The Chicago Tribune has just published an exemplary article about Bill Scales’ efforts to renovate the historic Eagle Hotel on Route 66 in Wilmington, Ill., and the city’s growing impatience over the long-delayed project. Check it out.

The Mustang Club of America will hold its 2009 Mustangs Across America 45th Anniversary Drive on a large chunk of Route 66.

The event runs from April 10-19, 2009, starting in Las Vegas and going east. The trip will take Route 66 through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and part of Oklahoma.

According to the club:

The event will kick off in the excitement and glitter of Las Vegas on Saturday, April 11th 2009 and head east for historic Route 66 outpost Holbrook, AZ. The planned route incorporates some of the best remaining segments of the Mother Road. Mustangs new and old will be traveling through many of the ghost towns and rich imagery that inspired the recent movie “Cars”. The small Route 66 town of Holbrook is steeped in Mother Road history and home of the Wig-Wam Hotel, famous for its Tee-Pee motel rooms.

From there the drive continues through Albuquerque, NM and includes a visit to historic Santa Fe before heading to an overnight stop in Santa Rosa, NM. “The Desert Southwest is a place that every American should see at least once in their life. Santa Fe is a place that captures the essence of the region and all its Native American heritage, “ adds Haymart. “Our overnight stop of Santa Rosa is like turning a page back in time.”

The stampede of Mustangs will grow and storm across the Texas plains through Amarillo, TX on the third day. A stop at the Route 66 Museum is planned for Clinton, OK, after which the convoy will head for the charming and much loved town of Mustang, OK for an overnight stop.

Mustang, by the way, is a suburb of Oklahoma City.

The drive then heads south to north Texas, then east again through Louisiana, Mississippi and ends in Birmingham, Ala.

Registration information can be found here.

County officials in Dover, Fla., on Friday ordered the Airsteam Ranch sculpture — which is 7 1/2 Airstream trailers planted into the ground along Interstate 4 — dismantled within 30 days for violating zoning and other regulations, reported the St. Petersburg Times.

Airstream Ranch was directly inspired by Cadillac Ranch on Route 66 west of Amarillo, Texas.

If owner Frank Bates doesn’t comply, he faces a fine of up to $100 a day. He has the option of applying for rezoning, however.

During the code enforcement board hearing, it sounded like a colorful scene:

At the hearing, art experts told board members that Airstream Ranch, like Cadillac Ranch, is a work of art.

“It’s emblematic of the nomadic nature of people who visit Florida,” said Wallace Wilson, director of the University of South Florida’s art school.

But code enforcement officials backed away from interpreting art and focused instead on rules.

About 40 people attended the meeting to support Bates, many of them in “Save Airstream Ranch” T-shirts.

Some neighbors are complaining about increased traffic in the area since those Airstreams were placed into the Florida soil, and others complain it’s an eyesore.

Bates hopes to work out a compromise with neighbors, including landscaping and building a wall to block residents’ views.