• An anonymous poster on LiveJournal puts up a few black-and-white photographs of the rapidly decaying Shalimar Inn on Route 66 in Gallup, N.M., which probably will see the wrecking ball soon.
• Jabopper and Fajzha continue their motorcycle tour of Route 66 through Illinois and a part of Missouri.
• Roger Kramer’s Favorite Cycling Tours reports that there now are cue sheets for cyclers wanting to ride the Route 66 Trail in Illinois. Maps can be found here.
• Jimmy D at Slightly Out of Focus posts photos from the Route 66 Rendezvous. As expected, it includes lot of neat cars. But I could have done without the guy who shaved “66″ on his back. Ewww …
• Anthony Ross at of the Anthony Ross Studio Blog explains his uncannily realistic painting of the 66 Motel in Needles, Calif.

The Country Dove Gifts and Tea Room along Route 66 in Elk City, Okla., is known far and wide for its French silk pie. The Daily Oklahoman went there to investigate.

The owners did reveal a few things about the pie:

“The French silk pie recipe is from a cookbook, I think it was originally from an Arkansas tearoom,” said Kay Farmer, co-owner of the Country Dove. “My mother-in-law adapted the pie recipe for us. She came up with the nut crust,” she said.

When Farmer and her partner, Glenna Hollis, opened the Country Dove in 1988, Farmer had never baked a pie in her life. Today, she is constantly making piecrusts to fill to meet the customer demand.

But don’t expect the Country Dove to fulfill requests for the recipe. They are keeping it to themselves — at least while the restaurant remains open.

The Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader, in a preview to tonight’s and Sunday’s airing of a locally produced PBS program about Route 66 in Missouri, tells about the Mother Road’s important history in Springfield. There’s a lot of good information there.

I’m not a big cars person. Growing up on a farm, it was necessary to know how they work and what to do if something went haywire. But I never cared much about vehicles except ensuring that they got from Point A to Point B.

So I was struck by how much I enjoyed Christopher and Linda Lewis’ latest Route 66 documentary, “Cars on Route 66,” which was released a few weeks ago by their company, The Entertainment Group and can be purchased at Amazon.com or VCI Entertainment.

Using the hit movie “Cars” as a launching point and Route 66 author Michael Wallis as emcee, “Cars on Route 66″ meets classic-car aficionados who live on the Mother Road. You’ll see David Kane’s collection of Packards. You’ll see James “Bozo” Cordova’s customized rides. You’ll see Bob Tyler’s muscle cars. You’ll see Kenny Campbell’s Divco delivery truck. You’ll meet people who not only have classic cars, but classic trailers.

Fortunately, those people avoid gearhead language and describe their automotive treasures in interesting, easy-to-understand detail. It makes it easy to understand why they became enthusiasts.

The documentary isn’t just about cars, either. The Lewises found new angles about Route 66 that haven’t been seen in previous documentaries:

• Shirley Mills and Darryl Hickman share their memories as child actors of the film production of “The Grapes of Wrath.”
• Jim Conkle shows a California inspection station that Okies had to go through during their mass migration from the Dust Bowl.
• A look inside at sumptuously decorated Route 66 Casino near Albuquerque.
• Johnny Meier waxes eloquently at the artistry of neon lighting.
• You’ll meet the owner of the architecturally magnificent Aztec Motel in Monrovia, Calif.
• Bob Moore tells about his Route 66 Radio Show.
• Laurel Kane explains why she collects postcards from the Mother Road.
• Dean Walker and the film crew see the Spook Light.
• A guide shows off the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
• Ned Luechtner tells why he rebuilt the Cool Springs Camp from scratch.
• Harley and Annabelle Russell of the Sandhills Curiosity Shop improvise a song about Route 66.

Despite the varying story lines, “Cars on Route 66″ remains a cohesive, well-paced documentary because of its compelling subjects and crisp editing.

And the DVD is packed with bonus material, too:

• An interview with Wallis about the making of “Cars.”
• Complete interviews with Mills and Hickman about “The Grapes of Wrath.”
• Wallis’ interview with the late Lillian Redmon, a former Harvey House girl (and longtime owner of the Blue Swallow Motel).
• A gallery of images from the film.
• An old video segment Wallis hosted called “Postcards from the American West.”
• The original music video of Rascal Flatts performing “Life is a Highway,” from the “Cars” film.

I give “Cars on Route 66″ a big thumbs-up … just like if I were hitchhiking on the Mother Road.

Pasadena Weekly has an interesting article about the Barney’s Beanery restaurant on Route 66 in Pasadena, Calif. — one of three such eateries in Los Angeles.

Even though the first Barney’s opened in the 1920s, the two other locations opened since David Houston and Avi Fattal purchased it in 1999. The article provides tidbits on why Barney’s is thriving:

• Its menu contains a staggering 700 items.
• It’s open 19 hours a day, seven days a week.
• There are 80 types of hamburgers alone.
• It has 12 chefs.
• It contains 150 television sets.
• The amazing amount of memorabilia. As an aside, Barney’s darned near got Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters bus, but the deal fell through. However, Barney’s got a genuine English double-decker bus to put into a dining room instead.

I’ve been asked a few times what a business has to do on Route 66 to be a success. One is you have to do something better than just about anybody. If that can’t happen, you have got to have a gimmick, as Michael Wallis would say … something unique that pulls a traveler off the road.

Barney’s Beanery has both things.