Jim Hinckley’s Blog
The Main Street of America
Shortly after the U.S. Highway 66 Association was established in early 1927, a marketing campaign was launched that branded the newly minted highway as the Main Street of America. It was a brilliant strategy as one of the most famous "named highways" in America, the...
The Grand Adventure
In our home we celebrate Valentine's Day every day of the week. Never is there is a day that I don't reflect on how fortunate I am that an amazing woman looked beyond my down at the heels, rough around the edges exterior and accepted my invitation to share the grand...
The Quest
It was a perfect morning for a bit of reflection and some desert exploration. I was alone with my thoughts for the first time since hearing that my pa had passed, and there was a hint of a chill in the air as the light of dawn chased the shadows. Seldom do I sleep in...
Tarnished Gems
The celebrity association is lengthy. At one of the hotels an impromptu reception was held for Clark Gable and Carol Lombard after their wedding in the spring of 1939. Edsel Ford and his travel companions had stayed at the hotel in July 1915. The neighboring hotel was...
Impeachment, Dirty Tricks & Sausage
In the era before Google when people had to conduct research laboriously I would have bet good money that almost no one was familiar with President David Atchison. His tombstone in Plattsburg, Missouri reads, "David Rice Atchison, 1807-1886, President of the U.S. for...
Ghost of Christmas Past Or Ghost of Christmas Future?
Sobering. Disturbing. Haunting. These words are apt descriptors for a few of the places visited during my travels over the years. On a cold, drizzly day in January, I stood in the trenches near Sanctuary Wood a short distance from Ypres Belgium where thousands of...
Turn Left At The Bridge That Used To Be Painted Yellow
"The best commentary on the road between Santa Fe and Albuquerque is that it took us less than three hours to make the sixty-six miles, whereas the seventy-three miles from Las Vegas to Santa Fe took us nearly six." Emily Post, By Motor to The Golden Gate, 1916. The...
The Quest
With the luxury of a half century of hindsight I can now see that the quest began in the summer of '69. That was when I began trading hours of my life for money. That was the summer that I began working for Ed of Ed's Camp on a long abandoned alignment of Route 66 in...
In The Beginning: Forty Years That Changed The World
Carlos F. Hurd was a reporter that had gained international notoriety in 1912 for his series of interviews with survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. He was no stranger to disaster, to stories of human suffering and to gut wrenching stories of family tragedy....
A Man Named Carter
The Cartercar, not to be confused with the Cartermobile manufactured in Hannibal, Missouri or the Cartermobile manufactured in Hyattsville, Maryland, was promoted in marketing campaigns as "The Car of A Thousand Speeds" and "The car with no gears to strip, no clutch...
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