The Route 66 Chick

No tale of Route 66 this time! Instead, my holiday present to all of you - a Christmas Eve story that is purely fiction, but hopefully touches on the human connections that we all need to make. Enjoy, and may you all have a wonderful and blessed holiday - no matter which one(s) you celebrate! A NEW GIFT OF THE MAGI The snow falls fast and silent. It's the evening of promises – of the Savior, of Santa, of special significance. And in this particular small city, it's also the night of broken hearts, bleak loneliness, and barren spaces under spindly Christmas trees where toys and packages ought to sparkle. Edith glances longingly at beautifully framed photographs of her husband George - of George with their son Jeff when Jeff was small, of Edith and George on their wedding day, and so on. They are all arranged atop the grand piano which George played while he was still alive. This is the first Christmas Edith will face without him since they were married 53 years a

Promptly at 12:10 p.m. yesterday, we (crew, other passengers, and yours truly) left the ABQ station and headed north out of the city on the Southwest Chief. The tracks run parallel (just a few blocks away) with the pre-1937 Route 66 alignment/4 th Street corridor. My visit was too short this time but it was the best I could fit in right now with all the projects I'm juggling. Train travel is always teeming with humanity in all our glorious diversity. A cross-section of America – age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and hairstyle – travels Amtrak. Just an observation, not a commercial. On the coaches, stockinged feet, pine-tree-patterned blankets, children's toys, overstuffed tote bags, and sometimes a lolling, sleeping head stick out into the aisle from seat and floor. Train staff try to keep people and their stuff corralled back into the seat spaces, mostly in vain. Actually, this afternoon I made a note to travel on Tuesday more often. There were

On Sunday my daughter, Erica Jett, and I went to the opening festivities of the New Mexico History Museum's new permanent exhibit, Setting the Standard:  The Fred Harvey Company and Its Legacy . There was a huge crowd, including former Harvey Girls and members of the Harvey family. New Mexicans and others have been getting hungry for the Fred Harvey story, fanned by the flames of Stephen Fried's excellent book, Appetite for America:  Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West - One Meal at a Time. The New Mexico History Museum staff must have felt very gratified by the immense interest and excellent attendance yesterday. Four showings during the day of Katrina Parks' documentary The Harvey Girls:  Opportunity Bound  appeared to all have been packed in the auditorium with overflow space in the lobby also being utilized. The 57-minute film was wonderfully done and included numerous delightful interviews with former Harvey Girls.  The 2:00 pm talks were a

I might have accidentally been almost a Fredhead long before the term was coined. When I was 8 or 9 years old, I made my first trip “out west” with my parents. That trip kicked off a life-long love affair with the mountains, the high desert, native arts, sunsets, buildings (I didn't know enough to call it “architecture”), and pretty much all things western. One of my mother's sisters worked at a Fred Harvey restaurant in the 1960s, one of the five Tollway Oases constructed up over the pavement of the Illinois Tollway in the Chicago area. My mother and I went to eat there a few times, sitting up over the toll road, having a nice meal and seeing my aunt at work. Existing at least in my memory, there was a Fred Harvey over-the-highway restaurant in Oklahoma, too, but I might have dreamed up that one. My parents had put in a decade of traveling together before I was born, and Fred Harvey must have come up in their recollections that they told me. I seemed to grow up hear

My new favorite quote - "Sometimes the wheel turns slowly, but it turns." - Lorne Michaels. For those of you waiting for Edwardsville Route 66 Conference news, it must seem like a very slow wheel. But take my word for it, we are making progress. Here are my updates: 1.  We are working out a few final details to be able to announce a partnership between the City of Edwardsville and a sponsoring organization. As soon as this is done we will have a webpage and a phone number. We are also waiting on the Edwardsville - Glen Carbon Chamber of Commerce to finish hammering out their "complimentary-themed" 2015 Halloween Parade theme and title. 2.  The current go-to place for information on Edwardsville and updates on the conference itself is our new Route 66 Edwardsville Facebook page! Please "like" our page at  http://www.facebook.com/Route66Edwardsville , please share it liberally, and do visit it often for conference updates, local Route 66 history, and inf

Friday afternoon found me headed north for Atlanta, Illinois, to give a program for the "Dinner Programs at the Palms Grill Cafe" winter series. I almost never mind driving, and it was an easy cruise up the interstate to Atlanta. (Well, as I usually do, I headed out of Edwardsville on Route 66 up to Hamel - doesn't that count?) I arrived in Atlanta just at dusk, parked across the street from the Palms Grill Cafe, and snapped a couple photos.  Many people had already arrived and settled in for dinner. The lovely Mrs. Rachel Neisler of the Atlanta Museum welcomed me warmly and helped me get set up. I was seated for dinner with three delightful people who had grown grandchildren, stories to tell, and great conversation to share. And then...to my right, the lady's story came out! I was sitting next to a former Harvey Girl! She was one of a group of four that had traveled from Illinois to Santa Fe in the 1940s. Oh, yes! I'm headed back to Atlanta soon for an inter

After several hits to our Blue Carpet Corridor organization, including one sad and tragic one, we have re-organized and are once again making progress. And after some slow-downs, brainstorming, and meetings, the Edwardsville Route 66 Conference has definitely picked up steam.  As for the Blue Carpet Corridor Coalition, first we lost our vice-president (but thankfully just to an extremely busy schedule and other projects). Then on September 22, Stan Barker, our president, leader, and friend, passed away. We vowed that all that Stan worked for would not be lost and we redoubled our efforts to re-organize and move forward with BCC plans. To that end, after some gentle arm-twisting, I traded in my secretary hat for the president's hat. Dave Tucker of Taylor's Mexican Chili in Carlinville (check out their story at  http://www.taylorschili.com ) more than stepped up to the plate and now serves as our very active vice-president.  Suzanne Gray of Virden as secretary and Glenn Sheets

Hannibal, Missouri - the birthplace of Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, and always a fascinating small city to visit. This was at least my fourth trip there, and the community seemed more prosperous and the historic attractions in much better condition than my last visit, about ten years ago. It was Sunday, October 12, the last day of our 12-day trip, and Steve and I planned to make the most of it. We had a pleasant stay the night before at the Hannibal Inn and Conference Center which opened in 2008 in the former Holiday Inn. It still has the Fundome and a large cloverleaf pool. We had breakfast at Logue's Restaurant , a very busy mom and pop place not far from the hotel. The food was decent and the service good, and I urge you to click on the link just to hear their jingle, "Oh, the restaurant is a place to eat...home cookin' that can't be beat!" Then it was down to the riverfront for some photos and to visit the museums and historic buildings. On

After a pleasant stay at the Braidwood Motel on October 10, Steve and I were up early and headed for the small town of Mackinaw, Illinois. We had sunshine for the drive and nowhere we had to go after my program. The Mackinaw historical group had thought of everything. A sign announcing the program was arranged by the front door of the library. The group served coffee and donuts. One woman presented me with a handmade gift and the group had taken up a collection for gas money. And they had a really good crowd assembled. We got the laptop hooked up to their flatscreen TV with my new HDMI adapter and I was off and running with the "Route 66 in Illinois" program. Crowd responses peppered the program with great comments such as, "We had our first date there!" (Steak 'n Shake in Normal) and "We spent our honeymoon night there!" (Harbor Inn in Broadwell). I think a good time was had by all.  After chatting some more and packing up, we had a few