The latest issue of the Route 66 Pulse newspaper is making its way down the Mother Road as we speak. In it, you’ll see articles about:

• The 100th anniversary of the Petrified Forest National Park
• The Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa and the Mother Road 100 ultra-marathon in Oklahoma
• The Little Tin Barn in Chelsea, Okla.
• The Tucumcari Inn in Tucumcari, N.M., formerly the Aruba Motel
• Efforts to rehabilitate The Mill in Lincoln, Ill.
• The party in Galena, Kan., to unveil Mater’s inspiration and show off a historic Route 66 service station that will be restored
• The Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Mo.
• Oatman’s Decorate a Bush contest for the Christmas season.

There’s plenty more than what I listed. Go pick up a copy at your favorite Route 66 business.

Here’s a short clip on YouTube of Harley and Annabelle Russell, aka the Mediocre Music Makers, performing “Route 66″ at their Sandhills Curiosity Shop in Erick, Okla.

The person who posted the video listed them as the “Singing Hill Billy’s.” Doggone it, they’re not hillbillies, they’re rednecks. They do live in the “Redneck Capital of the World,” after all.

UPDATE: I neglected to mention that there’s an excellent five-minute video posted here months ago of Harley and Annabelle’s act. You can find it here.

Jay Link, lead singer for the Los Angeles rock band Death and Taxes, weighed as much as 550 pounds just five years ago. He’s lost 200 pounds with diet and exercise, and wants to lose 200 more in the next two years.

Link recently wrote me to announce that in March, he would start walking Route 66 east from his home in Kingman, Ariz., to Chicago, where he was born. He’s doing the walk not only to shed pounds, but also to raise money for various children’s charities. His walking quest is reminiscent of Steve Vaught’s at The FatManWalking.com and Gary Long of AFatMansJourney.com.

Link says he was always hefty, but his weight really spiraled out of control after the death of his father, who was walking along a road and was hit by a car.

“My eating became my drug, I had always been drug-free and never was a drinker or a smoker, but I found myself in a very dark place and at that time only food, massive quantities of greasy fattening food would comfort me.”

Link is now looking for corporate sponsors to help him cover basic expenses during his trek. He tells me that he has a video camera and will also blog about his adventures on the Mother Road.

“I’m not sure if I will even make the first 100 miles, but I am going to give it everything I have, in honor of my father, who was an avid walker, and to raise money, for our children right here in the U.S.A., who have so many unmet needs.”

Link’s MySpace site is here. Death and Taxes also has a MySpace site here.