The organizers for the 2014 Route 66 International Festival are planning on using the event as a means to showcase the wide array of wonders in the city as well as the surrounding area. The first step is inclusion of a video from Diamond Valley Productions and award winning producer Norm Fisk on the festival website.
Watching this video always leaves me puzzled as I can’t understand why Kingman isn’t a destination. As Ian at 66-to Cali on Santa Monica Pier so aptly put it, Route 66 is the gateway drug.
Quite often once people discover the wonder, excitement, warmth, vibrancy, adventure, and the fun of the Route 66 experience, they often expand this scope of vision to include other old roads, highways, and trails. From that perspective Kingman should be a destination in any season.
I am rather confident the festival next year should change this. However, before moving on to the next topic, I should point out that even though the organizers are only in the formative stage of development this does not mean you can’t share ideas or thoughts, or make arrangements to be a vendor, to speak at one of the seminars, to get information for your car club, make motel reservations, or contact them in regard to sponsorship or advertising opportunities.
Next is the subject of detours, specifically Route 66 detours. I touched on this concept in a book (Backroads of Route 66) a few years ago.
Route 66 is truly a grand adventure in itself. However, with a bit of planning and adjustment to the schedule, a sense of adventure, and the slightest of detours, it is possible to greatly magnify the experience.
Some of this will be the subject for a Route 66 travel guide due for release next spring, just in time for your next adventure. As examples of fascinating and memorable detours consider the Cave Restaurant near Lebanon, Missouri, or Totem Pole Park just south of Foyil, Oklahoma, or Hualapai Mountain Park twelve miles south of Kingman.
Now, add a few festivals to the schedule, such as the Route 66 Fun Run or the Illinois Red Carpet Tour, and assurance that the Route 66 adventure is uniquely yours is guaranteed. That takes us to 2014 and an expansion of my service to the Route 66 community, assistance and development of travel planning.
I will tailor an itinerary for a Route 66 adventure that fits your time schedule as well as specific interests. This will include contact information as well as directions, a list of recommended materials, and assistance with reservations. I am quite confident that this will be a worthy investment in regard to planning your holiday.
As for my upcoming schedule, I have been delinquent in posting updates on the various pages. This, however, will be resolved by the end of the weekend.
A quick summary includes –
Important updates for The Route 66 Encyclopedia –
Speaking engagements and appearances through October –
Kingman dining updates –
Meanwhile, if your in the neighborhood of Mother Road Harley Davidson in Kingman tomorrow around 1:00, stop by and say howdy to a group from China that is headed west on Route 66 and a few local Cadillac enthusiasts.
