This is not to say we aren’t fascinated and even intrigued by the amazing array of gadgetry that is the hallmark of our society in the first decade of the 21st century. Its just that we have found more often than not these things complicate rather enhance life.

As a result we jokingly refer to ourselves as the Hinckley Hillbillies. We live in a sort of suspended animation somewhere between the extreme electronics geek whose home is fully automated and the Amish farmer.

This brings us to the unusual photo displayed with this mornings post. This was originally a color photo of the Adventurer in front of Cool Springs along Route 66 in the Black Mountains of western Arizona.

In building and developing our companion website, http://www.route66infocenter.com/, largely with the assistance of Building a Web Site for Dummies, I discovered the fascinating world of electronic photo manipulation through http://www.irfanview.com/. This photo is the result of some play time spent on that site.

When we first launched the website there were issues with extremely slow load time. We found the photos were to large. As a result we were forced to sterilize the site by removing the photos. Now we have a solution and by Monday afternoon vibrancy will be restored to the site with colorful photos of our corner of the world, from our escapades, and with historic photos. As I can’t resist playing with a new toy you can bet money there will also be some oddities such as this as well.

This should be the final obstacle with the website. Now we can focus on transforming it into the interactive, one stop site for travelers and travelers with a fascination with automotive history originally envisioned.

To that end I look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions. I would also like to encourage business owners to consider advertising with us. There is a contact form on the website or you can reach us through the blog comment section.

Another project of importance for this holiday weekend is final coordination of the Route 66 Ghost Town project with the primary photographer, Kerrick James. This includes compilation of the towns to be included for profile.

To that end I purchased a copy of Jerry McClanahan’s EZ 66 Guide for Travelers. If you plan on driving Route 66 and want to find its hidden gems as well as secret places this book is a must have traveling companion.
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=rout66chro-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0970995164&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
Two more tools I would recommend for anyone planning a Route 66 adventure are Route 66 News and the Afton Stations site. Both are very informative as well as current.

It is my sincere hope that as you enjoy this holiday weekend a moment of two will be set aside to meditate on why it was established. Perhaps an opportunity will even present itself for saying thank you to a veteran.