The Route 66 Chick

Joe and I are excited to announce our book release events for "Route 66 in Illinois" for the month of June! We're happy to share the new book with all of you and hope to see many of you at any or all of the following events! (This list is just for June! We're working on booking the rest of the summer as we speak. Confirmed so far later in the summer are the Route 66 Cruise In in Carlinville in July and the Route 66 Festival in Kingman, AZ in August!) Here's the list for June: Sunday, June 8th - Edwardsville! We will do a program with slides, and sign books afterwards, at the Madison County Historical Society Archival Library at 715 N. Main Street. This is the first day and place you can buy the book, and purchases at this event will benefit the Madison County Historical Society. Program begins at 2:00 pm. There is some parking BEHIND the library accessed from Second Street and also street parking - please get there a little early to find parking! Monday,

A working vacation is good, right? If you've read my last couple of posts or spotted my photos on Facebook, you know I'm in beautiful, sunny Florida for a few weeks, enjoying the weather, spring training Cardinals games, a little shopping, and the excellent company of my dear son and daughter-in-law and my three (it just became three) grand-dogs. But I'm working, too - really I am! Along with summer clothes, sunscreen, a whole bag of Birkenstocks, and some books, I packed the Prius full with research materials, 3-ring binders, reference books, and the laptop.  I am writing my way down my list. First of all, I'm finishing up an article on Lebanon, Missouri, for the Route 66 Association of Missouri's very fine magazine Show Me Route 66 . Lebanon has a long history of travelers, tourists, and hospitality businesses, from the Hotel Gasconade to the Munger-Moss Motel. Watch for the article and plenty of great vintage images to accompany it (from the collection of Joe S

On Saturday I had the privilege of visiting the Hemingway House along with Steve, Tom, and Nicole, as part of our long weekend in Key West, Florida. During the winter I had read The Paris Wife , Paula McLain's wonderful novelized version of Hadley Richardson Hemingway (wife #1) and her husband Ernest during their marriage and years in Paris. Intrigued, I then read Hemingway's A Moveable Feast , his memoir of their years in Paris. Next, Tom and Nicole invited us to go to Key West with them! Always amazing the way things work out! The beautiful Hemingway Home, one of the largest residential properties in Key West. This was my first trip to Key West and I totally fell in love with it. You can't resist Mallory Square, Duval Street, the shops and restaurants and bars, the mix of languages and accents in the air, the glistening turquoise water and the sunshine, the smells of food escaping from open-air restaurants, and the salute to the sun every evening. I guess Hemingway

Switching gears (and directions) from last Saturday's Route 66 trip, Steve Rensberry and I are spending a sinfully luxurious and fun weekend in Key West, Florida, with my son and daughter-in-law, Tom and Nicole Jett.  Our road-trip escape from the winter-oppressed Midwest was uneventful except for finally breaking past the 60-degree mark somewhere around Orlando. When we arrived in Fort Lauderdale, I was still dressed for 30-degree Georgia, which we had left behind that morning.  On Friday morning we rode with Tom and Nicole down U.S. 1, the Overseas Highway, to Key West. After the Illinois cold and snow and all the dreary winter days, it felt like we'd arrived on another planet. Our hotel is right on Mallory Square with incredible views of water and sky and boats and people and the pier. Today there is a gigantic cruise ship anchored right off the square in full view out our balcony window. The beautiful Key West beach. The amazing view from our hotel. The long