm. Fred and his band in their bus. A chartered motorcoach for Fredheads and friends. Others in vans, campers and vintage vehicles. And – if sufficient demand – a full-fledged Nashville tour bus for fans desiring the Fantasy Tour experience! Folks coming for the whole tour or part. Guest musicians hopping aboard for a few days. At least one show daily -public or private- in every state traversed by Route 66. Be a part of it. It’s going to be wild.
Among the guest musicians participating include Robbie Fulks, Audrey Auld, Jon Dee Graham, Mary Gauthier, and “maybe more.”
A full journey down the Mother Road with Eaglesmith’s gang will cost nearly $4,300, and partial trips range from $989 to $1,289. The fees include admissions, one meal a day, lodging — the whole works.
And the Route 66 tour looks like is going to be the real thing, and not a fly-by-on-the-interstate operation. Here are the things planned:
- Visits to the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame & Museum and the Pontiac Car Museum in Pontiac.
- Lunch at the Palms Grill in Atlanta, Ill.
- Visit to Henry’s Rabbit Ranch in Staunton, Ill.
- Barbecue and private show at the Elbow Inn in Devil’s Elbow, Mo.
- Light-night jam at a fire pit at the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Mo.
- Dinner and private show at Cafe on the Route in Baxter Springs, Kan.
- Visits to the Coleman Theater in Miami, Okla., and Afton Station in Afton, Okla.
- Lunch at Clanton’s Cafe in Vinita, Okla., and visiting the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Okla.
- Lunch at either Russ’ Ribs in Bristow, Okla., or Rock Cafe in Stroud, Okla.
- Visit to the Devil’s Rope Barbed Wire Museum in McLean, Texas.
- Lunch at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas.
- At late-night song circle under the neon sign of the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, N.M.
- Lunch at the Landmark Grill in Las Vegas, N.M., before a show later in Santa Fe.
- A tour of Acoma Pueblo.
- Tour of the Painted Desert National Park.
- Dinner at La Posada’s Turquoise Room in Winslow, Ariz., with a private concert there.
- Tour of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
- Stops at Grand Canyon Caverns and Hackberry General Store.
- Visits to Goffs Schoolhouse in Goffs, Calif., and the Bottletree Ranch near Oro Grande.
That’s only the partial list. Credit needs to be given to the organizers for putting together a remarkably comprehensive road trip.
For those traveling in their own vehicles, organizers also strongly recommended buying the “Here It Is!” map series, Jerry McClanahan’s “EZ 66 Guide,” and Drew Knowles’ “Route 66 Adventure Handbook.”
UPDATE: I got this message from Charlie Hunter at Roots on the Rails, which is organizing the event:
In the next week, we’ll be putting up single-day caravan tickets (generally $59/day, $49 if people type in “CARAVAN” in the code block) for the whole trip (the link to them will be off of the rootsontherails.com website.
“Yamashita Tomohisa Route 66,” Episode 5 January 31, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Road trips, Television.4 comments
Here’s the fifth installment of Japanese television’s “Yamashita Tomohisa Route 66,” which chronicles a singer and actor’s trip down the Mother Road last fall.
He goes from Oklahoma City to Amarillo, Texas. I’m glad he got to see wild turkeys in western Oklahoma. And he didn’t attempt the Big Texan 72-ounce steak challenge, but close.
Looking forward to the next episode. He’s going to be a cowboy, albeit briefly.
Driving the Mother Road the hard way January 30, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Road trips, Vehicles.2 comments
In 2004, Brian McKay decided to re-create the Okies’ exodus from the Dust Bowl by driving his 1930 Nash automobile on Route 66.
The key difference was that McKay didn’t start in Oklahoma — he started at Route 66′s eastern starting point in Chicago. He was determined to accomplish the 2,400-mile journey without any modern conveniences. And he planned to drive 35 mph, a typical speed during that era.
Here’s a video from that time that recently surfaced about McKay and his Nash:
It took 50 days, but McKay made it to the end of Route 66 in Santa Monica. Probably the most trying time of the journey was in the California and Arizona deserts. The dry air made the Nash’s wooden spokes shrink, and the tires wobbled dangerously. At one point, McKay soaked the wheels overnight in the Colorado River before departing for the Mojave Desert.
A day-by-day accounting of McKay’s trip can be found here and here.
I was saddened to learn from the video that McKay died of cancer in 2010. He was a true road warrior — one who tried (and succeeded) in something that few of us would even attempt.
His 1930 Nash is on display at the Heritage Park Historical Village in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
“Route 66: Return to the Road” January 29, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Movies, Road trips, Television.add a comment
Here’s something I haven’t seen in a few years … the first few minutes of “Route 66: Return to the Road with Martin Milner.” Someone posted this segment on Vimeo in recent days; you’ll have to click on the screen shot to see the clip:
The 1998 film, which was more than 2 1/2 hours long, was released on DVD 10 years ago this week. It featured a vintage Corvette and Martin Milner, both whom starred with George Maharis in the “Route 66″ television drama of the early 1960s. Plus there were all the real-world attractions of the Mother Road itself at that time.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen “Return to the Road,” and undoubtedly changes have occurred in the nearly 15 years since. That includes Milner, who was regularly attending Route 66 gatherings for a few years after that, but reportedly now is in poor health and has gone into seclusion.
“Return to the Road” was skillfully directed by John Paget, who also helmed “Route 66: An American Odyssey.” Both are terrific films that I recommend unequivocally.
Another ride on Oatman Road January 28, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Motorcycles, Road trips.5 comments
Here’s the best-quality video I’ve seen yet of two motorcycling buddies driving on Oatman Road, aka Route 66, in western Arizona’s Black Mountains.
These guys were going at speeds that would make me uncomfortable; don’t try it yourself.
The clip shows the capabilities of the GoPro Hero 2, a high-definition video camera that’s finding favor among bikers, snowboarders, surfers, and other daredevils.
A good example to those along the Mother Road January 27, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Museums, People, Road trips.add a comment
Paul Chassey, a volunteer for the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville, Calif., wrote an interesting piece in the Victorville Daily Press about a fellow volunteer’s experience with a Chinese couple.
Go here to read it first.
Read it? If so, here are my observations about the article:
- Although the volunteer’s behavior was exemplary, such conduct should be fairly routine at the museums, businesses, and attractions along Route 66. Such hospitality has proven hugely beneficial to Pontiac, Ill., and the Mother Road in general.
- The story cements my hunch that China is going to become a huge, mostly untapped market for Route 66 tourism. As the Chinese gain more wealth and travel abroad, it’s logical to assume a number of its 1.3 billion citizens will want to get their kicks on the legendary Route 66.