This is where I would like to be. Where I am is a quasi vacation which means that the office only consumes a couple of hours per day instead of ten.

This frees up enough of the day to get in six hours or so on a writing project with a very tight deadline, an hour or two on research for Ghost Towns of Route 66, a walk with my dearest friend, and errands for mother. Still, I have no complaints. After all, my goal is to become a writer when I grow up.

Additional projects scheduled for the week include photographing the Christmas light display downtown in Locomotive Park. This is across the street from the Power House Visitor Center and Route 66 Museum. This is such a simple but yet beautiful display I feel compelled to share it with fans of the old double six.

This leads to something else we have discussed. If you have a specific site in western Arizona along Route 66 that you would like to see, please let me know and an effort will be made to get a shot or two posted.

I have been delving deeply into obscure Route 66 history and as a result am chomping at the bit to explore the section between Albuquerque and Santa Rosa in New Mexico that was bypassed in 1937. Not only is this one of the most obscure alignments of the highway it is also dotted with intriguing little communities such as San Juan, on a truncated part of the old highway that was also the Santa Fe Trail, with a circa 1825 church and a 1921 steel truss bridge.

All of this has resulted in a bit of Ebay shopping. This pioneering on line auction site has changed a great deal and has been nudged from its position of dominance by competition since I spent hours and hours, and hundreds of dollars, gathering material to be used as illustrations for The Big Book of Car Culture.
My primary problem is remaining focused and not becoming distracted by items like a mechanical pen that calculates map mileage in its original box from 1950 for $1.99. Most of the items purchased for the first book now constitute a large part of the small museum dedicated to automotive advertisement that is my office.

This Ebay expedition is for maps and related material that will enable accurate chronicling of the evolution of Route 66. To date the most expensive item acquired was a very nice 1929 Rand McNally Atlas, $30.00, and the best bargain, a 1939 state of Arizona highway map, $1.99.

At some point in the future the plan is to scan some of the material for a special section on the website, http://www.route66infocenter.com/.

Now its time for the office and errands, then a walk and work.