The death toll from wildfires that struck the Texas Panhandle has risen to 11, with two missing. The fires also have killed countless livestock, as recounted by this heartbreaking article from the Amarillo Globe-News (free registration required).

Davie Gipson, one of the volunteers at the Devils Rope Museum in McLean, told me on the phone Tuesday morning that the museum was open for regular hours despite “a lot of smoke all over the place” and a wildfire still raging south of town.

Delbert and Ruth Trew, who are Route 66 aficionados and volunteer at the museum, have a ranch in the fire line near McLean. I tried to call the Trews, but was unsuccessful. Gipson, however, told me the fires destroyed the Trews’ art gallery and woodshop, but their home survived.

“If they hadn’t stayed and fought the fire, they would have lost everything,” Gipson said. “They were real lucky.”

Becky Ransom of the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo told me the Trews had no electricity and “sounded tired” from fighting the fires. There’s no word on whether Bull Canyon, a mini-town built by the Trews for family reunions and other events, survived the infernos, she said.

Gipson told me that area ranchers were forced to put down cattle and horses that were badly burned in the wildfires.

“That’s bad when the guys have to shoot one of their own horses,” Gipson said. “It’s like shooting one of your own family.”

Gipson said the historic Super 66 Texas gas station near Alanreed was untouched by fire, as was the Big Cross near Groom. However, winds are expected to pick up again Wednesday, increasing the fire danger yet again.

“I’ve been here 75 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Gipson said.

Here’s a story about the creation of the “Route 66 Greatest Hits Map” by Dave Brackney and photographer Todd Masinter. The map pays tribute to the 80th anniversary of Route 66, according to the Pasadena Star-News.

“The face we are putting forward here is not the face of one-size-fits-all corporate America, with Targets, Wal-Marts and McDonald’s,” said Brackney, 46, who set out last May with Masinter to document the current state of the 2,448-mile Route 66.

“This is the America of John Wayne, lonely cafes, Lucy and Desi and swimming holes,” Brackney added.

The pair left from Chicago in May, riding in a 2005 Ford Mustang and taking 20 days to reach Route 66’s terminus in Santa Monica.

Like Delgadillo, other interesting Route 66 denizens included Harley and Annabelle

Russell of Erick, Okla., who bill themselves as the Mediocre Music Makers, and Donna Fenton, a very friendly waitress who served Brackney stacks of flapjacks and bacon and eggs at Lou Mitchell’s Restaurant in Chicago.

Her smiling face, along with plates of food, adorns the map’s colorful cover.

“I remember the waitress calling us `darlin,’ `hon’ and `babe,”‘ he said. “After the deep-dish pizza in Chicago the night before and that breakfast, I felt like I needed to go to confession afterward.”

Several spots along the route are featured for the first time on the map: Sandhills Curiosity Shop, the Galena Museum and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, among others.

The map is available at AAA offices.