Hemmings.com, an offshoot of the popular magazine devoted to classic cars, recently published a feature on longtime Route 66 artist, author and researcher Jerry McClanahan.
McClanahan runs a gallery of his artwork, called McJerry’s Route 66 Art Gallery, a short distance from Route 66 in Chandler, Oklahoma, where he regularly welcomes visitors.
He recently published a fifth edition of the well-regarded “EZ 66 Guide for Travelers” (Amazon link) and regularly publishes free updates to the guide on his website.
The whole article is worth reading, but a few things stand out:
— His family spent much of the 1960s traveling on Route 66 from California to McClanahan’s native Oklahoma. It included one stop at the Westward Ho Motel, which still stands in Albuquerque, when he caught the measles.
— After getting his college degree, the 1978 book “Souvenirs from the Roadside West” by photographer Richard Ansaldi reawakened many of McClanahan’s childhood memories along Route 66.
— He began photographing Route 66 in the early 1980s, back when few people cared about its history. That predates Michael Wallis’ bestselling “Route 66: The Mother Road” book by a decade.
— McClanahan began to get commissions for Route 66-themed paintings. About the same time, he and Jim Ross began tracking down the various alignments of Route 66 for the “Here It Is!” map series (Amazon link), which still is available.
— He advised the novice Route 66 traveler: “Two to three weeks is great for the trip. … If you don’t want to rush, just do part of it at a time. Allow time for chance encounters with interesting people and sometimes you just have to throw your schedule out the window.”
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Jerry, very cool!