Opportunity, opportunists and myopia are transforming Route 66 and the Route 66 community. This transformation will have a huge impact on the celebration of the iconic highways centennial in 2026. And in turn this transformation will determine the future of Route 66 in the years leading up to the bicentennial.

Opportunity, Opportunists and Myopia

For small towns, villages, and big cities along the Route 66 corridor the centennial presents unprecedented opportunities. There is ample evidence that the ever growing tsunami of interest in Route 66 can be harnessed for economic development. It can also be used for the revitalization of blighted districts, and to foster development of a sense of community.

Take a look at Pontiac, Illinois or the Route 66 Experience in Springfield. Those are examples of what can be accomplished when people don’t let the wolves split the herd.

But opportunists and myopia can curtail or even negate the benefits represented by the centennial. Even worse are the folks that never learned to play well with others. They really believe that they are the biggest toad in the puddle.

Like a broom tail bronc they seem hell bent on sowing discord and unleashing a whirlwind of chaos if they don’t get their way. Social media where people take sides without facts as though they were still in junior high school fuels the divisions like coal oil thrown on a burning barn.

Airin’ the Lungs

Unlike dealing with an ornery mule, you can’t adjust their attitude with a sawed off piece of fence post. So, you set out to airin’ the lungs with every four letter word you can think of and try to pick up the pieces. And you build a network of cooperative partnrships.

Michael Wallis has often referred to Route 66 as a linear community. Well, if that is the case my neighbors to the east have sure got a bag of nails to deal with in a very short time if they hope to benefit from the centennial. They are not alone, unfortunately. .

The good news is that most folks in the intenational Route 66 community have learned that a chain is only as strong as each link. That bodes well for reaping benefits from the centennial. And it also means that the centennial might just be the closing of one chapter, and the beginning of another.

I suppose that this is rather fitting. From its inception there were self serving folks along Route 66 that were so narrow mindied in their focus on what they wanted or needed, they could look down a beer bottle with both eyes.

But they were drowned out by the good hearted people that were generous with time and money. These kind hearted people are the foundation and the core of the Route 66 experience. These are the people that infuse the old road with an infectious magic. And these are the people that we put in the spotlight on Coffee With Jim, the live podcast from Jim Hinckley’s America.