SHORT POST, LONG PLEA
Today we have a short post but a very long plea. One half of the latter is a pug being circulated by the publisher.
In my effort to solicit information for projects this work well in regards to the establishment of legitimacy. Please feel free to print and circulate, or drop a note in regards to specific need for an interview or appearance.
We also have a plea for information that is relatively self explanatory. If you can lend assistance, have ideas, or would like to help write history please drop a note. Thank you.
ROUTE 66 ENCYCLOPEDIA & ATLAS
Voyageur Press/Quayside Publishing – publisher
Text and photography by Jim Hinckley, author of Ghost Towns of the Southwest, Backroads of Arizona, Route 66 Backroads, The Big Book of Car Culture, Ghost Towns of Route 66 (fall 2010), and contributor for the compilation Greetings from Route 66 (fall 2010).
To ensure this work is historically correct, provides a comprehensive overview of Route 66, and is as current as possible, I am petitioning historic societies, museums, businesses, and Route 66 organizations for assistance in the form of suggestions for material to be included, contact information, historic information, and information pertaining to the acquisition of material to be used as illustrations.
General topics for inclusion:
1) Community profile – a profile of each community on all alignments of Route 66.
2) Biographies – concise biographical sketches of individuals that have played key roles in the roads history. Examples; Bob Waldmire, Cyrus Avery, Micahel Wallis, etc.
3) Notable events that are directly associated with Route 66 or its predecessor auto trails such as the National Old Trails Highway or Ozark Trail. Examples; the Desert Classic automobile races 1908 – 1914, the Bunion Derby, etc.
4) Predecessor highway history – the National Old Trails Highway, Ozark Trail, etc.
5) Current businesses and their history – this category would be historic or new businesses such as Pops in Arcadia and Afton Station in Afton.
6) Historic businesses now closed – examples for this category would include the Painted Desert Trading Post and Coral Court Motel.
7) Route 66 entertainment – television shows and movies filmed on Route 66 or locations that were used in these films.
8) Personal stories – short stories of personal experiences on Route 66 that will serve to illustrate its evolution.
My goal with this project is to chronicle the first 85 years of Route 66 history, to preserve it for future generations, and to further fuel the resurgent interest in the highway. Thank you for the assistance – Jim Hinckley
1308 Stockton Hill Rd.
Suite A, PMB 228
Kingman, AZ 86401-5190
Jim Hinckley, author, Route 66 Backroads, Backroads of Arizona, The Big Book of Car Culture, Ghost Towns of the Southwest, Greetings from Route 66 (October, 2010) update
For more than twenty years Jim Hinckley, award winning author and associate editor for Cars & Parts magazine, has served as America’s travel guide to the wonders only found on the back roads and lost highways. On June 1, 2011, Jim will take readers on an amazing and unique tour of legendary Route 66 in Ghost Towns of Route 66.
In Backroads of Route 66 iconic Route 66 was portrayed as a portal to a wide array of adventures, historic sites, and scenic wonders only found with short detours north as well as south of that world famous highway. Photographs by Kerrick James, Shellee Graham, Jim Ross, and Rick and Nora Bowers, as well as historic photos from the author’s collection, enliven the concise, informative text with colorful vibrancy.
A previous book in the back roads series, Backroads of Arizona, introduced readers to singularly unique and often missed Arizona attractions such as Crown King, the Senator Highway, and Hualapai Mountain Park.
The Big Book of Car Culture is an award winning, fun filled, illustrated encyclopedic work on all things automotive from the evolution of crash test dummies and tow trucks to the development of the Ford Mustang and the history of road striping. The theme of bringing obscurity in from the shadows is also manifest in his monthly column, The Independent Thinker, published by Cars & Parts magazine.
Greetings from Route 66, a compilation for which Jim wrote the chapter introductions, is a time capsule and post card chronicling almost 85 years of memories on America’s most famous highway.
In Ghost Towns of the Southwest, Jim took readers along for a ride to some of the most fascinating and colorful ghost towns in the southwest from Native American metropolises and Spanish colonial outposts to legendary Tombstone and historic Hillsboro. With Ghost Towns of Route 66 the reader will ride along on an odyssey of discovery to places where the neon hasn’t cast a glow in more than a half century and only the wind stirs the dust on Route 66.
Filled with the colorful prose expected of Jim, and stunning photography by Kerrick James and Jim Hinckley, Ghost Towns of Route 66 will be a delight for armchair travelers. With its detailed maps and snap shot quality text it will also be an invaluable travel guide.