The Route 66 Association of Arizona’s Fun Run has barely been over for 24 hours, and already videos have been posted on YouTube.

The scene from a 1950 Chevy “rat rod.”

Here’s one of the scene through Oatman:

And here are dozens a photos from the event by David Schaubert, including a few way-cool panoramic shots.

Don Gray also shot dozens of photos at the Fun Run.

The Miami (Okla.) News-Herald reported that landscape architecture students have made their recommendations “Miami Beautiful” — a revamped downtown area.

The students clearly took the “Miami Beautiful” name from the historic Coleman Theatre Beautiful in downtown.

According to the project material, the concept features Main Street as “center stage,” while the parking lots and alleys carry a “backstage” function. The proposed pocket parks are dubbed as the “wings” where people make their entrances and exits.

There’s a hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday so the public can view the concepts and provide opinions.

And that’s not all that’s being planned for Miami:

Monday, the Miami City Council will consider submitting a $75,000 Oklahoma Century grant application to fund a proposed Coleman Wall of Fame Pocket Park.

The park will recognize Miami’s most famous natives such as Heisman Trophy winner Steve Owens, artist Charles Banks Wilson, country singer Keith Anderson and Cassie and Steve Gaines of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The park will feature a fountain, entrance signs, wall of fame plaques, tables, chairs and a wrought iron fence and entrance.

The Victorville (Calif.) Daily Press published a feature called Sunday Drive, for folks who want explore the high desert without shelling out a lot for gasoline.

This one focuses a lot on the Harvey House in Barstow (which houses the Barstow Route 66 Mother Road Museum) and another restored railroad station in the settlement of Kelso.

But it also focused on the Mother Road in Amboy:

If you are an old Route 66 aficionado, instead of returning by the way you came, continue south crossing Interstate 40 to Route 66. Go west on Route 66, and you will soon find Amboy on your right.

Amboy is one of those places that was little more than a gas station in its day, but it provided a brief respite to weary travelers. There came a day, however, when Route 66 was replaced by Interstate 40. However, the gas station and restaurant - at least the buildings - are still there, used by the movie studios as props in films and commercials. On April 12 - the day our bus tour stopped there - a T.J. Maxx commercial was being shot.

Waiting just down the road is Cima Dome, a large crater that stands proudly against the barren landscape.

No, I’m not talking about California. I’m talking about the Missouri Ozarks.

And Appellation America has a nice rundown about its wineries, including those along the Mother Road:

Historic Route 66 runs through the area, and much of the appellation seems unchanged from the highway’s heyday. The famous Wagon Wheel Motel and Finn’s Motel (“Vacancy!” “Family Units!”) still welcome weary motorists. In season, travelers may purchase fresh grapes from plywood grape stands along 66 and its modern successor, Interstate 44. The wineries in the appellation are centered on the St. James/Rosati area, with vineyards surrounding the area. An echoing, retro feel pervades the area, but that is acceptable for grape growing and winemaking, industries that use many tools and techniques that have changed very little in the last century (e.g. small wine presses, oak barrels).

The article includes extensive overviews of St. James Winery and Meramec Vineyards, both in St. James. But there are other wineries in that region.

The Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, Calif., isn’t officially at the western end of Route 66. But it’s only a block or so away from that terminus, and it’s a symbolic end of the Mother Road for many travelers.

Other than a hotdog stand or two, the closest place to have a meal at the Pier is at The Lobster, at 1602 Ocean Ave. And according to this review in Jaunted, it appears to be a nicely historic place in an idyllic setting:

The Lobster has fine dining seafood at fine dining prices like $52 for the pan-roasted lobster and $32 for the classic. Yet since it’s steps away from the beach and attached to the pier, fine dining attire is not required.

The Lobster has its own bit of history too, starting out as a small lobster shack in 1923. It was later redesigned in 1999 to give it a more modern luxe California feel. Thus the remodel gave the Lobster a dining room enclosed with glass windows on two sides.

Hit up the tables in this main dining room and request a spot longside the windows to maximize your view of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Pier, which actually looks romantic from a distance.  As for the food, you have to try the Lobster. We say stick to the Classic Lobster dish rather than the pricier pan-roasted one. And even though you’re next to the water, the Lobster (thankfully) uses fresh Maine lobsters for its dishes.

Not down for dinner? The Lobster has a small bar in front and an outside patio where you can sip on margaritas as the sun goes down. And really, that’s the best time to hit up the Lobster.

Here’s a CitySearch entry about The Lobster, complete with a video.

A report by the Morris (Ill.) Daily Herald indicates that attendance at the second annual Illinois Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor Festival was hurt by cold weather on Saturday, but it rebounded somewhat when the temperatures improved on Sunday.

And there’s sentiment to push the festival deeper into the summer months:

Several community members said they hope the committee goes back to a summer event next year, when there may be a chance of rain but the cold, windy weather wouldn’t be an issue. [...]

“The fact that all these people came out and pulled together to put the event on makes it a success,” Cox said. “The weather is the only let down.”

He said they were also competing with several proms, including Gardner, Dwight and Morris’ proms, which he felt was holding some people back from coming out.

Cox said he would be talking with the organizers of the Red Carpet Corridor to see if he could persuade them to push the event back until warmer weather next year.

It appears attendance was better on Sunday, however:

As the weather turned nicer on Sunday, the numbers were better and more people could be found throughout the Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor.

Employees at the Joliet Visitor Center said they had about 25 people in the first hour on Sunday.

A Wilmington Route 66 store reported this weekend to be his busiest in three years.

But any festival organizer will tell you that Saturday is a much bigger money-making day for festivals than Sunday. For the festival to be successful, it needed better weather on Saturday.

I’m not sure that pushing the event back into the summer months would be all that viable because you’d be competing against other summer festivals in the region. But even rescheduling the Red Carpet from early May to late May could make quite a difference with weather conditions.

UPDATE: A report by the Pontiac Daily Leader was a bit sunnier:

“Yesterday was pretty chilly, PROUD’s Lori Fairfield said Sunday, “but the vendors said they actually did fairly well.” Store owners did well, as did restaurants, and “It was great having it downtown,” she said of the mix of entertainment, sales and food. [...]

Officers of the Route 66 Association of Illinois staffing the museum on Sunday said they had a very good turnout, whether people driving the corridor or just visiting the museum. No one mentioned the price of gasoline as a factor in whether to make the trip, they said. [...]

“I think the first day was pretty good attendance for the horrible winter weather that we had. We had quite a bit of crowds, the museums were full, they were happy with the turnout we had,” Pontiac Tourism Director Ellie Alexander said Sunday afternoon. “Our food vendors were busy all day long. I went in a couple of our restaurants here in town and you d couldn’t get a table in them so I would say that was a successful weekend of bringing people to Pontiac and showing them what we have. I haven’t talked to many of the other towns; I know weather was a factor in some of the and some of their vendors left. I was proud our vendors stuck out the bad day yesterday. Today we are going to reap the benefits of that. I see traffic is picking up as we speak.”

It should be noted that Pontiac probably would attract the most people from the festival, especially when the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum is right downtown.

Attendance figures weren’t available for the inaugural Berdoo Bikes & Blues Rendezvous in San Bernardino, Calif., this past weekend. But all evidence points to a successful one, reports the Press-Enterprise:

Blanco said she was happy with the two-day event’s turnout: 3,000 people and 1,500 motorcycles attended Friday night.

She did not have total attendance figures for Saturday but said a 66-mile organized ride that day attracted nearly 400 riders, almost double the expected number.

Blanco said she did not have an estimate of economic impact from the motorcycle show, but said last year’s fall car show contributed $1.2 million to the city.

The event is an offshoot of the city’s enormously successful Route 66 Rendezvous.

Here at Route 66 News, we’ve seen versions of Bobby Troup’s “Route 66″ in nearly every musical genre — rock, rockabilly, blues, jazz, country, Western swing and doo-wop.

Today, we can cross punk rock off the list. Here’s a 1996 video of Los Prostitutas, an influential punk-rock band from Mexico City.

It’s such an audacious and energetic version, I started laughing with delight while watching it. Those who like punk rock will relate.