The Route 66 Chick

Last weekend I took the new Route 66 in Kansas book on the road for a mini book tour to the Tri-State area. Three events were planned, sponsored by three terrific museums, for Friday through Sunday, July 22-24. It was a great weekend, and as a bonus, I stayed three nights at the wonderful Boots Court in Carthage, Missouri, and enjoyed the new neon. The first event was a book display and signing sponsored by the Powers Museum of Carthage at the Carthage Art Walk in - where else? - historic Downtown Carthage on the Square on Friday evening. Michele Newton Hansford of the Powers Museum secured a prime space for me inside the Carthage Deli, and she and her husband, Gary Hansford, joined me for the evening at the deli. Owner Chris was a gracious host as usual, and we enjoyed a fine supper and great conversation. The oppressive heat and humidity caused some of the artists to cancel out of the art walk. That, combined with construction around the square and the weather itself, made ...

This past week, Joe Sonderman and I received some news about our Route 66 in Kansas pamphlet, er, book. (As expected, we have taken a lot of ribbing about producing a whole book about 13 miles of our favorite highway!) Anyway, Arcadia Publishing informed us of the publication/release date of Route 66 in Kansas . Talk about patriotic. Our official release date is July 4th! We had guessed that the book would likely be released in May, since that is roughly six months after our materials submission date. But that's okay. We think July 4th is cool.  Tentatively we will have some book signings in July and/or August in Galena and Baxter Springs. We'll post those dates once they're firmed up. And one or both of us will be at the following festivals with the new book: Aug. 12-14    Birthplace of Route 66 Festival                                Springfield MO Sept. 3        ...