Readers may note a new list on the right side of Route 66 News’ home page, called “Recommended books.”

These are books that gave me greater insight to the Mother Road. Some are old, like Jack Rittenhouse’s “A Guide Book to Highway 66,” first published in 1946. Most are more recent, including the “Images of 66″ volume that came out a few months ago.

Except for the historically significant Rittenhouse book, I didn’t include ones that are strictly guidebooks because they could be a subcategory all their own. The books on my list brought more to the table than just instructions on how to get from Point A to Point B on the Mother Road.

And one book never took place on Route 66 at all, to my recollection. But William Least Heat Moon’s “Blue Highways” remains one of the best travel books ever (better than the much ballyhooed “On the Road,” in my opinion). It exerted an influence on me that still looms large today.

If you read the books on the list and don’t become a road warrior, you never will be.

The eBay sale of the Thunderbird Motel neon sign, which came from a Route 66 motel in Miami, Okla., ended with a high bid of $3,850. But since it didn’t meet the reserve (which remains unknown), that means no sale.

A professor and his students at Missouri State University performed months of research into the historic Gillioz Theatre in Springfield, Mo. The Springfield News-Leader reports that the result of that research is a 96-page book, “The Gillioz ‘Theatre Beautiful’: Celebrating Springfield’s Theatre History, 1926-2006.”

The book won’t be available until next month, but details on its sale will be available here. So bookmark it if you want more information later. The book is part of the festivities with the theatre’s grand-0pening throughout the month of October.

Also, News-Leader columnist Jeanne Duffey says that several members of the research team will present a slideshow of historic photos from the Gillioz at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Springfield-Greene County Library District’s auditorium.

The Springfield Journal-Register talks to owners of the more whimsical owners of classic cars at the International Route 66 Mother Road Festival in Springfield, Ill., including one who says he keeps a Mini Cooper in the trunk of his 1966 Mercury.

Two buddies on motorcycles rode down Route 66 from Carthage, Mo., to New Mexico. This slideshow on YouTube shows the sights they encountered.

John at the Big Albuquerque-like Things blog attended an informational meeting about plans of using streetcars on the Duke City’s streets, including Central Avenue (aka Route 66).

John did a good job providing an overview of the project, including pictures from the presentation. He thinks tourists (like me) will use the streetcars to go to downtown, Old Town, Nob Hill and the University of New Mexico campus. But he thinks the project’s appeal will be greater than that:

Now let me make it perfectly clear that I don’t think tourists will be the only ones using the streetcar. There is definetly a market for commuters getting off the Rail Runner and going into the UNM area, and for people commuting from Nob Hill to Downtown. There is also a lot of entertainment stuff, like the sports stadiums, downtown bars, Nob Hill, the BioPark. Big markets there. But with that Airport-Old Town thing going, I think the big market is going to be tourists here.

However, a system that aims at tourists is of course not a doomed system, far from it. The San Diego Trolley started as a Downtown-Mexican Border(Tijuana) route. A few commuters probably used it, but it was mostly for tourists. But then they expanded it, sending a line into the eastern suburbs(no tourist stuff there) and expanding to their Old Town and north to Mission Valley, where the stadium and all the shopping centers are. And they’re still expanding it like crazy. Today it serves tourists and locals alike.