History in the Shadow of Six Flags

The end of prohibition killed the Smith brothers’ bootleg business. No matter. They opened two legal taverns, one in Eureka, one in Fenton. And when Route 66 came through Pacific, Missouri, in 1935 they opened the Red Cedar Inn. The … Read More

Panhandling

Cheryl wasn’t too keen on my motel choice. But water pressure was good. Route 66.

Carny Road

Two icons along Route 66 point to a third. Sticking up like a wart on the flat windy Texas Panhandle, where dust is a commodity spread liberally along the armpit of Oklahoma, a leaning tower teeters, posing for shutterbugs intent … Read More

The Route 66 Bridges Across the Piney River

Four bridges cross the Big Piney River at a spot so rugged it was damn near the last section of Route 66 to be completed. We floated downriver into the shadow of each bridge, close together, from oldest to newest. … Read More

Turquoise, Green Chiles and the U.S. Treasury

Gallup, New Mexico. Stopped at Jerry’s Cafe for the chiles, specifically New Mexico hatch chiles rellenos. We slid into a cozy two-top booth across the aisle from a spittin’ image for Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin. No shit. Doppelganger. I didn’t … Read More

It goes through Saint Louie

Here is a historic highway, a narrow concrete time capsule, complete with ghosts of gas stations pumping out charm and skeletons of roadside diners serving up simpler times. Route 66 is all attitude: Freedom. Adventure. Kicks.

Puzzle Heaven. Puzzle Hell.

Sleeper, Missouri, hides some big stories. Years ago two trains collided in Sleeper. The trains piled up like accordions, and only a jigsaw puzzle master could put them together again. Appropriate, as I approached Nancy Ballhagen’s Puzzles, a major distributor … Read More

Kudzu 66

Get your kicks on Route 66. But at least at this stop, a lube job is out of the question.