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 lon...

After a long winter hiatus from any research trips, writing partner Joe Sonderman and I hit the road last Saturday for a day trip down to Lebanon, Missouri. I'm working on a story for the issue of Show Me Route 66 , for which Joe serves as editor. Joe knows Missouri 66 like the back of his hand, but I wanted to collect a little more material and see Lebanon again before I finished the article. We started off early in the morning, long overdue for a road adventure, but taking the interstate to have maximum time in case we needed it in Lebanon. Lebanon has a very interesting library and museum set-up. They are both located in a former K-Mart store building at 915 S. Jefferson Avenue. The library has a genealogy room with quite a bit of local resource material. And the museum is well done, with a recreated motel room and diner plus many displays of photos and memorabilia. We worked quite awhile in the library, then had another tour of the museum before we left. The gift sho...

October and November really got away, and my last blog entry was October 8th! I didn't forget about all you kind folks that read my rambling. Joe and I made a last big push to finish Route 66 in Illinois with a few more research and other book-related trips (Springfield, Pontiac, Joliet and Chicago, Jacksonville, Carlinville) and put in many more hours to complete it. Expected release by Arcadia Publishing is in May 2014. Also in October, I did book signings at Lewis and Clark State Historic Site in Hartford and Leclaire Parkfest in Edwardsville, made a trip to Wisconsin and drove a tiny bit of the Lincoln Highway on the way home, went to the exciting Vic Suhling Gas for Less neon sign re-lighting, and of course watched the World Series. Five Arcadia Publishing authors were invited for a group book signing at Lewis and Clark State Historic Site October 12-13. Front row left to right:  Dee Reed, Mary Westerhold, and Cindy Reinhardt. Back row left to right:  Roxann Read a...

Last Wednesday through Friday I was in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin to get together with cousins and to visit the graves of my parents and other relatives. While in that general area, I thought I'd like to drive some of the Illinois stretch of the Lincoln Highway. The one day of the three without rain was Wednesday, which was filled by my travel north and my visit to the cemetery. Thursday was devoted to getting together with cousins at various locations, and it rained most of the day. On Friday, the weather wasn't good either. A heavy rainstorm was approaching the Rockford area (where I stayed) from the west, so I headed east. From I-39, I took the Lincoln Highway/Route 38. The first small town on my mini-adventure was Creston. Small, but interesting! The Village of Creston - population 600 - is a rural community with some active businesses in its tiny downtown. Grain trucks and farm equipment were on the move and the hair salon in a wonderful old building was op...