Blog Title: Route 66 News

Let’s celebrate The Mill’s 80th year

The Mill, a former restaurant on Route 66 in Lincoln, Ill., will mark its 80th anniversary on July 25 with several events, reports the Springfield Journal-Register. Route 66 Heritage Foundation of Logan County is hosting the festivities that day, beginning at noon. Music and food will be served beginning at 1 p.m., with an informal car read more..

New restaurant in an old package

Roadies traveling in the Cuba, Mo., area have a new dining option, but it’s housed in a historic building on the Mother Road. Road House 66, on Highway UU off Interstate 44, recently opened in the former Wagon Wheel Restaurant — a fixture on Route 66 since 1954, according to a newspaper article by the Cuba read more..

Profile of a roadie

Roadies traveling in the Cuba, Mo., area have a new dining option, but it’s housed in a historic building on the Mother Road. Road House 66, on Highway UU off Interstate 44, recently opened in the former Wagon Wheel Restaurant — a fixture on Route 66 since 1954, according to a newspaper article by the Cuba read more..

Return to the road

Ten years ago, Tim Steil and Jim Luning traveled and shot photos for their “Route 66″ book. This month, they decided to return to Route 66 to see how the road has changed and meet with aficionados of the old highway. The Luning-Steil blog is here. Today, Luning started posting his Route 66 videos of the last read more..

Nintendo comic takes place on Route 66

Ten years ago, Tim Steil and Jim Luning traveled and shot photos for their “Route 66″ book. This month, they decided to return to Route 66 to see how the road has changed and meet with aficionados of the old highway. The Luning-Steil blog is here. Today, Luning started posting his Route 66 videos of the last read more..

“Great American Road Trip” premieres Tuesday

NBC’s newest reality-television show, “The Great American Road Trip,” which reportedly takes place on Route 66, is ginning up publicity for the series that begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. In case you haven’t heard, the premise is that seven families are given an RV in which to travel. During their journeys, they have to read more..

Notes from the road

A few things to clear off my plate: – Dawn Welch, owner of the Rock Cafe in Stroud, Okla., told me today that her restaurant would be closed for the July 4 holiday. Roadies who wish to go to their favorite Route 66 hangout on that day are advised to call ahead to make sure it’s read more..

Kingman association gets grant to restore sign

The Kingman Route 66 Association announced Monday that it has received a $10,000 matching grant from the city to restore a Packard neon sign (seen in a vintage photo above) at the Old Trails Garage in downtown. The money also will be used to restore an original glass-top gas pump near the garage. The group eventually also read more..

A pivot point

Chuck Twardy of the Las Vegas Weekly wrote a thoughtful and thought-provoking article about a recent trip down the Mother Road. Using Park Central Square in Springfield, Mo., where Route 66 was essentially born and where a small plaque tells of the lynching of three black men there in 1906, Twardy writes this: Springfield, Missouri, is a read more..

A last of the breed

In my first Route 66 trips, I noticed on dozens of businesses and billboards in eastern New Mexico the signs of  a distinctive lettering by a sign painter. The signs were notable because of their lettering — often a thick, squat, easily read style that I’d seen nowhere else. Some of the letters were shadowed — read more..

Santa Monica Pier swing

The Santa Monica Pier, the symbolic western end of Route 66, will hold concerts July 23 to pay tribute to its former La Monica Ballroom and celebrate the pier’s centennial, according to a news release. La Monica Ballroom hosted ballroom dances from 1924 to 1961, when it closed. Entertainers at the July 23 show will include read more..

Abandoned but not forgotten

The folks who run the Abandoned Oklahoma site take a closer look at the long-defunct Conoco gas station on Route 66 near Arcadia. The station is particularly notable because of its notorious history: Back then, times were very hard and it was difficult to make a living. One day, about the time Al Capone was terrorizing the read more..

Two kings

Here’s another chapter of “Route 66: A Road Trip on the Bible.” This entry covers the first book of Kings. The driver, I suspect, really regrets picking up hitchhikers at this point.

His own Radiator Springs

Here’s another chapter of “Route 66: A Road Trip on the Bible.” This entry covers the first book of Kings. The driver, I suspect, really regrets picking up hitchhikers at this point.

“Cars” Web site gets a tune-up

Here’s another chapter of “Route 66: A Road Trip on the Bible.” This entry covers the first book of Kings. The driver, I suspect, really regrets picking up hitchhikers at this point.

Tribute to a king

Emily read this Tulsa World article after Michael Jackson’s death on Friday. The key passage: Hours after learning of Jackson’s death, Paul Yeakey, a Tulsa artist, spray-painted a mural of Jackson on a wall outside a liquor store at 9347 E. 11th St. Eleventh Street in Tulsa is Route 66. She went to the Mad Dog Liquors read more..

This old road

This is a section of a very old alignment of Route 66 that goes through Petrified Forest National Park in eastern Arizona. It was the Mother Road until 1961. An information kiosk right off the park’s main road tells about Route 66 through there. But veteran roadies, guided by the no-longer-used telephone poles, can see the read more..

A good day to tour Land of Lincoln

If you live in northern Illinois or are driving through it on Sunday, you’re going to have the chance of seeing some unusual things on the Mother Road. The historic railroad depot of Braidwood, Ill., will be moved from its current spot at Illinois 53 (aka Route 66) and Illinois 113 to Main and Center streets read more..

More road-tripping on Samuel

Here is the latest chapter of “Route 66: A Road Trip Through the Bible.” This one’s the second book of Samuel. Don’t be surprised if you’re not tracking this video.

Mural-painting begins in Pontiac

The painting of several murals by volunteer Walldogs artists in the Route 66 town of Pontiac, Ill., began Wednesday, reports the Pontiac Daily Leader. One of the murals will feature a Route 66 theme, on the wall of DeLongs’ Casual Dining at 201 N. Mill St. The Walldogs should be done with the murals by Sunday. Here read more..