Many Route 66 aficionados are, to put it gently, a little long in the tooth. So many of them fret about whether there will be enough young people interested in the Mother Road to keep it viable in the future.
That’s why many roadies rejoiced at the 2006 release of Disney-Pixar’s animated movie, “Cars,” which introduced Route 66 to millions of kids. 
Roadies have reason to celebrate again with the publication of a comic book, “Dinosaurs Across Route 66” (32 pages, $3.95). It was created by California artist and literacy advocate Phil Yeh, whose previous comic, “Dinosaurs Across America,” has sold almost 200,000 copies. So Yeh already has a sizable audience that can be informed about the Mother Road.
In “Dinosaurs Across Route 66,” the ever-patient Mrs. Mills drives a flying convertible west on or above the Mother Road. Accompanying her is Patrick Rabbit, an oaf on a “fact-free diet” who has no motivation to read or learn or aspire to anything except host a television show and become famous.
Every so often, the duo comes across a “magical time hole” where they can go back to another era and visit figures such as Abraham Lincoln or see defunct Route 66 landmarks such as the Trails Restaurant in Duarte, Calif. They also meet the “Dinosaurs Across America” crew, who escaped extinction by learning to read and building a flying time machine.
Here are a few excerpts from the comic. Here’s the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas:
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The Wigwam Motel in Rialto, Calif.:
And the Ed Galloway’s giant totem pole near Foyil, Okla.:
It’s surprising how much history and detail about Route 66 that Yeh packed into those 32 black-and-white pages. For instance, the Joliet Historical Museum, Odell Station, the Illinois State Museum in Springfield and Ambler’s Station in Dwight, Ill., are all mentioned in one panel.
In another scene at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge near St. Louis, billboards for the St. Louis Car Museum, Shea’s Gas Station Museum in Springfield, Ill., and the Dixie Truckers Home in McLean, Ill., are seen. So Route 66ers may consider using a magnifying glass to spot all the Mother Road references in “Dinosaurs Across Route 66.”
It seems strange at first blush to introduce such an obnoxious character such as Patrick Rabbit into the story. But Rabbit is so willfully ignorant, he acts as reverse psychology for readers. Children don’t want to become the obvious dolt he is, so they’ll be more likely to read and research the historical figures sprinkled throughout “Dinosaurs Across Route 66.”
And if those kids have their curiosity piqued enough to request a Route 66 road trip with their parents, that’s good, too.
Recommended, especially for kids age 8 and up.