roadmaven

Jim Ross & Shellee Graham will be presenting “Cruisin’ Route 66: Sample the Good Life” in El Reno, Oklahoma October 27. The event consists of Shellee's Route 66 photo exhibit from 11am-noon, eats & treats, music, and presentations by Jim & Shellee from noon-2pm, and book signings from 2pm-3pm. Merchandise will also be available for purchase at that time. The location is: RCC Conference Center 1300 S. Country Club Road • El Reno, Oklahoma * FREE ADMISSION *

SAINT MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Indiana – A stretch of U.S. 150 near Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College has been renamed Saint Mother Theodore Guérin Memorial Highway. Gov. Mitch Daniels joined the Sisters of Providence and local officials today to unveil one of several signs designating the road in her honor. To read the rest of the story, click here: Holy Highway, Batman!

Great job, Steve, and a fine job you've done on your web site! I'm looking forward to going through it more at lunch today.

Denny, you would've seen me had it not been for a prior roadtrip already scheduled. The Corvair clan is heading on a fall foliage tour into southern Indiana with an overnighter in Owensboro, KY Saturday night. The leaves should be at their peak this weekend, so it should be a great view if the rain holds off.

Great news....The Bridgeton Bridge was dedicated October 1st! With two weeks until the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival, the citizens of Parke County and everyone who contributed should be commended. Bravo! Story Here

Well, I had a free day today to roam the roads, so I made it worthwhile and took a roadie to Owensboro today. The verdict? I saw one mom & pop motel along US 60 through town, and, well, it looks like I'll be staying at the Holiday Inn Express.

Thanks for stopping by Bridgeton for me! I entertained the idea of driving over there Sunday in hopes I'd run into you, but my yard and shrubs in need of a trim got the better of me. The bridge looks like it's almost ready to go. I'm very impressed with the effort to copy the original. Just about the only difference I see is that the entrance to the original looks a little wider and "squattier" than the new one, but other than that, she looks like a beauty. Now I just need to figure out if I can get a day off during the festival to make a run over there.

Kevin, Sure looks like you've been busy! I'll look through those some more and give you my favorites, for what that's worth. One of my favorites is "US Highway Font", which is modeled after the font on the first generation US highway shields. I had to wipe out my computer a few weeks ago and forgot to save it, but I think the wife still has it, so I'll get it from her and pass it on to you.

As a big fan of Wikipedia, I discovered it's a really good resource for finding info on US highways. Just about every US route is covered, some have a lot of detail, including maps, terminus info, etc, while other routes listed are sparse of details. Here's a "for instance": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_52 Really simple to use for this purpose....just type in the search box "US" and your favorite highway number.

Hi all.....We're going to be spending a night in Owensboro, KY in a few weeks as part of a car cruise. The Holiday Inn Express has been set up as the overnight motel, but I wouldn't mind finding a nice mom & pop place down there so I don't have to fork over $72 plus tax. Does anyone know of any of the mom & pop joints in Owensboro?? There are a few along US 60, but I couldn't find any pictures or any web sites for them. Thanks for any tips!

Just wanted to let everyone know what a great weekend it was on the motor tour. Big or small, the Missouri folks know how to put on a tour to remember. The good news is there were about 55 registered cars for the weekend, which, as I understand, is nearly 20 more than in 2005. Let's hope that's a positive sign for travel in general along our two-lanes. The highlight was driving across the Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis, the second time I've been fortunate enough to do so. I highly encourage everyone to check out one of these types of events in one of the Route 66 states. Good way to travel with like-minded roadies as well as meet some new friends in the process. Hats off to the Route 66 Association of Missouri!!

Hopefully I don't jinx things, but how about the tumbling gas prices?? I saw a Speedway station on the way home with a price of $2.39/gallon for regular unleaded. First time I've seen it that low since last winter. As someone who's heading on a roadtrip this weekend, I can't be more happy. Fall is not only may favorite season to drive because of the weather, but also for cheaper petrol prices. So, this brings up the question: What are gas prices in your neck-of-the-woods??

World's first motel a site worth saving On our recent family driving vacation up the California coast, we found ourselves staying the night a few doors south of the world's first motel. I was surprised. To read the complete article, click here: World's first motel a site worth saving

All my reservations are set! Just 4 days til I hit the road. Looking forward to seeing everyone Friday night in Litchfield. Kent, how's the registration looking so far??

Since there's a chance we might be attending Springfield, I reckon a bridge meeting is very possible!

Just to update, the two spans have now been put in place. Pics from The Indianapolis Star can be found here. Looks like they're well on their way to completing it before October's Covered Bridge Festival

From Ron Warnick's Route 66 News blog, there's a fantastic "then & now" photo. It's of a well-known image by Ernst Hass that appeared in Life magazine of Route 66 in Albuquerque following a thunderstorm in 1969. OpenThreads recreated the same picture recently and the results can be found here . As a big fan of "then & now" pictures, this is one that wouldn't be possible to recreate very easily, mainly because the weather conditions would've had to have been the same, as well as the time of day. Bravo to OpenThreads!