A new Route 66 documentary, “Old-Fashioned Fun on Route 66,” contains familiar sights and sounds of the current Mother Road. But what’s remarkable about it is it also contains rare film footage from the road’s golden era.

In the 1940s and ’50s, Patricia and Judy Larry’s family had an 8mm motion-picture camera and used it. In the early part of the film, you see fairly typical family movies of the two young Larry sisters playing.

But it’s the footage — most of it in color — shot during road trips from their Illinois farm to Southern California that proves to be a mother lode for Mother Road aficionados. You see a two-lane Route 66 as it winds through the deserts and mountains of New Mexico and Arizona. You briefly see the back of a 7-Up truck with its “Freshen Up” logo. You see a white-coated waiter delivering food outside of what appears to be a restaurant that says “El Rancho Vegas” on its side. You see the exterior of a motel called the Palm Grove Inn. You see the Larry family cavorting on Southern California beaches uncluttered by development.

Patricia said her father started driving about 4 a.m. each day. He reasoned that if the taverns closed at 2 a.m., this would provide two hours for the drunks to “get home and get off the road.”

The Larrys typically made it from Illinois to the Pacific Ocean in 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 days. This is remarkable, especially since this was before the interstate and that cars were more likely to break down. Patricia says it wasn’t unusual for their car to have two flat tires during their cross-country trek. You even see Patricia’s father, in a three-piece suit, changing a whitewall by the side of the road.

Patricia also said that when the family entered Los Angeles, they could smell blossoms from the orange groves. Regrettably, this also is a bygone era, as virtually all of the orange groves in Los Angeles County have been supplanted by residential and commercial development.

Inspired by the vintage footage unearthed a few years ago, the two sisters decide to take a new trip on Route 66 with a documentary crew in tow. They see a cruise and the Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino. They see haunts that are familiar to Mother Road enthusiasts, including the Blue Whale, Teepee Curios, the Blue Swallow Motel and others. Route 66ers like Angel Delgadillo, Bob Waldmire and David Clark are briefly interviewed.

The new Route 66 footage is shown in a leisurely manner and isn’t as fascinating as the old stuff. That isn’t a criticism of the filmmakers. It’s just that the 8-mm footage is such a rare look at a bygone era that I found myself using the slow-motion and pause features on my DVD player to see the details. It make you wish you were in the car with the sisters’ dad.

It’s also worth checking out the DVD’s slideshow. It contains choice images of current-day Route 66.

You can buy the 60-minute DVD from this Web site for $19.95, plus shipping. “Old Fashioned Fun on Route 66″ director Tom Caudle of Permagrin also tells me the DVD will be sold in selected spots along the Mother Road.

The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is just off Route 66 and is the oldest museum in Los Angeles, dating to 1913. Some controlling interests want to move the museum’s contents to another site; American Indians and other museum advocates want the artifacts to stay where they are.

For more background on this complicated issue, read this and this.

Los Angeles Route 66 advocate Scott Piotrowski writes:

I encourage each and every one of you to send your letters of support to the following members of the Los Angeles City Council and to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, as well as to send copies to the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition. All the addresses are listed below …

Mayor Villaraigosa, 200 N. Spring St., Room 303, LA, CA, 90012. E-mail mayor@lacity.org

Councilmember Jose Huizar, 200 N. Spring St., Room 425 LA, CA 90012. E-mail is councilmember.huizar@lacity.org

Councilmember Ed Reyes, 200 N. Spring St., Room 410, LA, CA 90012. E-mail is councilmember.reyes@lacity.org

Councilmember Tom LaBonge, 200 N. Spring St., Room 480, LA, CA 90012. E-mail is Labonge@lacity.org

Human Relations Commission, Gary de la Rosa, 200 N. Spring St., Room 1625, LA, CA 90012. E-mail is gary.delarosa@lacity.org

Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition, 755 Crane Blvd., LA 90065. E-mail is swmcoalition@pacbell.net

UPDATE: There were some problems with the e-mail addresses. They’re OK now.

The story is roundabout and the headline is perhaps even inaccurate. But the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau is using the “Cars” movie as a hook to attract travelers to its sections of the Mother Road.

Other cities along Route 66, take note. This is a smart way to get people curious about your town.

Rick and Jane McKinney, the evangelical couple that walked about 1,500 miles on Route 66 during their cross-country Walk to Reclaim America, came to the end of their trek in Washington, D.C. They were greeted by about 30 people, mostly friends and family. They wore out 20 pairs of shoes during their walk.

Here is the AP story about the finish of their walk.

Here’s the story from the Washington Times. The McKinneys talked a lot about American values before their walk, but the trip itself opened their eyes.

“More important than all the cool landmarks and the awards were the American people, who are so awesome,” Mrs. McKinney said, her eyes filling up with tears. “We made it a point along the walk to help as many people as possible.”

“It’s amazing what you can do with a smile, a kind word, a little help or a hug — when appropriate,” Mr. McKinney said.

You can read more from the couple’s journal on the home page here, and they have these parting words:

During the next few weeks Jane and I will be speaking at some local churches about our walk and we’ll be spending a little time resting and relaxing. We also hope to start working on the book during the next few weeks. We will be traveling this fall until Thanksgiving and then we’re just not sure. We are hoping that enough invitations will come to enable us to travel during 2007 talking about our trip and also sharing the lessons that God has taught us during this awesome journey.

Please keep checking the website. We will be working on it over the next few weeks adding a picture album and sharing our plans for the future. We can not thank all of you enough for the prayers, financial support, and help during the walk. It meant the world to us and kept us going many days.