To borrow an advertising slogan from a famous Route 66 landmark, here it is. Post number 1,499, the final one before reaching a milestone.
Today I would like to share one half of the top twenty photos. Over the years these images have received the most comments and a few, surprisingly, still garner inquiries requesting more details or about purchase of a print.
As to the latter, Jim Hinckley’s America gallery at Legend of America is our distributor for prints. The gallery will be expanded in the next few months as we always find new subjects during our summer adventures.
This Christmas card featuring the pre 1952 alignment of Route 66 in the Black Mountains with the snow covered Hualapai Mountains as a backdrop generated a great deal of interest. Winter is a tough time to travel Route 66 but for the hearty adventurer the opportunity for stunning photos, especially in the desert southwest, is almost limitless.
Photos from our adventure along an obscure section of the National Old Trails Highway with John McEnulty of the Grand Canyon Caverns garnered inquiries for more information from all corners of the globe. As Ian Bowman says, “Route 66 is the gateway drug.”
Snow in the desert seems to be of tremendous interest to folks who only know it as cauldron endured summer adventures. The president of my fan club, my publicist, and my business manager (better known to readers as my dearest friend) always manages to get photos that capture me at my best.
This photo was taken along the old wagon road near Kingman after an early morning snow. I was lost in thought as the previous months had been quite trying, to say the very least.
In this photo we have the old section of Route 66 in Kingman that is signed as Chadwick Drive after a rare early spring snow. I credit the popularity of this photo to the sense of timelessness as much as to the unusual blending of snow and desert.
I was surprised by the popularity of this photo taken by my official press agent, who also happens to be the president of the fan club. It was taken on one of our adventures into the Hualapai Mountains, a pine covered oasis just a dozen miles south of Kingman.
The press agent captured this image when I was serving as a guide for Australian television personality Mark Fletcher. The popularity of this photo also surprised me.
Food and friends are always popular posts. There is something voyeuristic in the Route 66 community that lends itself to fans enjoying the road vicariously.
I think the popularity of this photo can be credited to the fact that these Route 66 celebrities, at least two of them, were out of their native habitat. Kevin and Nancy Mueller are best known as the friendly proprietors of the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari.
Usually photos catch them sharing an infectious smile with guests or doing reasonable imitations of Bob Vila. This time, however, they were caught sharing a barbecue dinner at Redneck’s Southern Barbecue in Kingman, a favorite hangout of mine.
I wasn’t surprised by the popularity of this photo. After all it featured the smiling faces of two of the most famous people on Route 66, Michael and Suzanne Wallis, and my dearest friend, the mystery women behind most photos of me on the road and a primary source of my success as an author.
I attribute a touch of silly with a Route 66 classic as a backdrop to the popularity of this photo. This was taken in Flagstaff on the last leg of a grueling, fun filled odyssey that included book signings, long days on the road, friends, good food, and just a touch of road weary punchiness thrown in for good measure.
Based on the questions asked, the popularity of this photo was largely resultant of the fact that this obscure section of old Route 66 in Cubero, New Mexico is often overlooked. This delightful loop runs from a point just west of Budville, through the historic village, and then out to Villa de Cubero.
Tomorrow we celebrate a milestone together. I wonder how best to celebrate?
