I am a tad bit off schedule as day two for this project to chronicle sixty six days of Route 66 trivia should have been posted yesterday afternoon. So, an apology and a thank you for the patience. Today’s trivia note is a short one.
In Victorville, California, on a small side street that was an early alignment of Route 66, the Green Spot Motel remains a rare and tangible link to the prewar years on this legendary highway. In its glory days during the late 1930s and through the 1940s this motel was a welcome refuge for celebrities filming in the Victorville area.
Perhaps the most notable association the motel has with the glory days of Holloywood is its role in the creation of Citizen Kane. It was here that John Houseman and Herman J. Mankiewicz penned the first two drafts for this legenday movie.
Now, new business. As we are fast closing in on the end of the year the liberal use of sunset shots seemed appropriate for illustrations. Some of these were taken here in the kingman area and others were taken along the coast of California.
The first in this series were taken from one of my favorite “secret” locations on Route 66 in western Arizona, the hill top to the west of the Quality Inn overlooking the historic district in Kingman. Sunsets from this vantage point are most always awe inspiring.
Well, I am still woefully short of material for the next book Ghost Towns of Route 66, but work must begin this weekend. This makes for a rather frustrating position, one I am all to unfamiliar with.
I have been neglecting the website, http://www.route66infocenter.com/, as a result of time constraints but that is changing this week. So, you might wish to start the new year with a virtual tour. As always your thoughts and suggestions would be most welcome.
One aspect of the site that I am quite excited about is the photo gallery. In adidtion to the signed, limited editon prints and stock photos we will begin offering, on memory stick, a wide array of photos that are ideal for use in a digital picture frame.
I selected a wide array of our photography and built a delightful slide show in a digital frame for our living room. At the risk of sounding overly prideful I was quite impressed and honestly feel these would be a welcome addition to most any home or office.
At this time the photos offered will be in random sets of twenty five with a list of where each photo was taken. If the program merits enough interest we will become more specialized and break down the photo sets into themes; ghost towns, Route 66, the desert southwest, Arizona, etc. At this time every set will be a mixed bag featuring these subjects as well as others.
Book reviews were originally planned for the site but were not fully integrated. That issue will also be resolved this week.
On that note I have to plug one of the most amazing Route 66 travel guides yet encountered, EZ 66 Guide for Travelers http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=1968adventurer&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0970995164&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrby Jerry McClanahan. This detailed yet simplistic work covers every aspect of the highway from original alignments to notes on communites, historic sites, unique bridges, and businesses.
This is not to say the work is encyclopedic. There is a great deal of information not contained in these pages but there is more than enough to lay the foundation for an unforgettable day trip or an epic adventure on Route 66.
The sites primary function is to assist in planning for and to encourage travel on Route 66 and the other great American two lane highway. Expanding on this will be a question and answer section.
Drop us a note with your travel question and we will either answer it for you or direct you to some one who can answer it. Both the questions and answers will be posted in an effort to assit others.
As a bit of shamless self promotion I also would recommend Backroads of Route 66http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=1968adventurer&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=076032817X&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr. In this work I utilized that famous highway as a portal to a wide array of short detours such as Palo Duro Canyon just to the south of Amarillo and Supai north of the Grand Canyon Caverns.
Together these two guides ensure endless possibilities for expeditions along Route 66. Backroads of Route 66, with stunning photography, is also ideal for the armchair adventurer.
