Now this is funny. I don’t know whether these photos featured Friday on ComingSoon.net are legitimately from Pixar Animation Studios to add buzz for its upcoming Route 66-themed movie, “Cars,” or from someone who’s good with PhotoShop. I’d say the former seems likely.

Either way, the “photos” serve as a clever parody of car magazines like Car & Driver and Motor Trend that commonly feature “spy” photos of prototype vehicles being tested by auto manufacturers.

UPDATE: The pictures for a while didn’t show on the site for some reason, but everything seems OK now.

In another story today from the Bloomington Pantagraph, the Route 66 town of Atlanta, Ill. — already a swell little place to visit — is seeking more ways to preserve the town’s past, including forming a historic preservation commission.

“We want to figure out how we can do more for Route 66,” said local businessman Bill Thomas of Teleological Learning Company, a trustee of the Friends of the Atlanta Library and Museum. “This is not just for Atlanta, but for everyone along the road; it all works together. If we continue to make our attractions more attractive, people are then going to end up hitting other towns en route to Atlanta.” (my emphasis)

This is forward-looking. Not only does Atlanta realize that Route 66 tourism can help it, but it can help other towns. This isn’t altruism; this is good sense.

The town also seeks to restore the historic Downey Building so it can house the museum and free up its current space at the library. It’s hoped the Downey Building will be ready by 2008 — its 100th birthday.
And the citizens of Atlanta aren’t done there.

Martin also discussed a possible new historic preservation commission that would involve the various attractions, such as the J.H. Hawes Grain Elevator, library, museum and the now-closed coal mineshaft. The commission could pursue funding for further improvements.

“This would be our way to wrap our arms around everything going on here in Atlanta and would give us a way to package it all up for the public,” said Martin.

Thomas also discussed moving an old corn crib to the Hawes elevator site and converting it into a multimedia education center for the elevator. The project for this would cost around $25,000, and that money already has been raised from descendants of J.H. Hawes, Thomas said.

Future projects also discussed included improving the Route 66 park in downtown Atlanta and starting an Atlanta Dog Days festival on Memorial Day weekend.

The Route 66 town of Atlanta, Ill., is part of a Route 66 poster, reports the Bloomington Pantagraph.

The series of eight posters were designed by American impressionist artist R. Bolton Smith of Hilton Head Island, S.C. He captured the images of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California through a journey along the Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway last year with his wife, Joyce.

The Illinois poster features the Atlanta Library and Museum, which is on the National Register of Historical Places. Each poster depicts one location in each state along the highway.

“That poster just perfectly represents small-town America,” said John Weiss, a member of the Illinois Route 66 Association.

…

“I think Smith chose our library and museum as the feature for many reasons, one being because of the warm reception he got from everyone on his visit here,” said museum curator Lucille Pech, who met with Smith when he was on his tour of Route 66. “I think he was really made to feel welcome here. It had to be because of our hospitality.”

…

“If it wasn’t for Route 66, we may not have much tourism through our town at all,” she said.

The posters are $20 apiece. You can see each one with the links above. I think Atlanta was a good choice. To see why, check out its Web site.

I’d heard for several months about a British documentary about Texans who converted to Islam, including man who lives on Route 66.

I finally saw the documentary today. The man in question — a gun-toting, swaggering, American patriot — doesn’t live on historic U.S. 66, but on Texas Highway 66 in Caddo Mills, northeast of Dallas. So the filmmakers goofed or stretched the truth.

The 24-minute documentary can be viewed here (broadband is recommended). I thought the video was a tad condescending, especially with the Western-themed score. The film seems to exude a vibe of: “My God! There are Muslims in Texas!!!” The filmmakers apparently are ignorant that Texas is a huge, heavily populated state that’s as diverse as any.

I found it fascinating that many of the converted Muslims originally came from conservative Christian backgrounds. Oftentimes, it turns out that regular Christianity wasn’t conservative enough for them.

It was also interesting to hear the women, their faces and heads covered in traditional Muslim garb, talk to each other in that thick Lone Star drawl.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Jack Kerouac’s first draft of his famed book, “On the Road,” will be on display in the San Francisco Public Library for the next three months. A small part of the book supposedly took place on Route 66, although this has been disputed.

Here’s why the draft was on a scroll:

Kerouac wrote “On the Road,” during a 20-day amphetamine-fueled typing frenzy in April 1951. To keep the rhythm rolling, he fed the long and winding scroll into his typewriter to avoid changing paper and not disrupt the fast-paced, single-spaced story of two friends on the road to becoming iconic rebels by way of cross-country escapades, Mexican whorehouses and Frisco’s Skid Row.

That draft must’ve been hell on his editor.

Kerouac’s not my bag. I always was far more road-influenced by Michael Wallis’ “Route 66: The Mother Road” and William Least Heat-Moon’s “Blue Highways.”

Still, this book influenced many Americans to hit the open road and seek whatever adventures lurked around the bend. Route 66 became a beneficiary of this wanderlust.