These photos show why Illinois Route 66 preservationists John and Lenore Weiss won a prestigious Steinbeck Award a few years ago during the annual Route 66 awards dinner.

This is a “before” shot of the long-neglected Art’s Motel and Restaurant sign on Route 66 in Farmersville, Ill.

This is a shot after the Illinois Route 66 Association and the Weisses were through fixing it. The Weisses are the key reason why Illinois has taken the lead in restoring Route 66 landmarks.

Even some of the neon lighting was restored. More photographs of the sign can be seen at Peter Stork’s Digital Route 66 site.

By the way, Art’s restaurant and motel still are going strong.

(Photos courtesy of Digital Route 66.) 

Reuters correspondents James Kelleher and Nick Carey on Friday ended their Route 66 Revisited journey at Lou Mitchell’s restaurant in Chicago, near the eastern terminus of the Mother Road.

Kelleher wrote:

We expected to see and experience many things and to meet some interesting people, as there is a lot of America in between the West Coast and the Windy City.

Our expectations have been exceeded. We’ve spent time on American Indian reservations, talked to firemen in Flagstaff, police officers in Albuquerque, cowboys on vast feedlots in Texas, Christians in Oklahoma and a sinking town in Kansas. [...]

We return to Chicago with mixed feelings. It’s good to be home and it will be even better not to live out of a small bag or sleep in motels. The bad news is how much we’ll miss roaming around the country.

Route 66 is America’s ultimate road trip, with a broad cross-section of scenery, people and issues across a large chunk of the country.  It’s been an amazing ride, hope you enjoyed it too.

In case you missed the many stories they filed along the way, you can read them here.

A couple days ago, I received an e-mail from Mike Gassman, reporting that the annual World’s Largest Catsup Bottle Summerfest in Collinsville, Ill., was abruptly canceled less than two months before its July 8 date.

Gassman promises more “gory details” over the weekend, but this story from the Belleville News-Democrat clearly shows that bickering, power struggles and bad decisions by the City of Collinsville sank the festival.

Gassman said it’s “all a bunch of nonsense, and unfortunately it’s the community that suffers.” He said it wasn’t as much a conflict with Downtown Collinsville as with the contractual demands of the city.

So the festival is canceled, and no one is sure about next year. Each group said it wants Summerfest to continue.

The festival was named after a specially painted water tower in Collinsville that resembles a giant Brooks Catsup bottle. The Brooks Catsup bottle isn’t on Route 66; it’s about a mile and a half from the Mother Road. But it’s frequently featured in Route 66 guidebooks as an example of roadside kitsch.

The 2007-2008 edition of the ever-popular Oklahoma Route 66 Association Trip Guide is hitting the streets this week. Copies have been distributed at some state tourism centers, and over the course of the next few days, volunteers will be delivering copies to the association’s member businesses across Oklahoma.

The 72-page guide includes a full-color cover, maps, turn-by-turn directions, information about the history of the towns along Route 66 in Oklahoma, photographs, trivia facts, a business directory, an Oklahoma Route 66 Association membership application, and more.

Copies will be available at the Sapulpa Route 66 Blowout (June 1-2 in downtown Sapulpa), Tulsarama! (June 15-17 in downtown Tulsa), the National Route 66 Festival (June 21-24 in Clinton), the Oklahoma Route 66 Association office in Chandler, state tourism centers, and many Oklahoma Route 66 businesses. Plans are also in the works for the guide to be available as a downloadable PDF on the Oklahoma Route 66 Association Web site.

And if you happen to bump into yours truly along the road somewhere, odds are good I’ll have a few copies stashed in my beloved Starlight Express, which frequently doubles as a rolling tourist information center.

UPDATE 5/27/07: The Trip Guide can now be downloaded in six parts from this site as Acrobat files.

Last weekend, on the way back to Tulsa from Illinois, I stayed overnight in the Wayside Motel at 7800 Watson Road (Route 66) in the St. Louis suburb of Marlborough, Mo. (map is here.)

According to the late Skip Curtis’ well-researched book, “The Missouri Route 66 Tour Book,” the Wayside was built in 1940. It’s across the road from the site of the Coral Court Motel, an Art Deco masterpiece that was razed in 1995 despite concerted efforts to preserve it.

The Wayside is remarkably well-preserved, mostly because the structures are made of brick. And its owners have kept up the interior, too, as these photos show.

Those driving classic cars on Route 66 should take note that the Wayside has original carports in which to park their beauties while staying overnight. This is a bonus for those who want to protect their vintage rides from hail and bird poop.

The price for my room was $51, with tax. This sounds inexpensive to some, but it’s high enough to keep most undesirables away. About the only thing I heard during my restful night at the Wayside was a freight train about a half-mile away.

The Wayside’s phone number is 314-961-2324.