I got an e-mail from a couple of Swedes who are driving Route 66 this month and September in a sweet-looking 1965 Volvo PV convertible.

Their blog is here. It is in Swedish, but I found an OK online translator here. Just paste the URL into the Web page translation box, ask it to translate from Swedish to English, and away you go.

I’m uncertain what their itinerary is. So keep your eyes peeled for a red Volvo hot rod if you’re driving on the Mother Road in the next few weeks.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation has scanned and put online its archive of state highway maps, dating from 1873 to the present day.

These Acrobat files also contain detailed layouts of bigger cities and scenes from the road. Roadologists will find a lot of useful material here.

For instance, the 1926 map’s roads are mostly unmarked. But the 1927 map, which was printed shortly after the numbered system for U.S. highways was established, shows Route 66, which also was known as Highway 7 from the Kansas line to Oklahoma City.

(Hat tip to Batesline.com.)

Here’s a little fun for you roadies from YouTube:

The Texas Department of Transportation announced it is installing wireless Internet access to all rest stops in the state, including the one in the Texas Panhandle that pays homage to Route 66, reports KXAN-TV in Austin.
RoadConnect.net is the firm installing the wi-fi.

“We’ve installed wireless internet service at 102 rest areas in Texas,” said Jamison Stewart, co-founder of RoadConnect.net, “and we’ve built a website that people can log onto and get information about local community and tourism.”

TripAdviser.com named its top 10 quirkiest motels from around the world. A Route 66 establishment made the final cut:

7. Chief Light-Wallet: Wigwam Motel, Holbrook, Arizona

Operating along the historic U.S. Route 66, the Wigwams are actually teepee-style, cement tents. The bargain motel features the authentic feel of a 50s desert town — from the furniture, to the vintage cars in the parking lot, to the sounds of the old locomotive passing through town. The rates are also a blast from the past — the average room costs about $45 a night. According to one TripAdvisor traveler, “By the way, the rate is for real … the youngest son of the builder commented to me that they don’t make money operating the motel, they do it ‘as a sort of public service.’” Cash and credit only, wampum not accepted.

There also are Wigwams in Rialto, Calif., and Cave City, Ky. But I guess Holbrook’s got the nod for its combination of antique cars and the reasonable room rates.

During the weekend, “Cars” moved into the No. 2 slot this year in domestic box office receipts with a total of $234 million, according to Box Office Mojo. It edged out “X-Men: The Last Stand” for the runner-up spot.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” is the runaway winner in the domestic box office this year, with $358 million and still going strong.

“Cars” is rapidly approaching the $100 million mark in foreign grosses. That will go much higher, as many European markets received the film just days ago, and “Cars” still hasn’t opened in several other countries yet.

UPDATE: URL on “Cars” movie site is fixed.

Ed Bradley of the Flint (Mich.) Journal, inspired by the movie “Cars,” decided to take Route 66 on the way to the Grand Canyon. Here’s his report.

Route 66 through Fontana, Calif., has one of the biggest clusters of vintage motels in Southern California. According to an article Sunday by the Press Enterprise, about a dozen independently owned motels still stand along a stretch of Foothill Boulevard.

“There are your cities along 66 that have motels left, but I don’t think anything compares to Fontana,” said Scott Piotrowski, a preservationist who runs a production company devoted to documenting historic roads in America through film, books, and photography. “They’re fortunate that they haven’t had a lot demolished.”

Fontana city leaders hope to rebuild their long neglected portions of 66, but the area with the oldest motels sits on unincorporated county land with no redevelopment plans in sight.

Most of these motels are scraping by, and it’s doubtful many of them will survive in the coming years, even with no redevelopment imminent. But the story offers a ray of hope for at least one establishment.

Under the management of Maggie Marin, La Villa has tried hard to make itself a place unwelcome to seedy characters. The bright red-and-blue rooms recently got a paint job, and flowers grow in the dirt outside the main office.

Harley Russell, during the course of his entertaining and sometimes eccentric Mediocre Music Makers shows with wife Annabelle, will tell his audience, “Welcome to Erick, Oklahoma, the Redneck Capital of the World.”

But the Oklahoman newspaper, in a lighthearted article, reports that East Dublin, Ga., was bestowed the “redneck capital” title by the “Jeopardy” game show. Looking over this Web site and this one, that is tough evidence to refute.

The Oklahoman says:

Conclusion: The Russells have done their best to make Erick synonymous with rednecks, but East Dublin’s games edge Oklahoma out. Besides, it’s hard to argue with Alex Trebek.

Erick is not the redneck capital of the world.

Oh, well. The mistake was that the Oklahoman took Harley seriously, when Harley himself doesn’t.

Perhaps growing impatient at the slow progress of a Mickey Mantle Museum in his Route 66 hometown of Commerce, Oka., Joplin Globe guest columnist Scott Haar makes a pitch for putting the Mick museum in nearby Joplin, Mo., instead.

I’m not persuaded by Maar’s argument. I’d rather have the museum in Mantle’s actual home state than a neighboring one. Mantle is the greatest baseball player Oklahoma has ever produced, and that’s not small praise when you consider the Sooner State also boasts Johnny Bench, Willie Stargell, and Paul and Lloyd Waner — all of them Hall-of-Famers. I once did a listing of baseball players by state, and Oklahoma’s would be as good as any.

The Mantle museum also would be greatly beneficial to the struggling town of Commerce. Joplin is a thriving community and will be for the foreseeable future. Commerce needs the museum more.

The good folks at Route 66 TV Online tell us about two 25-minute films about Route 66 in southwest Missouri and Kansas filmed by Passport America, which is a site geared to RV users.

If you don’t mind sitting through the obligatory RV plugs, the videos are pretty good. They contain stories about the Joplin Museum Complex, Bonnie & Clyde’s hideout in Joplin, the Solar Car Challenge, Precious Moments Chapel, Eisler Bros. Store, the Riverton Arch Bridge and more. You can watch the videos here.

I should add that Route 66 TV Online has an excellent map of Route 66 through the Joplin area. Driving through this region can be confusing, so this map is welcome.

The historic El Rancho Motel on Route 66 in Barstow, Calif., caught fire late Friday night, reports the town’s Desert Dispatch.

There were no injuries to residents, although a firefighter suffered an ankle injury. The extent of the damage to the motel remains a bit sketchy. However, the Dispatch’s report indicates the roof collapsed on part of at least one wing of the motel.

The Dispatch promises more extensive coverage in its Sunday editions.

A vintage image of the motel can be seen here.

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Deb Hodkin, curator for the Barstow Route 66 Mother Road Museum, just a few blocks from El Rancho. Her husband Ken went to the fire scene, and he reports that the blaze was contained in a rear west portion of the motel — the same area that sustained a damaging fire about a year ago. This part of the motel cannot be seen from Route 66. The rest of the motel complex is fine. However, it appears the fire-damaged portion may have to be torn down.

UPDATE2: Ken Hodkin supplied me these photos of the fire damage at the motel:

UPDATE3: An updated story by the Desert Dispatch says the fire was likely caused by electrical problems.

The OUDaily.com reports:

A romantic comedy centering on the chance encounter between a Greek and a Native American will begin filming this fall in Oklahoma.

The film, called “Route 66,” was written by Andrew Horton, the director of the Film and Video Studies program at OU. [...]
The film is about Panos, a Greek soap opera star fulfilling his dying father’s dream to journey to America and ride down Route 66 on a motorcycle. During his road trip, he meets Shayla, a Sac and Fox Indian whose dream is to tell Native American legends to the world. The Greek actor Renos Haralambidis will play Panos, and an unannounced Native American actress will play Shayla.

The film takes place along historic Route 66 and many landmarks on its Oklahoma stretch will be featured. Although the rural setting and small towns are far removed from the white marble of Greece, the film shows how similar two culturally different people can be.

“I think that no matter how different you are, you can get along and you can fall in love and you can go down Route 66 and learn how to dance at the pow-wow,” Horton said. [...]

“We plan to shoot in September in Oklahoma and one week in Greece in October,” Horton said.

“We hope to have the film ready for theaters and for festivals next year, particularly for the Sundance Film Festival.”

Jill Simpson, the director of the Oklahoma Film and Music Office, said “Route 66” will have a 21-day shoot, and filming is expected to start around September 4. Her office provides resources, location scouting, and helps films in Oklahoma with clearances and permitting.

“I know they’re going to try to hire some Oklahomans and do some local casting,” Simpson said.

Award-winning filmmaker Lauren Cardillo always wanted to do a documentary about Route 66, but was having trouble thinking of an original angle in which to shoot it.

Then she realized that her mother, Irene, was born in 1926 — the same year the Mother Road was certified. So mother and daughter hit the road together.

The result of that trip is the documentary “The Mother Road,” which is set to air on PBS television stations in August. To find the station in your area, go to the PBS station finder here. From there, you should be able to find broadcast times and dates. I’ve also had good luck finding listings with the TV Guide Web site.

According to the news release about the documentary:

A role reversal on the traditional family road trip, the mother-daughter team hit all the tourist sites, but also chatter along the way, as women do, about the issues of aging in today’s world. They also reflect on the many parallels between the Mother Road and Irene’s journey through life — the pot holes, the unexpected dips and turns, the exciting side trips — and reflect on the memories that made the journey worthwhile. Like most mothers and daughters, Irene and Lauren, both native New Yorkers, enjoy a feisty relationship where nothing is held back and every grudge remembered! [...]

The film also tells the behind-the-scenes story that Cardillo and many other baby boomers face each and every day: dealing with aging parents as they themselves are entering middle age. In Cardillo’s case, she chose to position her own mother-daughter journey through life against the backdrop of a national treasure that has, like the boomer generation, stood the test of time.

And here are some of the places where Lauren and Irene stopped:

Among the places featured in the documentary are the start of Route 66 in Chicago; Ted Drewes’ ice cream stand and the Red Cedar Inn in Missouri;, the Ribbon Road, the Blue Whale and the Coleman Theatre in Oklahoma; the Cadillac Ranch in Texas; Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Jack Rabbit Trading Post, Oatman and the Grand Canyon in Arizona; and the end of the pavement on the California Coast in Santa Monica.

It sounds really promising. I’ll be able to watch the documentary this weekend. I’ll report back later.

The historic Bent Door along old Route 66 in Adrian, Texas, has been closed for years. However, a couple purchased the property on July 21, and they say they’re committed to reopening it as a diner / malt shop again.

Linda Drake of the Oldham County Chamber of Commerce helped put me in touch with new owners Roy and Ramona Kiewert of Nacogdoches, Texas. The Kiewerts e-mailed me on what they plan to do with it.

Our plans for the Bent Door will be a 1950s diner/ malt shop on the southeast corner with a patio out back for outside dining, with a transportation theme combined with the history of the Bent Door.

The souvenirs and groceries will be located on the front west end of the building.

The garage area, when completed, will house some history about the transportation use of Route 66 — from the dirt trail that once was to the Mother Road to what it is today. [...]

The World War II control tower area will contain Texas tourist information. We are hoping to encourage the Interstate 40 travelers into Adrian, Texas, there to boost the economy of all the businesses in town.

The Kiewerts told me they are planning on June 1, 2007, as the Bent Door’s opening day. A grand opening would be scheduled later that summer.

The Kiewerts also said they would start a Web site about the Bent Door, and would keep us apprised on the progress of renovations. So stay tuned.

History online of the Bent Door is scant. I found this on, of all things, on a Web site for a Best Western hotel in nearby Vega:

The Bent Door was a unique 24-hour Route 66 cafe, souvenir shop and gas station. Never officially named the “Bent Door Cafe”, it came to be called that because of the doors and windows that were purchased from an Army Air Force Base after WWII where they had served as part of the control tower. It was a bustling business during the hey-day of Route 66 and has many heart-warming stories. Even as it stands vacant, many people stop to reminisce and take pictures of the building.

(Photo of the Bent Door from the Oldham County Chamber of Commerce.)

A work day has been set to help owner Alan McNeil rehab the long-shuttered Triangle Motel in Amarillo, Texas.

The work day is Saturday, Aug. 19, with work beginning between 7 and 7:30 a.m. You’ll not only be doing a good deed, but you’ll be able to see a historic property up close. The motel is at 7954 Amarillo Blvd.

I won’t make it because of my work schedule, but I know that at least one member of Friends of the Mother Road will attend. I’m certain a few folks from the Texas Old Route 66 Association will be there, too. But the work day is open to anyone who wants to lend a hand.

For more about renovating the Triangle, go here. You can also read Route 66 News archives about the motel here.

An enticing coffee-table book about Oklahoma’s Route 66 was recently published by New Forums Press. It’s “Once Upon a Highway: Route 66 in Oklahoma” by Oklahoma State University architecture instructor John Womack.

Womack’s book contains more than 150 of his detailed pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations of Route 66 sights in the Sooner State. Womack’s illustration of the Blue Whale of Catoosa is shown above, and the old Dairy Ranch in Afton is seen below. More illustrations can be seen here.

On his Web site, Womack explains the book’s genesis:

Womack’s Route 66 project began in the fall of 2000 as a reaction to his deep interest in Oklahoma architecture. “As an architect I was of course interested in Oklahoma buildings and I had become quite impressed with the quality of design and construction of many these structures. Many towns in Oklahoma have a number of architectural ‘gems’ and I became interested in how I might record some of these in order to shed some light on the cultural and historical value such structures have for the people of Oklahoma and elsewhere. As I looked for a general theme or concept for such a study, the idea of doing something involving Route 66 gradually developed. I discovered that Route 66 provided a unique way of linking together so many sights and places in Oklahoma — from the eastern to western edge of the state, and I quickly became hooked on the subject — I loved it!”

Over the next five years Womack traveled the entire Oklahoma section of Route 66, recording various buildings and other structures in photographs, notes, and sketches. Several of the scenes illustrated in the book no longer exist. “I was amazed, and disappointed, to see how fast certain sights were disappearing on the old highway. In some instances it was literally ‘here today, gone tomorrow.” he says. As a result, Womack’s work has become a unique historical record of Route 66 in Oklahoma, and Once Upon a Highway has been endorsed by Oklahoma’s State Office of Historical Preservation and the Oklahoma Centennial Commission.

“Once Upon a Highway” lists for $33.25. It can be ordered here.

The Stonebridge Golf Club recently opened in Claremore, Okla., at the intersection of Oklahoma 266 and old Route 66, reports WorldGolf.com. Award-winner Randy Heckenkemper designed the 6,510-yard course, and it’s managed by Billy Casper Golf.

Here’s the golf club’s Web site.

The Tulsa area already is blessed with superb courses. Southern Hills Country Club has hosted a bunch of major championships, and LaFortune Park Golf Course also is highly praised.

Voice of America reports:

Surveys show that half of all Americans still prefer the car for summertime vacation travel — instead of a plane, bus, or train — despite rising gasoline prices. There appears to be a resurgent nostalgia for the great American road trip, a motorized odyssey that’s long been part of the popular culture.

The article goes on to interview Robert Sullivan, who wrote the recent road-trip book “Cross Country,” discusses Jack Keroac’s classic “On the Road,” and, lastly, makes a stop at the “America On the Move” exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Washington actress Hilary Kacser plays a role in the exhibit, “a living history character,” she says.

“Flossie Haggard. Flossie and her family — like so many — migrated from Oklahoma to California [during the economic Depression of the 1930’s] on Route 66 and had all kinds of opportunities — economic, social, cultural — because of what the road did. It gave regular folks a chance to come and go as they wanted. She [Flossie] says, ‘We were like a new community of automobile travelers — Flossie Haggard and her family — on the road.’ She said that ‘traveling like that gave you the opportunity to meet people you’d never run into in your hometown.’”

Flossie Haggard was the mother of Merle Haggard. Yes, that Merle Haggard.

The Museum of Neon Art in Los Angeles conducts weekly nighttime tours of neon lighting in the area, including along old Route 66, using a double-decker bus.

Cindy Chang tagged along on a tour for the Los Angeles Times.

To get a taste, go to the museum’s Web site, click on the button for the tour information, and then click on a 20-second animated “tour.”