The Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader reports that the nearby Route 66 town of Stafford has stated that it want to make its city cleaner and more presentable for visitors.

But an alderman John Vicat suggested that the city take its own advice. He said the city needs to renovate and clean up its maintenance facility on the east edge of town on Route 66.

"If you are coming into the community on the interstate from the east, that is the first thing you see and the first representative of Strafford," Vicat said.

Ouch.

The Joliet (Ill.) Herald-News has a story about the city trying to take advantage of the burgeoning Route 66 tourism in its town.

As reported last week, the old Rich & Creamy ice cream shop apparently is going to be one of the anchors in the city's efforts. The article also has a photo of the shop.

City leaders have proposed restoring Rich & Creamy back to the retro appearance from its heyday as part of a larger plan by area officials to brand Joliet as the place for tourists to begin their journey along The Mother Road.

"We want to be the gateway to Route 66 on the east end of Route 66," said Don Fisher, Joliet's planning director.

Although many local residents may not know or care that Broadway and Ottawa Street are part of the famous road, visitors from other parts of the country and world have taken notice.

Businesses already have received patrons from other countries who visited Joliet as they traveled along the route, said Tom Mahalik, vice president of Joliet's City Center Partnership that markets downtown Joliet.

"They think of Route 66 as that quintessential American experience," said Susan English, director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum, which operates the Route 66 Welcome Center.

With the knowledge that Joliet could promote an existing asset, a special Route 66 committee was formed in 2005 with members from the city, city center partnership, the Joliet City Visitor's Bureau, the museum and the Illinois Route 66 Authority.

"The Route 66 (market) is a huge niche market that we want to tap into," said Rebecca Lantka, marketing and communications manager at the Joliet Visitor's Bureau.

It startles me that Joliet took so long to recognize this potential. Better late than never. 

The Upcoming Pixar site came up with a nice scoop today. Kinoo from a French site, Pixar's Room, has photos from when the Pixar crew was doing research on Route 66 for its upcoming "Cars" film a few years ago.

On the site, you can see:

• Pixar's Joe Ranft getting a haircut from Route 66 advocate Angel Delgadillo in Seligman, Ariz. Angel also is regaling the crew with his stories from the road.
• A visit to the Round Barn of Arcadia, Okla., and its caretaker, Butch.
• A couple shots from the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo.
• The Pixar crew, including "Cars" director John Lasseter, visiting Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo. The Cadillac Ranch was an inspiration for the mountain range behind Radiator Springs.

I also went to AltaVista Babel Fish to translate the French text at the top of the page into English:

In 2001, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, producing Darla Anderson, creators of the decorations Bob Pauley and Bill Cone, and several other key members of the production line team went to Oklahoma City. From there, they left in four Cadillac white for a voyage nine days on Road 66. The historian and writer Michael Wallis directed this small forwarding, their made discover the places and introduced people who make this road so special. With each stage of the way, the team initially observed the "patina" of the cities, and the richness of textures and the colors. They studied publicities painted on the sides of the buildings, passed by the bad weather or partly covered. They observed the rock formations and the clouds, the vegetation, all that makes the universe of these small cities to the variation of the main roads.

Here the result of this voyage of research in photographs, you will be able to have fun to discover from which the rich person details come whom the film at the time of your scéance to the cinema comprises.

I'm sure a few of the photos will re-appear with the special summer issue of Route 66 Magazine next month. 

Yahoo! Movies has it.

CanMag says this about it:

The second trailer for Cars reminds me a whole lot of the first, but this time Disney is willing to show off a bit more of the other characters we can expect to see in the movie. And, like the two previous trailers, the latest preview of Cars shows off all the latest advancements in CG animation.

Yep. 

The Joplin Globe has a good editorial about Route 66. Go read it.

A news release Wednesday by McDonald's announced that the fast-food chain would offer a collection of eight "highly detailed cars" from the Pixar "Cars" movie in kids' meals beginning June 9, the date of the film's wide release. The toys will be offered in Happy Meals until July 6.