About 700 participate in Arizona’s Fun Run May 7, 2006
Posted by Ron in Attractions, Events, Road trips, Route 66 Associations, Vehicles.1 comment so far
So much for high gas prices.
The Kingman (Ariz.) Daily Miner reports that about 700 vehicles participated in the Arizona Route 66 Association's 19th annual Fun Run.
I don't know whether that's a record, but such healthy participation indicates that people are willing to get their kicks, high pump prices or not.
Yikes! May 7, 2006
Posted by Ron in Events.add a comment
Here's a headline that will send a shiver:
"Fatal truck accident involves radioactive waste materials"
According to KPNX-TV in Phoenix, the accident happened on Interstate 40 in western Arizona and has forced traffic onto old Route 66 between Seligman and Ash Fork.
Arizona Dept. of Public Safety Officer Tim Mason says two tractor-trailer rigs collided near milepost 131 in Yavapai County just after 7:30 Sunday morning. One of the trucks was a flatbed carrying containers of tools and clothing that had been used in nuclear environments. The cargo was being taken to a radioactive waste disposal facility.
The driver of the truck, 25-year-old Tim Harig, was flow to Kingman Regional Medical Center with serious injuries. His passenger, 55-year-old Jasper Brown, was in the sleeping compartment at the time of the crash and was pronounced dead on the scene. Mason did not know the men’s hometowns.
A DPS hazardous materials team has established a 25-foot perimeter around the truck and is awaiting the arrival of a crew from the Arizona Radiation Agency. Mason says crews cannot move the truck or unload its cargo until experts assess the best ways to handle the nuclear waste products (my emphasis).
Westbound traffic has been unaffected by the accident and clean-up. Mason says the eastbound roadway could remain closed until Monday morning.
Hope nobody in the area has a "warm glow." In the meantime, the Snow-Cap in Seligman had better be ready to serve more chiliburgers, burritos and "dead chicken" in the meantime.
UPDATE: This AP story says the eastbound lanes of I-40 were reopened by Sunday evening.
Here’s to roadside kitsch May 7, 2006
Posted by Ron in Attractions, Road trips.add a comment
Columnist Tom Wharton of the Salt Lake Tribune expresses his fondness for the weird and wacky in roadside attractions:
I love everything about driving the older parts of Route 66, especially some of the classic old motels still standing in places including Flagstaff, Ariz., and Gallup, N.M. Besides, where else can you stay these days for $17.95 a night, cable included?
The saddest thing about the modernization of America is that such treasures have been lost to interstate franchises. In our rush to drive faster and see more, why is it that too often we see less?
You want fries with that? May 7, 2006
Posted by Ron in Restaurants.add a comment
Charlotte Observer columnist Jeff Elder's "Glad You Asked" feature asks the question of where the first drive-through windows originated.
Although the answer isn't definitive, the first bank drive-through was in Dallas in 1938. For restaurants, the first drive-through is claimed on Route 66:
Some say Sheldon "Red" Chaney — a man of true genius — dreamed this up. In 1947 he opened Red's Giant Hamburgs on Route 66 in Springfield, Mo.
Why'd he call it Red's giant Hamburgs? Supposedly he measured the sign wrong and ran outta room. Genius.
At Red's, you drove up to the window and yelled your order into it. Genius.
Inside, the ceiling was painted blue and the floors painted green, so people who dined in would feel like they were on a picnic. Genius.
Regrettably, Red's Giant Hamburg has been gone for at least 15 years.
The first drive-through speaker box is linked to the In-n-Out regional burger chain in Los Angeles County, which also has plenty of Route 66 history.
Summerfest, where the living is easy May 7, 2006
Posted by Ron in Events.add a comment
The Rolla Daily News has just about everything you want to know about the Route 66 Summerfest in Rolla, Mo., on June 1-4. Check it out.
The festival's official Web site is here.
