The Route 66 Chick

It's virtually impossible to be in Albuquerque and not find yourself on Central Avenue/Route 66. Besides the soaring “Big I” and its interstate arteries, I-40 and I-25, Central is still the lifeblood of the city. I can remember stops on 66/Central when I was a child on trips with my parents. I can still recall the purple sunset and the lights up and down Central. Since daughter's college days and also since my own research trips when I went back for a master's degree a dozen years ago (did my master's at SIUE, but did a lot of my research at UNM), UNM has been a frequent stop over the years for concerts, recitals, library, or book store. And across Central from UNM is the great Frontier, with its smiling 'green light – it's your turn to order' fast, efficient service. The Frontier is celebrating its thirty-year anniversary, and it's a success story that's well deserved. It's hard to eat at the Frontier and not run into someone you know...

The Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center at 334 Historic Old Route 66 North (across the road from the Ariston Cafe) in Litchfield, Illinois, is celebrating its first anniversary on Sunday, June 1, from 1:00-4:00 pm. The museum invites everyone to come join them for the celebration, with new attractions, special music, vintage automobiles, door prizes, and refreshments. The museum and welcome center opened a year ago after many months of planning, design, and construction. Construction of the building was followed closely by Litchfield residents driving by the site and by Route 66 fans around the world via social media. The building was designed by John Fletcher to be reminiscent of Route 66-era service businesses with a corner entrance and plenty of neon. Carol Hampton Berry is credited with the floor plan for the building and United Builders/Larry Pence did the construction.     The “Vic Suhling – Gas for Less” sign, appropriately situated in its original loca...

Red and green chile, walks in the sunshine, family time with daughter, son-in-law and co-in-laws, great food, Isotopes baseball, and the dry, sweet, clean air – these are the things I look forward to on each trip to Albuquerque. We scored on almost everything this trip except the weather and the baseball game. Of course, I was looking forward to sunny, warm, dry weather. I seldom even think about the weather when I'm headed to New Mexico, because it's always so dependably wonderful. But this time, I arrived just in time for close to a week of rainy, overcast, chilly weather – and it's not even monsoon season yet. Rainy mountain view outside Santa Fe. We had game tickets for Sunday night and it was a rain-out. Disappointing, but we did go see “Godzilla” instead, with New Mexico's beloved Bryan Cranston in one of the major roles. Good movie, great effects. But back to baseball. One of the hot news stories in Albuquerque was the dugout brawl between Isotopes...

A couple weeks ago, I gave my "Route 66 in Madison County" program based on my book of the same name for the Marine Historical Society in Marine, Illinois. There was a nice-sized and very attentive audience, made up for the most part of Marine Historical Society members. I appreciated the invitation from this dedicated group of local historians and preservationists. I meant to post about it in a more timely fashion, but in my excitement over and preparation for the New Mexico trip, it temporarily slipped my mind. Thanks to Troy Times-Tribune editor Steve Rensberry for allowing me to use photos he took that evening. Giving my Route 66 in Madison County program in Marine IL. (Photo by Steve Rensberry.) These two lovely and accomplished young women came to the program to hear about Route 66 in the county they represent! On the left is Madison County Fair Queen Kristen McDowell, and on the right Junior Miss Madison County Queen Anna Nichols. (Photo by Steve Rensberry.) ...

On Wednesday night, I changed trains in Kansas City, from the short-run Missouri River Runner to the Southwest Chief, which runs Chicago to California. We were late upon arrival (about midnight) in Kansas City, but the Chief was held for us. Thankfully. Sleeping in a train coach is a real challenge, but still preferable to the hard benches in the Amtrak section of the magnificent (but not necessarily comfortable) Kansas City Union Station. On Thursday morning, I woke up to early light in the rolling plains of western Kansas and I parted the window curtains to start watching the passing sights. Grain elevators, dusty red roads, a man fixing a wheel, a German Shepherd lolling on cool concrete, water running full in an irrigation ditch. Then we were into the southeastern corner of Colorado, where the terrain changes again. We glided between low gray mesas dotted with scrub oak and mesquite. The sky was overcast with only occasional peeks of sunshine, so there weren't good v...

We were out of the gate, er, station, about an hour and a quarter late this afternoon (Wednesday) due to a brush fire and brake problems slowing the Missouri River Runner down on its run east to St. Louis before picking up a new batch of passengers and heading back west. Two heavy rain showers unloaded themselves on downtown St. Louis while we waited. I escaped outside for breaths of fresh air a few times during the wait, as there were nearby passengers with way too much Gain or Tide in their clothes plus some pesky strong-smelling floor-mopping going on. (Most of you know how chemically sensitive I am. That may be my next crusade – fragrance free areas. Wish me luck on that one.) While outside, I observed sheets of water coming over the side of the interstate sections high above every time a vehicle up there passed. An unsuspecting person wandering on out onto the sidewalk would have gotten a sudden and hard-hitting shower. The St. Louis Transportation Station – replacing the old fam...

Recently, I wrote a set of crime stories for the May issue of the Madison County (Illinois) Historical Society newsletter as their guest author for the second time. Meanwhile, a meme I'd seen circulating on Facebook kept trying to surface in my mind - something to the effect of, "We all have a chapter we don't want read aloud." Well, a serious crime has such a traumatic effect on the victim's life, and yes, also on the perpetrator's life, that it IS a chapter that one doesn't necessarily want read aloud. And then in sweeps the reporter...or the crime writer...and reads that chapter out loud. Because those are the chapters that are interesting, or show a moral to a story, they appeal to a wide audience. Last week the newsletter was printed and mailed to members. And hopefully, if you reside in or near the Madison County, Illinois, area, you are a historical society member and have received a copy of this issue. There'll be a stack of FREE ones given o...

Announcing the Illinois Route 66 Blue Carpet Corridor! And the theme, appropriate for our region's history between Springfield and the Mississippi River, is "Miners, Mobsters and the Mother Road!" The first annual Blue Carpet Corridor weekend is scheduled for the second weekend of June 2015. But you don't have to wait a whole year to experience events, activities, and great Route 66 destinations. Some communities, including Gillespie and Edwardsville, already have long-running festivals in June. And other towns along the Route 66 alignments are planning "preview" events for June 2014, so there will be lots to do along the Blue Carpet Corridor already th is year on the weekend of Friday-Saturday-Sunday, June 13-14-15. More to come on all of that in a forthcoming post. Close to a decade ago, the Red Carpet Corridor in the northern part of Illinois was begun. Well-known Route 66 preservationists/authors John and Lenore Weiss were firmly behind the effor...