Down Da Road I Go- June 5, 2007

Some Route 66 Happenings

1. The Route 66 Association of Illinois, to which Liz and I belong, has announced their four new inductees into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame. This consists of people and places that have had something to do with the Mother Road in our state.

This year's inductees:

Joy Henderson of Pontiac. She and her husband Archie opened Archie's Station on Route 66 back in 1956

Brown's Wrecker Service of Bloomington which began operations in 1955 and still continues.

Sodie's Cycle Center of Bloomington- a Harley-Davidson dealership.

Curve Inn of Springfield. This is one of our favorite places to go except one time when twenty-somethings got ahold of the jukebox and played some of the most vile hip hop and rap I've ever heard. That wasn't very special. It is also one of the few places in the Springfield area where you can still smoke since it is outside the Springfield city limits in what is called Southern View. Springfield is now smokeless, but the rest of Illinois joins the ranks this Jan. 1st.

They have great food and drink specials, plus karaoke and every Friday during the summer, they have a live band outside in the beer garden from 5 to 9 PM. Mighty good time. Best of all, it is within a short walk of the Route 66 Hotel and Convention Center, where we like to stay.

The Curve Inn was built in 1932 by Emilio Copp and was a grocery store and cafe. It was called Copp's Corner After WWII Guido Manci bought it, and turned it into a tavern. The name became Curve Inn because of the curve Route 66 took by it. He ran the business until 1972.

In 1956, the first Holiday Inn in Illinois was built across from it. Today, that structure is the Route 66 Hotel and Convention Center.

In 1972, Neil McGillivroy bought it and expanded it, added a modern kitchen, put in 9 hole miniature golf course, and a beer garden.

Since 2002, Dan Thompson, and Ray and Ami Merchant have owned it.

I highly suggest a stop there while on your way through Springfield on the old 66.

The Route 66 Association of Illinois is having their annual motor tour this weekend and will do the induction ceremony at a dinner to be held at the Route 66 Hotel in Springfield Saturday. I imagine more than a few will cross the road to the Curve.


2. About 15,000 people attended the "ROUTE 66 BLOWOUT AND CAR SHOW" in downtown Sapulpa, Oklahoma.


3. The State Jounal-Register of Springfield, Illinois, expects about 4000 high-end performance cars today. It is part of Hot Rod Magazine's seven city tour that started in Cleveland Saturday and ends in Little Rock Friday.

A big reason for the stop in Springfield is its relationship with Route 66.

The paper also listed other car cruises and shows in town, starting with the Route 66 Association of Illinois' Motor Tour this weekend and going to September 28-30's International Route 66 Mother Road Festival. That same weekend, the Chrysler 300 will be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.


4. "IT'S A KICK! ROLLA'S ROUTE 66" was the slogan of Rolla, Missouri's annual Route 66 Summerfest celebration.

It started Thursday with the crowning of Miss Route 66, continued on Friday with a classic car cruise, and Saturday's parade and Elvis Show. They also had a "Burnout" contest to see who could make the most smoke out of their tires.

We attended this last year on our way to the Munger-Moss Motel celebration and had a great time.


5. BICYCLES ACROSS ILLINOIS- This past Saturday, 500 bicyclists took part in the 15th annual National Trails Day across the state. Much work has been done along stretches of 66 to turn it into one continuous bike path from Chicago to St. Louis.


6. ROUTE 66 ROADHOUSE- came across a blog about a blues performance by Watermelon Slim and the Workers at Oklahoma City's new Route 66 Roadhouse. The place bills itself as being located on the old road at 4328 NW 39th Street.


7. ROUTE 66 BLUES PROJECT- In connection with #6, I see that there is a blues group located in Central Oklahoma near 66 that is affiliated with the Blues Foundation. They are dedicated to increasing the "awareness, understanding, and appreciation of one of America's few original art forms, the blues."

I am a big fan of the blues, but really hate it when they do jams, which seems to be most of the time when it is live.

8. SPEAKING OF THE BLUES- Chicago is having its annual Blues Festival in Grant Park starting this Thursday and running to Sunday. It is billed as the largest free blues festival in the world. Grant Park is right at the end of Route 66.

Keep on Down that Two Lane Highway. --RoadDog