Twenty til 66

As I sit here on a balmy 90 degree day in Denton, Texas my mind can't help but wonder what it will be like in 20 days. Ordinarily, August 2nd is a reminder that it is two weeks away from the anniversary of the passing of one of my favorite artists, Elvis Presley. However, this year it marks the return to the annual Route 66 Festival. This year the event takes place in Joplin, Missouri, one of the communities mentioned in Bobby Troup's ode to the Mother Road.

Every year, the event goes from region to region. A couple of years ago it was in the geographical heart of 66, Amarillo, Texas while last year Southern California was the focus around John Steinbeck's close friend Tom Joad's travel companion. People from authors Jim Hinckley and Michael Wallis to road map connoisseur Mike Ward, back road artists like Nick Gerlich and Rich Dinkela, and local business owners, the Four Women on the Route,(now Cars on the Route, a reference to the classic Disney Pixar flick "Cars,") will be ready to meet and greet the hard core roadie, lover of 66, or curious by-standers.

(One of the popular stops along the route in the Joplin to Tulsa, OK drive. Located in Miami (pronounced Miam-ah), the establishment offers great burgers, and a down home environment)

What makes the event unique, aside from getting the opportunity to meet interesting and famous people, is to see the passionate and hard working people who live or lived along the route. For example, at this year's festival people will get to see some changes that were made in Galena, Kansas, a former mining community that lies less than 15 minutes west from Joplin along the Double Six where they changed the hallmark of their business. (For more http://route66news.com/2013/03/19/4-women-on-the-route-undergoing-significant-changes/)

This year I will spend my first night at the Boots Motel in Carthage, Missouri, the site of an owner's dream of being a part of the 66 community. Recently, they were allocated a matching grant by the National Park Service via the Route 66 Corridor Grant Program to help restore the business to its original appearance. (For more: http://bootsmotel.homestead.com/Boots-Motel-Updates.html)

As I daydream into the future shivers run down my spine as I think back to the first time I experienced 66. In 2005, I traveled from New York to Tucumcari, New Mexico (via Dallas and Amarillo) to attend a car show, which was part of a Route 66 event. Ever since drooling along the burning asphalt on that 110 degree day, and reading Hemmings with a 54' powder blue Hudson Hornet, I have been a 66-a-holic. May the countdown begin.