To help restore a vintage Route 66 neon sign, the Oklahoma Route 66 Association is hosting a poker run on Saturday, Sept. 15.

The event begins at the site of the defunct Pop Hicks restaurant at North Third and Gary Boulevard in Clinton, Okla., and goes east on Route 66 to POPS in Arcadia, Okla.

Money raised during the poker run will go toward restoring the Rio Siesta Motel sign, which stood on Route 66 on the east edge of Clinton until a windstorm blew it down. Once refurbished, the sign will be donated to the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton. Here’s what the sign looked like when it was still standing.

Registration on the day of the poker run is from 8:30 to 9 a.m. Passports must be turned in at POPS by 2 p.m. that day.

Entry fee is $20 a person or $35 per couple, with additional passports costing $15 apiece.

Those who register before Sept. 10 receive an Oklahoma Route 66 pen and sticker for the windshield. Make checks payable to “Save the Rio Sign” and mail to P.O. Box 1733, Clinton, OK 73601, along with your name, address, phone number and number of passports needed. For information, call 580-323-2113.

Pam Perry sings more of a country-music version of Bobby Troup’s “Route 66″ at the Renfro Valley Barn Dance in Kentucky, which has a long history of its own.

“Macoupin County on Route 66,” with text and photo compilations by Dennis Garrels, is yet another historical volume about the Mother Road by Arcadia Publishing. That includes “Route 66 in California” and the recently published “Route 66 in Chicago.”

“Macoupin County on Route 66″ (96 pages, $19.95) covers Macoupin County, Ill., which boasts not one, but two prominent alignments of Route 66. From 1926 to 1930, Illinois Highway 4 also was Route 66. Then Route 66 was moved some miles east, clipping the southern portion of the county. Macoupin County includes the Route 66 towns of Carlinville, Staunton, Benld, Sawyerville, Mount Olive, Virden, Girard and Gillespie.

Garrels’ book mainly consists of then-and-now photographs of sites in those towns. It’s much like the format used in the “Route 66 Lost and Found” books. Chapters center around hotels, train stations, churches, schools, restaurants and businesses.

You see miners gathering at the Chicago-Virden coal mine in 1898, a little more than an hour before a shootout between them and guards for strike-busting workers killed 12 people. Now, there is little evidence of the mine or the riot, except for a set of railroad tracks.

There also is a picture of workers in 1936 building the Mother Jones Monument in Mount Olive. An astounding 50,000 people attended the dedication for monument for the union organizer and the workers killed at the Virden riot. The monument is still there today.

Route 66ers will love the circa-1940 photograph of Bill Neuhaus’ Texaco station on Route 66 in Staunton. The station itself isn’t much bigger than many bedrooms, but it was a gem of architecture. It later was expanded, and it’s now a custom cabinet shop. The book contains several other photographs of Route 66 gas stations from the 1920s and ’30s that are long gone.

The book shows the erratic effects of time. Carlinville still has many of its historic buildings and continues to prosper. But few old buildings remain in Sawyerville, which now has fewer than 200 residents. Still other buildings were lost in parts of the county during a tornado in the late 1940s.

The book is not without shortcomings. Sometimes the text accompanying photographs doesn’t explain from what town it’s taken. I’m also a little surprised the dozens of historic Sears homes in Carlinville weren’t mentioned. Also, the author made the curious decision to include a number of photographs from Bunker Hill, which never was on Route 66.

Still, “Macoupin County on Route 66″ is a quick, fun read. I suspect that Mother Road fans who live in central Illinois will find a lot of enjoyment with it.

Last year, cancer survivor Rodger Fox of Jacksonville, Ill., and a small group of other motorcycle riders drove all of Route 66 for the Ride for the Relay cancer-research fundraiser.

Fox had so much fun, he’s doing it again. This year’s 12-day Ride for the Relay, which will generate money for the Tri-County Relay for Life in Jacksonville and the American Cancer Society, begins in Chicago on Saturday.

Reports the Springfield (Ill.) Journal-Register:

“Last year, I left Chicago (on his 1985 Honda Gold Wing 1500 with matching trailer) by myself,” he said recently. “This year, Carl Johnson, the Route 66 historian for Illinois and Missouri, will accompany me through St. Louis, and we will have at least eight or so other riders, from California, Louisiana, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, go with us all the way.

“We may have 40 to 50 people leave Chicago with us for different stretches.”

Fox’s fundraising goal is $10,000. Ride for the Relay’s Web site is here. Anyone interested in joining Fox for the ride or making a donation can call him at 217-473-1525 or by e-mailing rodgerlfox@mchsi.com

In case you haven’t heard, it’s been reported that actor Owen Wilson was hospitalized on Sunday.

Through his publicist, Wilson on Monday requested privacy so he can recuperate. And his parents and brothers were with him at the hospital, so it appears he’s getting the support he needs from family.

Wilson will always earn a fond spot in many Route 66ers’ hearts because he played Lightning McQueen in last summer’s Disney-Pixar animated movie, “Cars.” The film shined a welcome spotlight on the Mother Road, and Wilson played a key role.

I figured that Route 66 aficionados and business owners would like to send Wilson a get-well card, or a friendly message on a Route 66 postcard. I e-mailed Matt Walker, the assistant to his publicist, asking him whether there was a snail-mail address to send such messages.

He replied that he’ll collect the cards and messages for Wilson if they’re mailed here:

Matt Walker
8409 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

So there it is. If you want to spread a little of the magic of the Mother Road, you know what to do.

Levi provides a video report about POPS on Route 66 in Arcadia, Okla. But I have no idea what he thinks, because his thoughts are expressed in American Sign Language.

So … can anyone give a rough translation of what he’s saying?

The video also contains a few still photographs of what’s inside POPS.

This is a band of apparent high-schoolers called Just in Time 2, which according to the YouTube poster is based in Great Britain. The singer misses a cue, and a few sour notes are heard. But the piano player sounds like he’s been taking lessons from Johnnie Johnson, and it’s hard to resist the sense of fun while the group is performing “Route 66″ during a poolside show.

If you’ve never walked on what is now a pedestrian and bicycle trail on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge that connects Madison, Ill., over the Mississippi River to St. Louis, these two videos by the same person should suffice for now. The bridge was a part of Route 66 for decades.

The second video shows the water intake towers in the middle of the river that the City of St. Louis used. It also shows the natural chain of rocks in the river that prevented many a barge from using the river during certain times of the year until a nearby Chain of Rocks Canal was built in the 1950s.

On the other side of the old bridge is the new Chain of Rocks Bridge, which is Interstate 270.

And, yes, it gets very windy in the middle of the old bridge.

The active Route 66 town of Atlanta, Ill., will receive another feather in its cap — the National Park Service is set to certify it for its historic preservation, reports the Lincoln Courier.

It would be the 61st city in Illinois to receive this certification, which opens it up for preservation grants and other aid. The Atlanta Historic Preservation Commission recently was certified as an arm of the city.

The Atlanta commission has designated two landmarks. The first was Hawes Elevator, an original wooden grain elevator. The second is the Killian residence at 307 S. Martin St., one of Atlanta’s oldest homes, built in the late 1840s.

“We’re getting ready for our third landmark site,” Martin said. “We have a short stretch of original Route 4 on the west side of Atlanta. It has original concrete and markers and a culvert. It’s part of what eventually became Route 66.”

The commission is also beginning to look at most of the downtown area, which they hope to designate as a historic district.

“That’s another tool that we can use to help preserve the history of Atlanta,” Thomas said. “We can leverage the Route 66 heritage we have.”

I’m certain the Atlanta commission will soon certify other landmarks, including its library and the recently restored Palms Grill.

UPDATE: WEEK-TV in Peoria recently produced a video segment about Atlanta.

About $400,000 in Oklahoma Centennial funds will be used to help build the Red Fork Derrick observation deck at the Route 66 Station park in west Tulsa, reports the Tulsa World.

The replica of the Tulsa County’s first oil well will reportedly be as high at 150 feet tall. However, other reports indicate it will be 80 feet tall. Either way, you’ll be able to see a long way from the top of it.

Local TV station KOTV also has details about the centennial earmark, including that a refurbished 1942 steam locomotive will be moved there. The Route 66 Park will be a tribute to transportation. More details and drawings of the park can be seen here.

The Joliet Area Historical Museum on Sunday is featuring not one, but two Route 66 authors from 2 to 4 p.m.

Dave Clark’s recently published “Route 66 in Chicago,” and John and Lenore Weiss‘ new “Traveling the Historic Three,” a guidebook about the Lincoln Highway, Dixie Highway and Route 66 in the Chicago area, each will give a short presentation, meet visitors and sign their books.

Both Clark and the Weisses have other Route 66-related books in addition to the ones mentioned above.

The TripAdvisor travel community released its list of the world’s quirkiest motels, and a Route 66 establishment made the top 10.

At the No. 9 slot is the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Ariz.:

Its second year on the top ten quirky hotel list and with a unique price to match, the Wigwam Motel is a series of teepee-style cement tents along the legendary U.S. Route 66 that offers kitschy fun. A throwback to the 50’s with classic cars parked outside, an old railroad nearby and vintage accommodations inside the teepees, Wigwam is a great stop for travelers looking to step back to simpler times. According to a TripAdvisor traveller, “The Wigwam Motel is a unique retro motel, one of the few of its kind left in the USA.”

It’s the second straight year the Wigwam has made the list.

There are others of the same design: the Wigwam Motel on Route 66 in Rialto, Calif., and Wigwam Village No. 2 in Cave City, Ky.

The Bloomington Pantagraph reports that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation on Thursday that gives Livingston County the option to take over ownership of the old Illinois State Police headquarters on old Route 66 near Pontiac.

The county has the option to pay $10 for the unique gun-shaped building, built in 1941, and the land. State police quit using the building in 2004.

Local officials have discussed converting the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, into a tourism center or museum.

The Gallup (N.M.) Independent published a fascinating story about future-ownership controversy over nearby Red Rock Park.

The city owns the park, which hosts the popular Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial and other events each year. But maintaining the park has put a strain on the city’s budget — and Red Rock needs millions of dollars more in improvements.

The state said it would approve the millions needed in exchange for the deed. But the city now is reluctant to turn over the deed because it fears the state would shut the park down in a few years. And no deal has been approved by the state yet.

So the future of Red Rock Park remains in limbo.

It wasn’t long ago that if one wanted to find historic Route 66, vintage maps, old-timers and make plenty of guesses were required.

Now there are maps and guidebooks. Realizing that Route 66 was a tourist attraction, states for the most part installed enough road signs to direct novice travelers.

However, there are stretches of the Mother Road in which tourists get lost — especially ones without the maps or guidebooks. Perhaps a Route 66 road sign was stolen by souvenir hunters. Perhaps the road lies in a sparsely populated area. Perhaps there is an obscure alignment of Route 66 that few people know exists. Perhaps the town in which Route 66 goes through hasn’t jumped on the tourism bandwagon.

Rod Harsh of Visit66.com has a visitors’ center on Route 66 in Carterville, Mo. He says he regularly encounters tourists who become lost in southwest Missouri. (I can attest to problems while driving in Carthage, north Joplin and near Carterville.)

Harsh fears that wayward tourists will miss out the full Mother Road experience. Or worse, they’ll become frustrated and get back on the interstates.

Nearly all the Route 66 states have enrolled or are enrolling in the National Scenic Byways program, which will provide more funds for road signs. However, several states have a ways to go through the process. One state, Texas, has shown no interest. I suspect Route 66 eventually will be a contiguous byway, but it’s years away.

Harsh supports the Byways program, but has decided that something needs to be done sooner. He’s launched a Web site, SigntheRoute.com, and is taking suggestions for a grass-roots effort to sign the historic highway where it needs it.

He even enlisted a professional sign company to make a vinyl sign like the one at right. He says it cost only $25, and it would be even cheaper per unit if purchased in bulk. The sign is not reflective, but Harsh surmises that many travelers drive Route 66 in the daytime.

According to Harsh’s site:

Consider the sign to be a “temporary” aid to travelers, until better signage comes along. [...]

The objective here is to first sign the locations where travelers are getting lost most often.

He has a page of signs that can be used, including the “painted shield on the pavement” option that’s growing in popularity.

For now, Harsh has a “How to Help” page where he’s taking suggestions. One of the ideas is an “Adopt a Sign” effort.

I think Harsh’s effort is commendable. He’s not trying to re-invent the wheel, but to improve the overall travel experience by filling in the holes.

And if those Scenic Byway signs start showing up en masse, there’s nothing wrong with a little redundancy to help you in road navigation.

Here in Oklahoma, I haven’t been able to go to Vega, Texas, and check out Rory Schepisi’s recently opened Boot Hill Saloon & Grill on Route 66.

However, the Amarillo Globe-News visited, and published a story about it Tuesday (free registration required).

Some tidbits from the well-rounded article:

• Schepisi is considering opening another restaurant, in Amarillo, if things go well with Boot Hill. It would be a New York-style bistro.
• Despite her recent loss on “The Next Food Network Star,” she’s under contract with the network for two years. She’s interested in showing viewers the different cuisines of Texas.
• She’s learned to work cattle with her cowboy boyfriend, Klay.
• But she doesn’t ride horses much anymore. She broke three ribs when she was bucked off about eight months ago.

Author Michael Wallis was on the Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” last week to plug his new book, “The Lincoln Highway.”

Here is the video clip of the interview:

Wallis also is well-known for the best-selling “Route 66: The Mother Road” and mentions ol’ 66 during the bantering.

UPDATE 8/23/07: YouTube removed the video because of its ongoing copyright lawsuit filed by Viacom, a parent company of Comedy Central.

You can watch the Wallis interview from Colbert’s site here. Warning: a high-speed connection is recommended, and the site still may jam up your browser. That’s the reason the clip was placed on YouTube; it’s far more user-friendly.

The irony is that Colbert and Comedy Central cohort Jon Stewart both are listed as defense witnesses in the upcoming trial. Both have greatly benefited from YouTube clips providing publicity for their shows.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Erin were hard on the ol’ Mother Road in at least one spot this week.

According to the Lebanon (Mo.) Daily Record:

A portion of Route 66, west of the Gasconde River is missing after Monday’s flooding when the culverts that normally allowed water to flow through with each were swept away by flood waters, taking the road bed along with it and leaving a huge hole where it once was.

Missouri Department of Transportation Spokesperson Angela Eden told The Daily Record Monday afternoon that engineers would look at the situation today and MoDOT hoped to have traffic moving again in the area in a matter of days.

“We had a lot of rain in a short period of time,” she said. “We’re going to have to have one of our civil engineers take a look at it before we can do any kind of repairs. Once we have our engineer take a look at it and they determine what we need to do to put it back together, we’ll get on it pretty quick.”

Eden asked that drivers be patient while repairs are being made. Meantime, the road will be completely closed.

Also, in Oklahoma, rising flood waters forced a rare, six-hour closing of Interstate 40 near El Reno. Whether this affected Route 66, I do not know. This portion of the Mother Road is quite a distance from I-40.

The Christian Science Monitor tells the story of how the Route 66 town of Winslow, Ariz., has capitalized on The Eagles‘ song “Take It Easy” and its mention of a certain corner.

The Monitor says Winslow didn’t start to cash in on the song until 1997. I’m surprised it waited that long, as “Take It Easy” was at least 25-year-old hit even then.

But now, Winslow has a street-corner park, souvenir stores, a festival, and a revitalized downtown. And it was all sparked by a song written long ago by Jackson Browne.

The folks at American Road magazine have just published their “Rhythm and Cruise” issue, in which they’ve listed the “Best American Road Songs” of the past century.

Here are the Rules of the Road for the song listings:

1) The song must have been written about an American road, street, or destination. That is, songs like “Electric Avenue,” inspired by a London thoroughfare, do not qualify. Neither do songs that have been “retrofitted” like “I’ve Been Everywhere.” (That song was originally written about places in Australia. Only later was an American version recorded that replaced the Australian cities and towns with those in the United States.)

2) Writer(s) and/or performer(s) themselves need not be American as long as the subject of the song is American. Songs like the Kinks’ “Celluloid Heroes” — about a walk down Hollywood Boulevard, California — and Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” — inspired by a parking lot in Hawaii — can be considered.

3) Thought was given to a song’s popularity and musical innovation, but also to its overall influence on history and/or popular culture. For example, in the category called “Best Song About Road Racing,” the contenders were “Maybellene,” “Hot Rod Lincoln,” and “Deadman’s Curve.” All three songs are fun and famous road race tunes. But “Maybellene,” the award winner, is roundly considered a watershed song credited with helping to bridge the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll.

I think the “retrofitting” rule is overly picky. Popular music, by its very nature, is retrofitted from earlier sources. To disqualify an obvious American highway song like Hank Snow’s “I’ve Been Everywhere,” just because it has obscure Australian roots, seems overly restrictive.

Here is the magazine’s top songs by category:

Best Traveling Anthem
- In My Car (The Beach Boys)
- King of the Road (Roger Miller)
- On the Road Again (Willie Nelson)*

Best Song About a US Highway
- (Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 (Nat King Cole)*
- Highway 40 Blues (Ricky Skaggs)
- Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan)

Best Song About a Car
- Ol’ 55 (Tom Waits)
- One Piece at a Time (Johnny Cash)
- Rocket 88 (Ike Turner)*

Best Song About Riding a Bus
- America (Simon and Garfunkel)*
- Promised Land (Chuck Berry)
- The Load-Out (Jackson Browne)

Best Song About a City Street
- Celluloid Heroes (The Kinks)
- Lake Shore Drive (Alliotta, Haynes & Jeremiah)
- Mainstreet (Bob Seger)*
- South Street (Orlons)

Best Cruising Song
- Cruisin’ (Smokey Robinson)
- Low Rider (War)
- Pink Cadillac (Bruce Springsteen)*

Best Song About Trucking
- Convoy (C.W. McCall)
- Six Days on the Road (Dave Dudley)*
- Truckin’ (The Grateful Dead)

Best Song About Parking
- Chevy Van (Sammy Johns)
- Little Red Corvette (Prince)
- Paradise by the Dashboard Light (Meat Loaf)*

Best Song About Road Racing
- Deadman’s Curve (Jan and Dean)
- Hot Rod Lincoln (Charlie Ryan)
- Maybellene (Chuck Berry)*

Best Song About Motorcycling
- Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf)*
- Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen)
- The Motorcycle Song (Arlo Guthrie)

Best Song About Hitchhiking
- Me and Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin)*
- Phantom 309 (Red Sovine)
- Sweet Hitch-Hiker (Creedence Clearwater Revival)

Best Song About a Taxi
- Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell)*
- Cab (Train)
- Taxi (Harry Chapin)

Songs with asterisks are those that are winners in each category. And I’ll take Prince over Meat Loaf in the parking song category, thank you.
I’m sure American Road’s lists will start a few arguments. It already has here.