Route 66: America’s Longest Small Town
Minneapolis… It is America’s longest attraction. Museums, festivals, scenic wonders, neon-lit landmarks, and classic tourist traps entice travelers from throughout the world to travel the storied highway where the past, present, and future intersect seamlessly. From its inception, Route 66 was a road in near-constant state of evolution. That trend continues today as The Mother Road continues its renaissance, transitioning into a living, breathing time capsule. There’s a tangible enthusiasm for the highways’ continued evolution and popularity, and in the new book, Route 66: America’s Longest Small Town, author Jim Hinckley introduces us to the people behind that, and the places millions of travelers visit every year.
The book is a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the iconic places on Route 66 and the stories of the people who conserve them, preserve them, and infuse them with vitality. The cornerstone of the Route 66 renaissance is more than nostalgia, its a quest for adventure, exploration, and discovery. Author Hinckley describes the highway “as a living, breathing time capsule, a place where the past and future blend seamlessly.” With that in mind, Route 66: America's Longest Small Town takes the reader on a virtual road trip, telling about the highway's legends, stories, people, and businesses that are the essence of the Route 66 experience.
Intertwined along the Route 66 corridor are ghost towns towns and abandoned truck stops, somber Civil War battlefields and dynamic cities, recently renovated motels and cafés, and businesses that have been under the same management for decades. When driving Route 66 today, you are almost as likely to meet travelers from Australia, Germany, or Japan as you are to meet someone from Alabama, Alaska, or Arizona. As Hinckley explains, “Route 66 is, perhaps, more popular than at any time in its history. There are Route 66 associations in Europe, Japan, and Australia, and companies that specialize in Route 66 tours operate in at least five countries.”
The highway continues to evolve and change, meeting the needs of tourists and residents alike. Electric vehicle charging stations share a place with vintage gasoline pumps at renovated historic service stations that now serve as information centers or gift shops. The Route 66 Electric Vehicle Museum, the first of its kind in the world, opened in Kingman, AZ, in 2014. Formerly abandoned segments of highway with picturesque steel truss bridges are repurposed as bicycle corridors.
Route 66: America’s Longest Home Town introduces us to the road's past, present, and future, including a nostalgic look at vintage diners, signs, advertisements, and roadside attractions. Featuring all-new photography along the existing and former 2,000-mile route of the highway, this book, from America's foremost Route 66 author, combines the nostalgia of a storied past with the intriguing realities of an evolving present to create an intriguing portrait of the Mother Road of America. With animated tales of adventure, the people who travel Route 66 fuel its ever growing international popularity, and Route 66 today is a linear community, the nation’s longest small town.
About the Author In addition to writing numerous critically acclaimed and best-selling books, and hundreds of feature articles, about Route 66, Jim Hinckley has made presentations about traveling this highway internationally. His books are provided as part of tour companies based in Norway and Australia. Hinckley also regularly assists with tour development, meets with tour groups and individuals traveling Route 66, serves as a Route 66 tourism development consultant for Ramada, and is a featured speaker at the Miles of Possibilities conference that is part of the 2015 Route 66 convention. Recently he accepted a position on the Route 66 Economic Development Committee that is a part of the Route 66: The Road Ahead Initiative facilitated by the National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program.
Book Info
Route 66: America’s Longest Small Town
By Jim Hinckley
Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 9780760351628
$19.99 US | $25.99 CAN
160 pages with 140 color and 20 b/w photos