Southern Living magazine cited the Mother Road during its annual Readers’ Choice Awards:

The Blue Ridge Parkway, in Asheville, N.C., the Natchez Trace Parkway in Tupelo, Miss., and the portions of Route 66 that run through Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas were named best scenic routes by readers, while editors picked The Bluegrass in Lexington, Ky.

Also, the editors chose Cattlemen’s Steakhouse in the Route 66 town of Oklahoma City as the Best Splurge Restaurant.

The Decatur (Ill.) Herald & Review has a good article about Geoff Ladd, executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County, and his efforts to save The Mill on old Route 66 in Lincoln, Ill.

He was looking to promote connections and objects associated with Route 66 and his optimistic eye soon fell upon the ruins of The Mill. Ladd glimpsed potential where others saw only an eyesore.

“People thought I was totally crazy for wanting to save this place,” he says, standing outside and looking at up today’s sagging timbers, broken windows and meandering roof line. “But, sometimes, you’ve got to think outside the box; I like a challenge.”

… (He) believes a campaign to save The Mill couldn’t be timed better.

“There is such baby boomer nostalgia for Route 66 and its places and history,” says Ladd. “And the ‘Cars’ movie has been great, too, because it’s based on Route 66. It brought in baby boomers to watch and remember the great times, and it’s interested a whole new generation of kids, too. Public sentiment is going our way.”

The article goes on to report that Ladd has the support of Brian Huffman, whose family ran The Mill for 46 years. Restoration efforts will likely include the bizarre moving mannequin leg that protrudes through the restaurant’s ceiling. Huffman said his fun-loving family installed the leg to get a rise out of customers.