Road warrior and author Tim Steil directed me to this long but fascinating New Yorker story about the development of road maps and future possible developments in navigation. There's no Route 66 content, but roadies almost certainly will find it interesting — and relevent to their travels.

The Carthage Press has an interesting story about Bob Boots, who now lives in Tulsa, returning to his former Route 66 motel and hometown of Carthage, Mo., for the first time in years.

Boots returned for the purpose of telling his memories for a Route 66 oral history project.

Boots' father, Arthur Boots, built the motel in Carthage in the 1930s.

“It brings back memories to see that office of the Boots Motel,” Boots said. “We used to rent rooms for $2.50 and people would still come and say, ‘$2.50, $2.50, I just want to stay a night, not a week.' They were so indignant.”

…

As for Boots, his trip was as much for himself as for history, perhaps a final visit to the town he grew up in and thinks of warmly and a long look at a world that still exists if only in his mind.

“It was a place that needed to be when it happened,” Boots said. “The Boots Motel and the Boots Drive-In, it was like it was meant to be. Carthage has changed drastically. The old part of town is a lot the same, but everything else has changed. It's grown a lot down on this end.

The Boots Motel still stands, but at last report it's no longer operating as a motel.

The Boots Motel came close to being knocked down several years ago when its then-owner, citing poor health, sold it to a local developer. There was speculation that the motel then would have been razed to make way for a Walgreens store. But outcry from the Route 66 Association of Missouri, Friends of the Mother Road and other Route 66 preservationists apparently scared off the developers.

The White House's Web site now has photos and other material from the Preserve America Presidential Awards on Monday. Hampton Inns was one of the award winners for its work on Route 66 and other historical sites.

Here is the White House's story. Here is the Webcast of the event.

Here is a White House photo of Hampton Inns receiving its award. I couldn't find anything with Jim Conkle in it, regrettably.

President Bush and Laura Bush present the Preserve America award for private preservation to Judy Christa-Cathey, vice president-brand management, and Scott Douglas Schrank, vice president-brand performance and support, both of Hampton Inns' nationwide Save-A-Landmark program, in the Oval Office on Monday. (White House photo by Eric Draper.)

The “Cars” movie Web site has provided Route 66 aficionados another way to look at the fictional town of Radiator Springs.

In the showroom that contains the film’s major characters, you can download portraits of them. Many of the portraits also contain images of the businesses the characters own.

For instance:

Ramone’s body art business strongly resembles the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas.

Here is Sarge’s Army surplus store. To me, his neon sign looks like the one from the now-defunct Howard Litch Garage in Galena, Kan.

Here is Flo with her Flo’s V-8 Diner. The top of the restaurant resembles a car air filter.

Here’s Doc Hudson’s office, which has nice art deco touches.

Here’s Luigi and his tire business.

Here’s Guido, who’s a sidekick to Luigi.

UPDATE: For a more detailed look at the real-life Route 66 inspirations to “Cars,” go here.

Tom Snyders, aka the Bicycling Comedian, informed the Route 66 yahoogroup today that he will embark on a Route 66 tour, starting Aug. 28 from Chicago and will run through October.

Here's what he said:

My performance is a unique, clean, one-man show that lasts approximately one hour. In addition to stand-up comedy about my adventures on America's back roads, the performance also features slides of funny road signs. National Lampoon used 200 of my photos in their new book, "National Lampoon's Big Book of True Facts." The performance works best in an indoor theater.

I am looking to set up shows at collages, high schools, bike events, comedy clubs, Route 66 events and small town community halls or theaters. Any Route 66 or other groups that want to help set up performances along the way, but don't have a budget, will be rewarded with a percentage of the ticket sales. I hope to keep the price of the shows reasonable and to help get some publicity to promote the 80th anniversary of Route 66. I have excellent references. Please contact me … with questions or ideas.

He's a serious bicycling comedian, too. According to his Web site, he passed the 100,000-mile mark on his cycling back in 2000.

Snyders can be contacted here. 

AutoWeek magazine is giving "the inside track" of its May 29 issue to the upcoming Pixar movie, "Cars."

According to the news release:

" … This is the complete insider's guide that car guys must have before they take their kids and grandkids to see this epic animated family-friendly motion picture. We received access to this movie and to the creative geniuses behind it, and we are not going to skimp on bringing it to life. This will definitely be a keepsake issue," said Dutch Mandel, editor and associate publisher of AutoWeek. 

… 

The special AutoWeek "Cars" issue will include:

• Special cover art created by Pixar Animation Studios
• The making of "Cars" — Where did the idea come from? Who is the genius behind the story? What's next?
• The four key people in the "Cars" family and how they go about making movies.
• Lightning McQueen "interview." The cars are the stars of this movie, and each has his/her own personality!
• Racer's Edge: The juicy details that a car guy cannot miss.

This issue is available only to AutoWeek subscribers. Subscribe today to be sure to receive this special issue by visiting http://www.AutoWeek.com and click on "subscribe."

Megan Edwards, editor of RoadTripAmerica.com, provides her five features of a fantastic roadtrip to MSNBC.com.

Being an experienced road-tripper myself, I find her advice is well-informed. Take heed.

So what bumper stickers are plastered all over Fillmore, the hippie VW van portrayed by George Carlin in the upcoming Pixar movie, "Cars"?

With the help of Red Fork Hippie Chick and a magnifying glass, we discerned at least 75 bumper stickers on Fillmore from an illustration in "The Art of Cars" book and a detailed Fillmore toy that recently hit stores.

Here are all the bumper stickers on Fillmore:

• “Recycle Your Oil”
• Three “Flo’s V-8 Café” stickers
• “Free Mother Road”
• “Groovy and Love
• “Portland Concrete on My Mind”
• “Please Recycle”
• “No Interstate”
• “Go Natural, Drink Organic Fuels”
• “Certified Organic Oil”
• “Home Sweet Road”
• “I’m an Eco-Bus”
• Six “Peace” signs
• “Stop the Superslab”
• “Your Mother Road Loves You”
• A flower
• A heart with 66 in it
• Oval RS
• “Ornament Valley”
• “Open Road U.”
• A rainbow
• “Peace on the Open Road”
• A rainbow butterfly
• Recycling emblem
• A Route 66 shield
• “Turn On to Recycling”
• “Life Begins at the Offramp”
• “My Inner Car is Electric”
• A sticker that has a 66 shield on it with a tire track over that says “Tread on Me”
• “Recycling: It’s a Gas”
• “Save Mother Road”
• “Flower Power”
• “I (heart) Recycled Oil”
• “Drink Organic Oil”
• “Free Mother Road”
• “Question Interstate”
• Recycling symbol with “Take a Drive on the Wild Side”
• “100% Organic Fool”
• “Fillmore Organic Fuels”
• Recycling emblem
• “Pardon My Backfire, I Eat Veggie Fuels”
• “Save 2-D Animation”
• “One Way” (recycling symbol)
• “Interstate” inside a stop sign
• “I Brake for Jackalopes”
• “Support Organic Refiners”
• “I (heart) 2 Recycle”
• “Recycle Your Oil” with a yin-yang symbol
• An oil derrick with a slash through it
• “It’s Not Nice to Fool Mother Road”
• “100% Organic”
• A bigger 66 shield and a heart
• “Got Solar?”
• “Oil” with a recycling symbol in the “O”
• “Born to Recycle”
• “I (heart) Recycled Oil”
• “Certified Organic Oil”
• “Go Natural – Drink Organic Fuels”
• A sun with a recycling symbol in the center
• A flower
• “Drink Organic Oil” with flower in it
• “100 Percent Organic Oil”
• “Interstate” with a slash through it
• 66 shield with a rainbow
• 51237 is the license plate, which is George Carlin’s date of birth

Red Fork Hippie Chick here, dashing off a quick report on the latest Cars schwag to hit the shelves. I bought my first Sheriff of Radiator Springs toy today — a cute little Hot Wheels-type diecast.

I also picked up a Fillmore; a Sally the Porsche; cups featuring Lightning McQueen, Mater, and Doc Hudson; a package of stickers featuring Lightning, Mater, Doc, and Sally; and these weird suckers that have an LED and magnifying lens in the bottom that project an image of Sally onto the ceiling.

I saw (but did not buy) tons of other goodies, including party favors (Lightning blowouts, little “oil cans” that squirt water, and little air-powered Lightning racecars); gift bags in three sizes (instead of regular silky nylon rope-style handles, the little one features black ribbon handles with a white dashed line down the middle to look like the road); stuffed Maters, Lightnings and Sallys that talk when you slam ‘em down on a table; a large talking Mater of some sort; several more Hot Wheels-type cars, featuring other characters; a pair of toddler-sized surf socks with Lightning McQueen on them; and various other fun stuff.

I’m heading out to the grocery store in a little while to see if I can rustle up any boxes of cereal with Cars toys in them.

– Red Fork Hippie Chick