A reader the other day posted an interesting question regarding Rory Schepisi being a finalist in “The Next Food Network Star”:

So if Rory wins the Food Network Star Challenge will she tape the show in Vega TX or will someone else be running the Boot Hill?

I thought it was a pretty good question. So I e-mailed Rory a similarly worded query. A few hours later, she replied via text message:

Vega is my home. If I won I hope to do a show about the places on
route 66 and the Texas panhandle.

I am all for a Food Network program that focuses on all the great restaurants on the Mother Road. It would be yet another publicity boon for Route 66.

And, as this Rory video from Homer’s Backyard Ball shows, there’s enough fascinating cuisine with Texas Plains cooking to make a solid show:

Let’s hope she wins.

We’ll find out at 8 p.m. Central on Sunday.

Lonestar101 has posted on YouTube a report from 1984 by KPRC-TV in Houston about Route 66 in the Texas Panhandle.

(Embedding isn’t allowed, but you can watch the video by clicking here.)

The video, which is two segments totaling about eight minutes, gives us a fascinating look of Route 66 before Michael Wallis’ seminal book, “Route 66: The Mother Road,” was published and before the road’s subsequent revival.

You get to see the U-Drop Inn of Shamrock, Texas, in a red, white and blue Fina paint job (screen capture is above). The video contains brief interviews with longtime Route 66 advocate Gladys Cutberth and former Route 66 business owners Cecil and Zelma Walker of Conway, Texas.

It also was a time before the Interstate 40 bypassed McLean, Texas, when cross-country travelers still had to go through the center of town. But the bypass was about to open, and  the locals were none too happy about it.

A McLean banker said:

“Route 66 is a thing of the past now, and we all have to accept that.”

Reporter Charles Hadlock also said:

“… It will mean the end of Route 66. The town of McLean may wind up like many of the other ghost towns along the old Main Street of America. … The day of Route 66 is nearly over.”

Fortunately, both were wrong.

The Pontiac (Ill.) City Council voted Monday night to approve the creation of two new Route 66-themed murals in town, reported the Bloomington Pantagraph.

That wasn’t a surprise, as Pontiac’s zoning board greenlighted the murals, which will be painted by Diaz Sign Art, last week. But there’s this new item that was interesting:

Bill Diaz promoted the idea of having a “walldog” festival, which would bring artists to town to paint murals. Diaz pitched the idea to the council as a way of enhancing the appearance and tourism in downtown Pontiac.

Diaz also provided examples of what an event can do to a smaller community.

“In the case of Belvidere, Illinois, there were 300 (artists) and their tourism shot up 400 percent and now bill themselves as the city of murals,” Diaz said. “We found that the smaller towns are actually more ideal … and will do with an historic event, a business that the town used to have or a landmark.”

The city administrator said he supported such an idea. The mayor plans to meet with the Diazes to work out the details.