The Route 66 Chick

Armed with laptops, cameras, scanner, and coffee, Steve Rensberry and I set off Friday afternoon for Carthage, Missouri. Last April, when the two of us had stayed there both en route to and returning home from New Mexico, we had been charmed by the town and hoped to get back there for a long weekend. Now, with some research and an article or two to produce on my agenda, and a weekend with nothing else scheduled, away we went. Since we couldn't leave until the middle of the afternoon, we knew we'd have to drive I-44 most of the way. We did, however, plan for one excursion away from the interstate - Devil's Elbow. This scenic area and important piece of Missouri highway history is about a half-hour's drive south of Rolla. The beautiful old steel truss bridge carried the earliest alignment of Route 66.  During the WWII era, the winding highway and small, narrow bridge were insufficient to handle army trucks and other heavier traffic. A four-lane section of highway...

I had been looking forward to the International Route 66 Festival in Joplin MO for months, and I wasn't disappointed. The big event was held August 1-3 in Joplin and neighboring 66 communities Carthage MO and Galena KS. Since I didn't have my blog started at that time, I'm going to make up for lost time and post some photos from that weekend. The kickoff on Thursday evening was a showing of the hugely popular movie "Cars" at the Route 66 Drive In at Carthage MO. Michael Wallis, voice of the Sheriff, was there to sign autographs. There was a long wait along the road to even enter the drive in and it was packed to capacity. Excitement was contagious as one person after another snapped photos from cars or darted from them to get a special shot. My evening was even more fun as good friends Josh and Wendy Friedrich from Springfield IL graciously invited me along. It was especially fun sharing the movie and good times with their little Route 66 fans, Charlie and Lizz...

We'll find out Saturday! A Marine, IL author, Charles Schwend, and the Troy public library have teamed up to organize a Local Author Fair from 10 am - 2 pm Saturday at the Tri-Township Public Library at 209 S. Main Street in Troy, IL. The event is being billed as a chance for aspiring writers and/or writers aspiring to be published to get their questions answered from the approximately two dozen of us authors signed up. Of course, we'll all be ready and willing to sell you a book and sign it as well. Stop by if you're in the neighborhood!

Crime and murder stories can be fascinating and intriguing but the shocking memories such events leave behind are with the victims' families forever. They endure loss, shock, and often the public airing of their grief. They deal with police, investigators, reporters...and writers who keep coming back many years after the crimes were committed. This summer I've been researching the local (Litchfield-Troy-Edwardsville-Mitchell, IL) angle of a vicious, senseless crime spree across the country in 1961. The story of two GIs in their late teens gone AWOL and gone murder-crazy made the national news and kept making it as their story unfolded. The very brief version: Ronald York and George Latham went AWOL in Texas in May 1961 and headed into Louisiana, beginning a two-week orgy of crime that took them east to Florida and then west across the country. They killed seven people, stealing their vehicles and money. Two of their victims were here in the Metro East. Their names we...

It was a momentous day in Collinsville this past week when the giant Idaho baked potato stopped to visit the World's Largest Catsup Bottle. On Wednesday afternoon, the potato and the catsup bottle met up – or at least were in view of each other – when the Big Idaho Potato Tour and the Tater Team rolled into town on a 72-foot-long truck and trailer. Cameras rolled and kids posed as the potato crew handed out souvenir postcards with facts about the giant sprayed-concrete potato. The cross-country road tour is celebrating the Idaho Potato Commission's 75 th anniversary. Some hard facts about this potato: (1) If it were a real potato, it would take two years and nine months to bake, or it could make over 1,500,00 french fries. (2) This potato weighs 12,130 pounds and is 28 feet long. (3) It took almost a full year to build the spud in Weiser, Idaho. If anyone just can't get enough, there's a Facebook page and a website: Famous Idaho Potato Tour I...

On Saturday morning we fortified ourselves with big (an understatement) breakfasts at the Old Fashioned Pancake House on W. Jefferson Street in Joliet. Theirs may have been the largest menu I've ever seen. Then we returned to the Joliet Area Museum to pick up picturess and do some more visiting. We met two couples from France touring Route 66 for yet another time and had a great visit and photo op. In this photo from left to right is Joe Sonderman, me, Sylvie Toullec, and her husband Freddy Vanhees. On our way back south, we made several stops along the old road to look, admire, take pictures, and just steep ourselves in the history. Dwight is an especially charming town, with a wonderful old railroad station (an Amtrak stop), now the home of the Dwight Historical Society, the stately buildings of the former Keeley Institute, and a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed bank. At the edge of town is the Ambler-Becker Texaco Station, a must-see where it was fun to take pictures on the ...

The  Joliet Area Historical Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center on Ottawa Street was indeed ready and welcoming when we arrived there shortly after 10 am on Friday. At the admissions and gift counter was Elaine Stonich, who I had talked to the previous weekend at the Route 66 Association of Illinois' annual picnic. And Heather Bigeck, Exhibits and Collections Manager for the museum, was waiting for us with picture files that she knew would interest us. And interest us they did. We acquired some wonderful images with permission to use them in our new book. Heather came to the museum with experience and interest in Native American culture (an interest of mine as well), but in her six years in Joliet has learned its history. She was great! Of course we toured the museum while we were there - very nicely done. The museum portion is contained within the former Ottawa Street Methodist Church building, with the newer building addition functioning as the Route 66 Welcome Center and gift ...