Canadian singer-songwriter Melissa McClelland has posted part three of her documentary from her Route 66 trip this summer.

You can view the podcast here (Internet Explorer 6 and broadband are needed).

In it, you’ll see Rooster from the Luna Cafe in Mitchell, Ill., a waitress in Lisa’s Diner in Granite City, Ill., scenes from Galena, Kan.

But the stars of Part 3 are Harley and Annabelle Russell of the Sandhills Curiosity Shop in Erick, Okla. Harley plays freewheelin’ lead guitar as McClelland sang her song “Passenger 24.”

Like I said, I hope this documentary makes its way to a major television broadcast somewhere. It’s more than good enough.

Speaking of guidebooks, Harry Medved was kind enough to send me a copy of the book he co-wrote with Bruce Akiyama, “Hollywood Escapes.” It describes itself as “The moviegoing guide to exploring Southern California’s great outdoors.”

The reason this book is mentioned here is because it contains a chapter about Route 66 and its role in movies. The Mother Road played a “major role” in the 1977’s “The Hills Have Eyes,” “Bagdad Cafe,” “The Doors,” and the 2005 version of “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

The chapter contains a handy map that donates several Route 66 landmarks and the films in which they were featured:

• Needles Bridge, “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Easy Rider”
• Amboy, “The Hitcher”
• Amboy Crater, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”
• Newberry Springs, “Bagdad Cafe”
• Victorville, “It Came from Outer Space”

The chapter is short, but it includes a Route 66 Driving Tour from Victorville to Needles, and it’s a handy reference guide to Route 66’s role to films shot in Southern California.

Alas, since the book was published, Dixie Evans’ Exotic World Burlesque Museum in Helendale has moved to Las Vegas, where it is supposed to eventually reopen.

Other films that were shot on Route 66 or nearby include “Electra Glide in Blue,” “Grand Theft Auto,” “From Dusk Till Dawn,” “Hair,” “Kill Bill, Vol. 2,” and “Kalifornia.”

Medved also informed me that the new Clint Eastwood-directed film, “Letters from Iwo Jima,” was shot in the Calico Mountains and Pisgah Crater.

David Lynch (not that David Lynch) was fascinated by the notorious San Andreas Fault in California and sought to explore it. To his astonishment, he found that no complete guidebook to the faultline existed.

Lynch explored the fault, a source of earthquake anxiety in the California and inspiration to scores of bad disaster movies, and self-published a book, “Field Guide to the San Andreas Fault,” Inland Press-Enterprise columnist Mark Muckenfuss reports.

Route 66 connects with the fault north of San Bernardino.

Just past Devore, on old Route 66, Lynch likes to make a stop at Blue Cut. Here, he says, is one of the points where the geology makes the fault all too evident.

“To the south is the blue-gray Pelona Schist and half a mile north of there, the rocks are completely different,” he says, noting the sandstone prominent in such places as the Mormon Rocks.

“Those rocks could not have been formed together; they had to be brought together,” he adds. “The Pelona Schist has brought material all the way from essentially Arizona.”

If you want the book so you can do your own fault-finding, you can order it here. Here’s a summary:

See and touch the world’s most famous fault on one of twelve easy day trips between Cape Mendocino and the Mexican Border. The book includes mile-by-mile road logs, GPS coordinates for hundreds of fault features and accurate fault coordinates (± 100 ft). Many of the annotated routes have side trips to seldom visited locales. There are complete geologic explanations and a glossary. The day trips are relaxing and uncrowded, perfect for family getaways. And the scenery is spectacular. Here’s a chance to get up close and personal with the San Andreas Fault. No 4WD needed. Full color, 210 pages, 140 figures and photographs. Spiral bound to lay flat for easy reading in the car. Also available on CD. Book: $39.95, CD (The entire book as a PDF file): $19.95

If 40 bucks sounds like a lot, keep in mind it’s loaded with color photos, which jacks up the price of any book.

The Edwardsville (Ill.) Intelligencer is reporting that the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, an old Route 66 alignment that connects Madison, Ill., to north St. Louis, is hosting its 12th annual Eagle Days on Jan. 13-14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

And the bridge is the ideal lookout spot to watch the eagles searching for their favorite food - fish - in the open waters of the Mississippi River. Use the viewing scopes on the bridge to see the eagles soaring above the river, riding on the ice floes, fishing, or roosting in the surrounding trees.

The article sort of neglects to mention this, but many of the eagles are bald eagles.

There also will be Lewis & Clark re-enactors on the Missouri side of the bridge.

• Lovimoment and her mother are traveling Route 66 and documenting it on It’s One Adventure After Another. They are finishing a Mother Road trip that Lovimoment’s mom and grandmother started, but the grandmother fell ill and eventually died. On Friday, they were in Tulsa.
• Thumbrella seems to be a fan of Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire, and posted two of his works. You also can see other Waldmire works here.
• JulileBlairLane.com posted a recent photo of the Round Barn in Arcadia, Okla. The last time I’d been through there, it was getting a paint job. Looks like they did a good job with it.
• Sammy posts the Unofficial Rules of the Sonic Drive-In, a common retro chain restaurant along Route 66. She ought to know the rules; she works there. Sammy’s rants are funny when they’re not acidic, such as: “It’s cute when elderly people hand us 50 cent tips, and smile when like they have just given the greatest tip ever. It’s not cute for anyone else.”

The Ontario (Calif.) Daily Bulletin has the latest about Michelle Thompson, the woman who’s bicycling Route 66 to raise awareness of oral cancer and raise money for her stricken brother.

Thompson made it to Ludlow, Calif., on Friday, hitting the 2,200-mile mark on her odometer. She’s only about 170 miles from her goal of Costa Mesa, where her brother lives. She hopes to make it there by Christmas.

That sounds like a lot, but Thompson’s Web site is optimistic she can make it on time.

Michelle’s sister Donna Thompson-Becker drove from Costa Mesa on Thursday to meet Michelle and escort her on the last leg of her journey. Without the 50-lb. weight of Bob (the trailer) and with frigid temperatures behind her, Michelle will make much better time.

Michelle is several days behind schedule, but she has picked up the pace and is sprinting for Costa Mesa!

UPDATE: The San Bernardino County Sun has a photo galley of Thompson during her ride in the Mojave Desert.

The Tulsa World Route 66 Marathon and the Mother Road 100 ultramarathon both were more than a month ago, but stuff about it is still coming over the Internet.

The Augusta (Kan.) Daily Gazette has a story about Rich Dennett, 44, who ran the 100-mile event in time of 28 hours, 53 minutes.

“It really cleans you out between the ears if you know what I mean,” said Dennett as he tried explaining to me why he wanted to do it.

The McPherson (Kan.) Sentinel has a short story about a father and his son who ran in the Tulsa event. Nikolaus, 13, ran the half-marathon, and his dad, David, finished his fourth full marathon in a respectable time of 3 hours, 25 minutes.