One reason Route 66 is great is because you learn something new about it all the time.

This time, I’m talking about Mitchell Caverns, which is off Route 66 in the Providence Mountains of Southern California’s Mojave Desert. Inland Press-Enterprise columnist Mark Muckenfuss wrote about it today.

The reason not a lot of people know about it is because tours are conducted only on weekends during the summer. It’s also not an attraction in itself — it’s part of the Providence Mountains State Recreation Area. The Mitchell family ran the caverns from the 1930s until the 1950s, when the patriarch died.

DesertUSA.com has an excellent summary of Mitchell Caverns. The U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service site has excellent photos of the caverns.

The Tank Farm Loop near Kellyville and a 1926 truss bridge near Chelsea, both on older alignments of Route 66 in Oklahoma, were added to the National Register of Historic Places, reports the Associated Press.

Here’s a picture of the Chelsea bridge, which goes over Pryor Creek, from the Oklahoma Highway Bridges site.

Here are the details of the Tank Farm Loop.

Roadbed section beginning approximately 0.6 mile west of the I-44 overpass west of Kellyville in Creek County. Total 1.6 mile section of 1926 PC paved alignment bypassed in 1938. An excellent example of first-generation paving which crosses several different terrain features. Known by many Route 66 hobbyists as the Tank Farm Loop because it passes through a former oil field.

A map of the Tank Farm Loop can be found here. So if you haven’t seen it, go check it out. It’s worth it.

• Santa Monica Close-up contains photos from the final day of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America’s Historic Route 66 Tour. About 100 participants started, and about 20 dropped out because of mechanical or medical reasons.
• Maya Reynolds tells the story of how Jackson Browne’s “Take It Easy,” which immortalizes a certain corner in Winslow, Ariz., came to be. Hint: Glenn Frey ended up with a significant role.
• Veronica explains why you shouldn’t drive over a dead skunk on Route 66 — or on any other road for that matter.
• Joe’s Road Life posted a bunch of high-quality images of Meteor Crater in Arizona.

The City of Albuquerque, spurred by Mayor Marty Chavez, is considering a sign ordinance that’s so financially onerous and controversial that I’m surprised it was proposed at all.

In short, the ordinance would outlaw nearly all existing standalone signs and signs that are attached to buildings. This, of course, would include virtually all neon signs along Central Avenue, aka Route 66, including historic ones.

The Sign Defense Group, which opposes the ordinance, has pictures of current signs that would be outlawed. That includes the El Don Motel neon sign (above) and the historic Aztec Motel neon sign (below). Dozens of other neon signs along Central also would be affected.

Apparently Chavez became enamored of a similar ordinance used in Scottsdale, Ariz. However, the business community is against it, as shown in this Albuquerque Journal article. The Albuquerque Tribune is against it. And Route 66ers are definitely against it.

Here’s the proposed 80-page ordinance in an Acrobat file. Note that all the underlined sentences are the ones that are disputed or will change, and there are a lot of them.

I called Deborah Nason, public information officer for the city’s Environmental Planning Commission that has to approve the proposal before it advances to the City Council.

Nason recently told me that a Planning Commission decision on the ordinance has already been deferred from mid-September until Oct. 19, and she anticipates it could be deferred clear into January.

“It’s been very controversial,” she said.

I asked Nason whether the city is considering an exemption for Albuquerque’s famed Route 66 neon signs.

“I’m pretty sure (the signs) would be preserved,” she said.

Nason seemed uncertain whether the ordinance would advance at all because it’s so unpopular. “There’s still a long way to go until it passes,” she said.

Nason suggested that those who want Route 66 neon signs preserved to e-mail staff planner Russell Brito at rbrito@cabq.gov . He is the one who’s considering and adding amendments to the proposed ordinance.

So here’s what to do: E-mail Brito and politely ask that the city place an exemption for signs on the Route 66 corridor, including the pre-1937 alignments. Explain that neon signs on the Mother Road are a major attraction to tourists, and that the loss of such signs would provide less of an incentive to visit Albuquerque.

If enough roadies lobby for the preservation of Route 66 neon signs, the exemption probably will be included. That way, the signs on Central Avenue and other Route 66 alignments will be safeguarded.

And if the proposed sign ordinance fails simply because it’s too hot for the city to handle, that’ll be OK, too.

(Photos courtesy of Albuquerque neon gallery from Redforkhippiechick.)