Signs of Route 66

SAVANNAH-SERENDIPITY

In 1983 I had an epiphany of getting healthy and chose bicycling as the method.  I started in late July and progressed so I was able to do three century rides in September.  I was invited to join a group of riders that were going to ride from Atlanta to Savannah following Sherman's March to the sea.  We would do this Thanksgiving weekend, and cover 267 miles in three days. 

We rode in constant rain all day on Thanksgiving with temps around 40 to 50.  We began in Conyers, through Madison, to Eatonton where we stopped on the courthouse square. In the vestibule of a small department store we sat to have our Thanksgiving dinner. Pat's wife Patti had driven there with a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. That meal is one of the most memorable and energy giving of my life.

Restored and warmed for a little while we continued on to Milledgeville.  We stayed at a Super 8 motel. We went to our rooms, and pulled off our soaked riding gear.  We showered and put on dry 'street clothes', and came out of our rooms to sunshine and no rain.

The next day was clear but not much warmer.  Our route took us out of Milledgeville through  Sanders and on to Louisville. We took a pause there to walk through a Civil War era cemetery, and to have lunch. We then pedaled on through to Millen, Georgia

Saturday morning it was 20 something when we got up and went out for breakfast.  I remember the name was Judy's Cafe. I remarked "I sure hope it isn't my ex-wife. As we started, we faced a long uphill grade from the 'git-go'.  That actually was a benefit because it got the blood flowing very quickly. As a cyclist you gripe about the uphills, but they provide some variety of ups and downs, lefts and rights. We were somewhere around Gulton when things got flat and straight for mile after mile. That caused us to celebrate when we finally had to turn. As we got closer to Savannah it became very pleasant temperature wise. I have vertigo, and as we came into the city we were faced with a bridge over Savannah river.  This bridge was made of steel grating and my passage over it on the bike was more thrilling than I like.

We all stayed in a very nice B & B that had rooms over the old carriage house. For our dinner we went to Elizabeth's on 37th for some incredible food.  The most memorable dish was the Key lime pie that I had. I learned that Key limes are pale yellow and that any green pies offered are 'bogus'. Years later I saw it featured in USA Today.

Now the SERENDIPITY part.  I live in Grants Pass, Oregon now, and I have retail space in a crafters/gift mall in downtown........Savannah Faire (www.savannah-faire.com).

Custom/Stock Aluminum & Steel Street Signs
Parking, No Parking & Caution Sign Products

Since 1986 Crossroads Sign Company has been a family owned and operated metal   sign making business.
Our stock metal sign products and custom made steel and custom   made aluminum metal signs are of our own creation, with many novelty   and funny sign designs inspired and influenced by our loyal customers over   the past two decades.

 

KITTY and THE ALIEN

Do you ever go "What kind of mind comes up with these things?". Well, I will expose part of what comes out of my head. Not for the faint of heart!

First you would have to be the kind of person that would want, and then acquire a cougar/mountain lion/catamount/panther. Guilty I am.

That said, it is not much of a stretch to create the P.E.T.A. sign. Then I enlist the assistance of my friend John* to stage the scene and take the photo. The animals have learned to read and will take revenge.

What do you do for Halloween?  I don't have to wait for Halloween to have fun.  I get out my 'alien', mount him in the brush guard on the front of my truck and take off down the road.

A couple of years ago I drove into town to have breakfast at one of my regular haunts,

and Tiffany and Bill came out and posed with the little 'man?'. Then I drove back and forth on the busiest streets in town getting stares, waves, thumbs up.

*He set the cougar in the woods, sent his 11 year old daughter to retrieve something he had 'dropped' and then we rushed around the other way to watch her reaction. What a hoot.

Funny Stock Aluminum Parking Signs
These are funny, 12 x 18 inch, rounded corner, stock aluminum parking   and no parking signs designed to provoke a little commentary   with various inscriptions. They are also made of highway quality   .040 aluminum and come as is, they cannot be altered.

Crossroads also makes Custom   Funny Metal Street Signs, heavy steel, stock plus authentic, US   route 66 State metal signs.

 

 

Amboy

Today I picked up mail at the post office, and found a letter from my step father.  He sent me an article from the Los Angeles Times that was about Roy's Cafe in Amboy, California having a new owner.  This new owner is planning to repair and restore the facility.  I  haven't been there in years,  but I used to drive through when going east from my home in Running Springs.  I liked to drive on the old roadbed of Route 66 wherever I could.

In the case of the stretch from Ludlow to close to Needles there was a practical reason as well.  During the awful heat of the summer months, the steep grades on the interstate would leave motorists disabled. The interstate has three summits.  The grades on the old Route 66 roadbed were not as steep, and there were two summits to crest. There is a practical reason for this:  the old course of Route 66 pretty much traversed along with the railroad routes.  Being a train enthusiast I know that rarely did the rails exceed about a 3 percent grade.

My step father's dad, a lifelong prospector at one time had mining claims on the Amboy crater.  I learned about that at about age 12, and for the rest of my life I could not pass that stark cinder cone without reflecting on that tidbit.  The entire stretch of Old Route 66 from Yermo on to Needles is pretty much what the movie CARS shows it to be.

Own A Piece of Real Americana
Collect all 8 US route 66 state shield signs or check out our deep-embossed hi-ways & bi-ways metal sign products. Crossroads also offers route 66 clothing that features a 1929 old historic route 66 map reproduction. These make awesome gifts!

CARS(Pixar)-The Route 66 connection

I looked forward to the release of 'Cars' with both anticipation and concern.  Why concern?  Publicity releases and trailers for the film had let me know that the movie involved Route 66 and I was concerned that they would not treat the 'Mother Road' with respect and accuracy.  I was very pleased with this film on all counts.

My concern came from my 20 year involvement with Route 66 through my company Crossroads Sign.  I have sold authentic highway marker signs to the public, historic associations, and businesses along the route.  As the credits rolled with a featurette playing I caught site of some familiar names.  I wondered it I had missed some others, but couldn't get the projectionist to replay the credits.  I would have to wait until the DVD came out so I could play it in slow motion and take notes.

The credits listed the Delgadillo family (Wilma, Juan and Angel) who I have sold my signs to for almost 20 years.  They sell them at their business in Seligman, Arizona on old Route 66.  The DVD has an interview with Juan.  He was a driving force in getting the state of Arizona to declare the old road beds an historic artifact.

I also saw that Dianne Patterson in Winslow, Arizona had been interviewed in the planning stages of the film.  Dianne has her own corner on Route 66--from the Eagles song with the line "Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona".  Dianne has marketed tees with an image of a man standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.  Pleased that Dianne is still wo-manning her corner with her company Roadworks.

Tom Snyder wrote, researched, and published the first modern guide to finding every section of the old roadbed that has survived.  His urging got me to add the ROUTE US 66 shield to my sign lineup. He made strong contributions to those trying to preserve what is left of the road.  His guide makes note of surviving businesses, and the people who run them.  You can get some good tips of where to eat and stay along the route.

Michael Wallis book Route 66: The Mother Road is a great read and very authoritative.  I remember  talking with  other  'roadies'  about  interviews that  he  did with them.   The book got  a  good  marketing  push  from the publisher and created a buzz about the road.

My company Crossroads Sign sells authentic route 66 highway marker signs.

Own A Piece of Real Americana
Collect all 8 US route 66 state shield signs or check out our deep-embossed hi-ways & bi-ways metal sign products. Crossroads also offers route 66 clothing that features a 1929 old historic route 66 map reproduction. These make awesome gifts!

Robert Johnson

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) is among the most famous Delta Blues musicians and arguably the most influential. He is an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Considered by some to be the "Grandfather of Rock-and-Roll," his vocal phrasing, original songs, and guitar style influenced a range of musicians, including Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, U2, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton, who called Johnson "the most important blues musician who ever lived."

Of all the great blues musicians, Johnson was probably the most obscure. All that is known of him for certain is that he recorded 29 songs; he died young (murdered); and he was considered one of the greatest bluesmen of the Mississippi Delta.

His guitar playing was so extraordinary that the tale is told that he sold his soul to the Devil at the ‘crossroads’ in exchange for mastery of the blues. The most popular location of that crossroads is the junction of Highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi.  This tale is one that contributed to Highway 61 becoming known as 'The Blues Highway'.

Alan Greenburg wrote the play 'Love In Vain: A Vision of Robert Johnson'.  Director Martin Scorsese wrote the foreword, and said, "The thing about Robert Johnson was that he only existed on his records.  He was pure legend."

My company Crossroads Sign sells authentic route 61 highway marker signs.

My first trip on Route 66-3

As we traveled across Missouri, making the usual stops for gas, eats and potty breaks, I came to realize that everyone in America did not conform to the typical Rockford inhabitant.  The sounds of the language began to have different intonations to them.  The hills had become taller as we motored west from St. Louis.  Little did I know how varied the people and the terrain would become.

I recall that in that time auto dealerships mounted pot metal trim to the trunk of cars that they sold. When we stopped at a 'service station', the attendant would comment about where we were from.  On several occasions it went something like this.  "So you're from Rockford eh?  My uncle was there at Camp Grant in the War.  He went to Italy, and when he came back he decided to live in Rockford.  Name's Bob Stockton.  You know him?"  Far more involved and interesting than, "Thank you and have a nice day."

What this trip, and subsequent ones, demonstrated to me was the tremendous diversity in our country.  That said, we all get along together yet the peoples in the countries we came from cannot do the same.  Cases in point are the slovaks, the Lebanese, the peoples in Africa that are out to exterminate their neighbors.  I never meant to get this somber in this blog, but this thought has persisted over the course of almost 50 years of my life.

My company Crossroads Sign sells authentic route 66 highway marker signs.

Own A Piece of Real Americana
Collect all 8 US route 66 state shield signs or check out our deep-embossed hi-ways & bi-ways metal sign products. Crossroads also offers route 66 clothing that features a 1929 old historic route 66 map reproduction. These make awesome gifts!

 
 

My first trip on Route 66-2

On our first day of driving, I remember us approaching St. Louis and the Mississippi River.  We would cross the river on the Chain of Rocks bridge.  I had never seen a river that was as wide and imposing as the Mississippi. 

We crossed over and into St. Louis, the gateway to the west of the genre of books I voraciously read.  We would continue west going through Lee Summit, Rolla, and eventually to stay at a motel in Springfield.  The motel had a swimming pool that was the first such pool I had ever been in.  The water was very refreshing after the heat of the day.

This trip eventually would change the course of my life.  It took a lot of years but I have ended up in the 'Novelty Signs Business'.  My company Crossroads Sign
sells authentic route 66 highway marker signs.

Own A Piece of Real Americana
Collect all 8 US route 66 state shield signs or check out our deep-embossed hi-ways & bi-ways metal sign products. Crossroads also offers route 66 clothing that features a 1929 old historic route 66 map reproduction. These make awesome gifts!

 

My first trip on Route 66

My grandparents had a new 1956 Buick Century.  It was white and green and we were driving to California to visit my mother and her new husband.  This would take us from Rockford, Illinois to Long Beach.  We traveled down US 51 to Bloomington where we turned on to US 66.  I had heard the song many times before the trip started.

I sat transfixed on the country side, and the many signs and billboards.  They depicted natural wonders: Carlsbad Caverns, the Mississippi River, Petrified Forest, and the Grand Canyon.  They hawked gas:  Whiting Bros, Phillips 66, Chevron.  Road side attractions like:  Jack-a-lope, Baby Rattler, Will Rogers Museum.  One of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time:  Tucumcari Tonight.

This trip eventually would change the course of my life.  It took a lot of years but I have ended up in the 'Novelty Signs Business'.  My company Crossroads Sign
sells authentic route 66 highway marker signs.

Own A Piece of Real Americana
Collect all 8 US route 66 state shield signs or check out our deep-embossed hi-ways & bi-ways metal sign products. Crossroads also offers route 66 clothing that features a 1929 old historic route 66 map reproduction. These make awesome gifts!