The Route 66 Chick

Atlanta's beautiful library was the site of our Sunday "Route 66 in Illinois" program and book signing. The classical style octagonal building was built at the intersection of Arch and Race Streets in 1908 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been beautifully maintained and contains the original book stacks. Recent restoration work has enhanced the structure and made the lower level more functional for a variety of activities. Bill Thomas and Rachel Neisler, directors, were gracious hosts. An attentive crowd assembled and stayed engaged with our tales as we ran a bit long with the program, as we tend to do. There are so many great Illinois Route 66 stories and we want to share as many as we can! Nice people, a pretty day, and one of our favorite towns on the Illinois section of Route 66 all contributed to a very pleasant afternoon. Atlanta has one of the shortest but sweetest streetscapes on the Illinois route. The restored Palms Grill Ca

Carlinville's annual Route 66 Car Show and Cruise In was held Saturday, July 26, on the historic square in Carlinville. There was a good crowd, numerous car entries, vendors both outside on the square and indoors in the K.C. Hall, tours of the Million Dollar Courthouse, great fish sandwiches, and more than enough heat and humidity. My co-author Joe Sonderman and I set up our book booth on the square (in a nice spot next to the friendly Carlinville Chamber of Commerce folks) with Joe's beautiful '57 Chevy Bel-Air parked right in front of us.  Our book booth on the square behind the Chevy, and the Million Dollar Courthouse visible in the background. At 11:30, a ceremony was held commemorating 90 years since the Ariston Cafe was first established in Carlinville. A plaque at the corner of the historic building was unveiled. The second and third generations of the Adam family, Ariston owners/operators, were on hand for the occasion. The building on the historic C

On Sunday, Joe Sonderman and I did a very fun book signing at the Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center in Litchfield, Illinois. We had a great crowd and had the opportunity to chat with a lot of visitors. It was especially fun for me as Litchfield was my hometown for over 40 years. I appreciate so many old friends, acquaintances, and extended family stopping by! Thank you so much! And thank you to the Litchfield Museum for hosting us. Route 66 exhibit sign at the Litchfield Museum. We do wish to issue apologies to everyone who came expecting to hear our "Route 66 in Illinois" presentation. We were looking forward to sharing the program but museum staff was concerned about space considerations and the lack of a proper set-up for presenting a program to a potentially large group, and so preferred that we did not do it. Unfortunately, this was expressed to us after the publicity had already gone out. In the fall, please watch for us to return to Litchfield to g

Everyone loves the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, and it was a great place for a book signing last Saturday to conclude June, our book release month. Thanks to Josh Waldmire for hosting! Unfortunately, co-author Joe Sonderman could not be there due to his work schedule, but he pre-signed our book stock so no one went away with a new book without both signatures in it. There was a good lunch crowd plus several parties who had made the trip into Springfield just for the Route 66 in Illinois book and some Cozy Dogs! Three hours went by quickly, chatting with visitors plus eating! From the Cozy Dog we moved on to the great Prairie Archives book store in downtown Springfield to do some perusing before they closed at 5:00 pm. Steve Rensberry had agreed to accompany me on the Springfield trip, and a book store stop is a must for both of us. Plus, it was our birthday week (Steve's birthday is the day before mine), so we had some shopping to do for each other. A great book on Joli