The Decatur (Ill.) Herald & Review has a story about how Geoff Ladd managed to acquire a gigantic covered wagon and Abe Lincoln figure and have it moved from Divernon, Ill., to an intersection at Route 66 in Lincoln, Ill.

Most of the information has already been reported by other media. But there’s this item:

All that remains now is a little light landscaping work. The wagon is called “The Railsplitter,” and so a rustic rail fence around it would certainly look cool. Regular-sized timbers, however, would be as toothpicks contrasted with this monster, and so the tourism bureau, which now owns the wagon, was happy to accept a generous and gargantuan solution involving AmerenCILCO and the Logan Railsplitting Association.

“Ameren is going to start delivering their downed utility poles from the recent ice storm, and the Railsplitters Association will turn them into a nice log fence,” Ladd said. “It’s going to look great.”

“Cars” earned more awards on Sunday night. It won best animated feature at the 34th annual Annie Awards, which honor achievements in animation.

The Route 66-based film defeated “Happy Feet,” “Over the Hedge,” “Monster House” and “Open Season” for the honor.

The victory makes “Cars,” directed by Pixar’s John Lasseter, the front-runner for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards later this month. According to the report from the Associated Press:

The winner has gone on to claim the Oscar for animated feature every year since the Academy Award for animation was created. [...]

Lasseter praised the filmmakers who released more than a dozen animated films in 2006.

“What a year we’ve had in animation,” he said.

Also, “Cars” scorer Randy Newman won an award for best music in a feature.

“Our Town,” a song written by Randy Newman and performed by James Taylor for the Pixar movie “Cars,” won the Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media on Sunday night at the 49th annual Grammy Awards.

The other nominees in that category were Melissa Etheridge’s “I Need to Wake Up” from the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” Dolly Parton’s “Travelin’ Thru” from the movie “Transamerica,” Imogen Heap’s “Can’t Take It In” from the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia — The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” and Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick’s “There’s Nothing Like a Show on Broadway” from the movie, “The Producers.”

It was a good victory for “Cars,” as I thought the Etheridge and Parton songs were particularly strong. It also adds to the hope that “Our Town” will win for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards later this month.

If you’ve never heard “Our Town” or seen the scene it’s associated with with “Cars,” here it is:

The “Cars” soundtrack also was nominated for John Mayer’s propulsive version of the Bobby Troup classic, “Route 66,” but it lost to Bob Dylan’s “Someday Baby.” Other nominees in that category were Beck’s “Nausea,” Tom Petty’s “Saving Grace” and Neil Young’s “Lookin’ for a Leader.”

Also, the late, great folk songwriter Woody Guthrie, a product of Oklahoma and Route 66 if there ever was one, won a Grammy as well. The Klezmatics won a Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album for “Wonder Wheel — Lyrics by Woody Guthrie.”