Students perform excerpts from “Route 66 America’s Main Street”, an audio-book from Readio Theatre, LLC. Travel the Mother Road with Joe Loesch’s Radio Actors Playhouse. Visit www.readiotheatre.com for more Route 66 products.
The Radio Actors Playhouse performs excerpts from "Route 66 America's Main Street [8:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadReadio Theatre, LLC presents Joe Loesch’s Voice-Over Class #3, as they present excerpts from Readio’s latest audio-book. “Get More Kicks Off 66“. Visit the people and places, both on and off America’s Main Street. Visit us at readiotheatre.com.
Joe Loesch’s Voice Over Class gives their twist to this already successful audiobook “The Alamo - A Line In The Sand” by Readio Theatre, LLC
“Voices From Route 66″ presented by Readio Theatre, LLC
Day 2 - April 28, 2006 (IL & MO)
Continuing through such little towns as Glenarm, Divernon, Farmersville and Waggoner, we stopped for photos of the beautifully restored Soulsby Shell Station in Mt. Olive. Then on to Staunton where we had a great visit with Rich Henry at Henry’s Rabbit Ranch. In addition to live rabbits, Rich has a wonderful 66 gift shop that carries some of Joe’s audio books. The property is also home to vintage gas station and motel signs as well as gasoline pumps. His future plans include half-burying a line of Volkswagen “Rabbits” in the ground, nose down, similar to the 10 Caddies at Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, TX. Pressing on through Williamson, Hamel, Edwardsville and Mitchell, we finally arrived at the site we’d been talking about for months, the Chain of Rocks Bridge, a definite high point of the trip for both Joe and me. Built in 1929, this Route 66 icon crosses the Mississippi River connecting Illinois to Missouri at St. Louis. The mile-long bridge is famous for its 22-degree bend in the middle of the river. Joe’s mom tells us that when she was a young girl she attended dances at Chain of Rocks Park beneath the bridge on the St. Louis side. The bridge is now open to walking and bicycle traffic. We walked across and back, glad to get the two-miles of exercise. Then back to the road.
On the way through St. Louis we stopped to visit Joe’s niece, Kathy, who markets his audio books through e-commerce. Moving ever westward through Pacific and St. Clair, we had to take a little side trip at Stanton, MO to visit Meramec Caverns, a favorite family vacation destination since the 1930s. The original owner capitalized on the story about the cave once being the (alleged) hideout for the outlaw Jessie James and his gang. A couple of marketing strategies this attraction contributed to the tourism industry are the bumper sticker and the barnside billboard. We arrived in Rolla, MO late that evening in a pouring rain. After checking into a Best Western, we found a great dinner at a nearby steak house. Our waitress, Tanner, was a talkative young lady who had graduated nursing school but is now going to EMT school because nursing “just isn’t exciting enough.”
Tags: Henry’s Rabbit Ranch, Cadillac Ranch, Meramec Caverns, Route 66, Chain of Rocks Bridge
Day 1 - April 27, 2006 (IL)
We started that morning at Grant Park beside Lake Michigan and headed our rented SUV west through busy Chicago traffic, passing such landmarks as Henry’s Hot Dogs and the Wishing Well Motel. Our first stop was west of Chicago at Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket restaurant where they’ve been serving it up since 1930. We just needed some bottled water and a bathroom break but enjoyed the nostalgic 66 remembrances that line the walls. On to Joliet, IL where we photoed the beautifully restored a once thriving vaudeville and movie playhouse. Joliet rose to new fame when its prison was parodied in the film The Blues Brothers. Our lunch stop was in Wilmington, IL at the Launching Pad Drive-in. The ‘60s era burger and coke place is towered over by one of Route 66’s most famous icons, “The Gemini Giant”. The giant is a huge fiberglass figure in a sci-fi movie-style space suit holding a rocket in his hands.
In Braidwood we enjoyed seeing the very colorful Polk-a-dot Drive-in and had fun passing by the nostalgic (reproduction) Burma Shave signs in Godley. In Odell, IL we visited a wonderful 66 gift shop in a completely restored Standard Oil Gas Station building. This structure is on the National Register of Historic Places. That means that the restoration, even the tile roof, had to be done with original period building materials. In the little town of Towanda they have turned part of the old, closed Route 66 pavement into a public recreation area, complete with picnic tables and even Burma Shave signs. We stopped at Funk’s Grove in Shirley for a jar of their famous “maple sirup”, made on the family farm since the 1800’s. In McLean, IL the Dixie Trucker’s Home still thrives as a favorite stop for travelers. Not an especially friendly environment, but okay for food and gifts.
The main eye-catcher in Atlanta, IL is, no doubt, a relative of the Gemini Giant. It is a huge fiberglass Paul Bunyan-looking mountain man statue that was used in the 60’s by a Bunyan Restaurant chain. The Pig Hip Restaurant in nearby Broadwell was known for its pork barbecue and now serves a popular Route 66 museum and gift shop. Day one ended with a much needed rest at a Motel 6 in Springfield, IL where virtually all tourism efforts focus on Abe Lincoln.
Tags: Henry’s Hot Dogs, Wishing Well Motel, Launching Pad Drive-in, Henry’s Hot Dogs, Motel 6, The Gemini Giant, Rialto Square Theater, Polk-a-dot Drive-in, Burma Shave signs, The Pig Hip Restaurant, The Blues Brothers
Route 66 – An American Odyssey
By Woody Bomar
Part 2 – April, 2006
Finally, in April of 2006, my friend Joe Loesch and I completed traveling the “other half” of route 66. In April of ’05 we had traveled the western part, starting in LA and driving east to Oklahoma City. This time we started in Chicago and drove west to Oklahoma City. Joe writes and produces audio books for his company, Readio Theater. He is currently working on his third Route 66-related book and we enjoyed spotting his products in museums and gift shops along the way.
On Monday, April 24, Joe and I flew with our wives for 3 days of touristing in Chicago. Come Thursday morning, Joe and I hit the “Mother Road” to complete our Route 66 experience.
Buddies Woody Bomar and Joe Loesch
Day 4, April 21 (TX & OK)
Continuing across the Panhandle, photo ops include the 150-foot aluminum cross and the leaning water tower at Groom, the first Phillips 66 station in Texas at McLean (now fully restored) and Shamrock’s beautifully renovated Conoco station which also contains the U Drop Inn Café. Crossing into Oklahoma we passed through more “dried up” towns like Texola, Erick and Elk City on the way to Clinton. There we visited the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, a totally modern, professionally run museum and a true showcase filled with artifacts supplied by 66 collectors from all over the country. It’s the best Mother Road history exhibit anywhere and a must for 66 enthusiasts.
We then headed for Oklahoma City where we departed America’s Main Street to head home to Nashville with a commitment to complete the Route 66 experience from Oklahoma City to Chicago in a few months. We left with emotions that ranged from exhilaration to melancholy and a pocket full of memories that will be part of us forever.
Buddies Woody Bomar and Joe Loesch
Day 3, April 20 (NM & TX)
Heading on through New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle a lot of 66 is parallel to I-40 and a good portion is completely covered by it. But there are still many interesting sites such as the Midpoint Café in Adrian, TX located 1,139 miles from Chicago to the east and 1,139 miles from Los Angeles to the west. Fran serves up a great cherry cobbler. Just outside Amarillo is the “Cadillac Ranch”, a field where 10 Cadillacs in a row are half buried with their fins pointing skyward. Our overnight was spent at the western themed Big Texan Hotel in Amarillo adjacent to The Big Texan Steak Ranch Restaurant where your 72-oz. steak is free if you can eat it all. We had sandwiches.
Tags: Midpoint Cafe, Cadillac Ranch, Big Texan Hotel, Texas Panhandle
Buddies Woody Bomar and Joe Loesch
Day 2, April 19 (AZ)
With the beautiful but barren Mojave Desert as a backdrop we traveled through Topock, AZ to the old gold mining town of Oatman where wild donkeys roam the dusty streets and a few saloons and tourist shops welcome travelers. Olive Oatman’s Restaurant makes a mighty fine breakfast. The old Oatman Hotel, now mostly a gift shop, is where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon night after marrying in nearby Kingman. After several miles of treacherous-feeling Black Mountain roads with a few hairpin curves, the city of Kingman was a welcome site. Thanks to I-40 it still thrives.
On through tiny desert towns like Hackberry, Truxton and Peach Springs to Seligman which offers 66 travelers several reasons to stop. One of the most interesting is lifelong resident Angel Delgadillo. At age 78 he still operates Angel’s Barber Shop which is now more of a memorabilia shop. He remembers the glory days of the road as well as the day in 1974 when the freeway opened and Seligman’s thriving commerce virtually came to a standstill. He loves to share his memories and has a lot of them. He is optimistic about the increasing interest in the old road. On through Williams and Flagstaff to Winona who’s only fame is a mention in the Bobby Troup song “Get Your Kicks On Route 66” (“…don’t for Winona”). From there I-40 has replaced 66 all the way to Winslow, also made famous in a song (“…Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” from The Eagles’ song Take It Easy). Of course we had our picture taken standing on the corner.
We soon arrived in Holbrook with plans to spend the night in the famous Wigwam Village motel. However, after viewing the teepee rooms we decided to opt for a few photos and headed on to Gallup, NM. There we stayed at the historic El Rancho Hotel which has been restored to its 1930’s glory. Great food and a good night’s sleep.
Tags: Black Mountain, Bobby Troup, Get Your Kicks On Route 66, Wigwam Village Motel
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