American Express, in conjunction with the World Monuments Fund, announced today it was giving $150,000 for an economic study to help sustain historic Route 66.

Excerpts from the news release:

This initiative, which is part of the American Express Partners in Preservation initiative launched in 2006, is focused on sustaining historic sites in the face of increased visitor activities and environmental impacts, and preserving them for future generations to enjoy. [...]

“As members of a global community, we need to understand the impact that our collective footprint has on the wear and tear of heritage sites. Preservation and public education go hand-in-hand,” said Bonnie Burnham, president of the World Monuments Fund. “We are delighted to be working with our longtime partner American Express, and helping, through the Partners in Preservation program, not only to preserve these sites but also to educate both tourists and the local communities about the role they can play in conserving their irreplaceable heritage.” [...]

The grant distribution is as follows:

Historic Route 66, cities, towns and villages between Chicago and Los Angeles - $150,000 for an in-depth economic study of this long-distance historic corridor. The study will provide information for communities that can be used to stimulate heritage tourism at local, state and national levels in the effort to preserve the corridor in its entirety and ensure its long-term sustainability. Funding will also contribute to a comprehensive survey of the many different buildings and attractions that make up this unique landscape and the impact that environmental factors and modern travel have had on them. This effort will include a conservation assessment of the historic Santo Domingo Trading Post site on Route 66 in New Mexico. Once a trading center for Native American arts and crafts and a popular stopping point for travelers, the Trading Post was damaged by fire in the early 2000’s and is now left vacant. The project will make recommendations on the building’s restoration and future use. Route 66 was placed on World Monuments Fund’s Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites in 2008. 

Other grant recipients were St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Delhi Heritage City in India, and the Mexico City Historical Center.

This is an encouraging development. As American Express notes: “During the first ten years of the Watch program, American Express contributed more than $10 million to help preserve 126 historic sites in 62 countries from the World Monuments Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites.”

So the World Monuments Fund’s listing of Route 66 as an endangered historical site already has paid dividends. And when one big corporation kicks in money, others usually follow.

KETC-TV in St. Louis produced a good segment about the Route 66 town of Cuba, Mo., and its dozen murals.

The remarkable thing is the murals aren’t simply decorative. They represent real events and real people. Listen to the man get emotional as he tells about the Cuba men who went off to war, and his infamous encounter with actress Bette Davis at a local diner in 1948.

We’ve been traveling Route 66 since 2000, and it’s been amazing to watch Cuba’s transformation. It now calls itself “Mural City.”

For more about Cuba’s murals, go here.

Motorcycle tour guide Gary Behr brings a group of European Harley riders to get a taste of Harley and Annabelle Russell at the Sandhills Curiosity Shop in Erick, Okla.

First, Harley gives ‘em a redneck welcome:

Some between-song banter:

And the dynamic duo and a couple of heavily tattooed guests perform “Route 66″:

Warning: Harley once in a while gets a tad risque during his stream-of-consciousness rants, but nothing truly vulgar.

A restless fellow by the name of Ezra Cooley is riding a horse around the world and raising funds for the National Children’s Cancer Society. Cooley stopped in Rolla, Mo., looking for old Route 66, reported the Rolla Daily News.

He’s already gone 7,000 miles, going from Chico, Calif., to New York City.

Doubling back, Cooley will go southwest on much of Route 66, then head to Mexico, through South America, and then he’ll catch a plane to Australia. After that, it’s Asia and Europe. He wants to circle the globe on horseback in a decade.

Just outside Aspen, Colo., as he sought the best way through a snow-clogged mountain pass, he and his horses fell through an ice bridge, falling about 40 feet. On another day, he successfully eluded a grizzly bear without altercation.

“The grizzly was something else. It was a big one, you know, the kind with the huge hump on its back. That was a little scary,” he said.

His travels are painted with stories, some from the most unlikely places. In Manhattan, he rode his horses up Wall Street and roped the Merrill Lynch bull.

You can follow Ezra’s adventures or make a donation at EzrasExpedition.com.