Assiter Auctioneers of Canyon, Texas, scheduled two sales this month to liquidate part of the memorabilia and vehicle collection of the former Russell's Truck & Travel Center near Endee, New Mexico. The first online-only auction, which is ongoing, closes the morning of Oct. 10. It includes dozens of classic cars and pickup trucks, motorcycles, gas pumps, neon signs and porcelain signs.

If you're going to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the New Mexico Department of Tourism's Visitor Center on the fiesta grounds is celebrating the Route 66 centennial with a retro gas-station installation. Marisol Lucero, Tourism Development director, reached out to the New Mexico Route 66 Alliance to create a one-of-a-kind tourism information tourism center. Alliance President Vickie Ashcraft, Vice President Bruce Schaffer and Preservation Officer Johnnie Meier created a retro Roadrunner Gasoline station complete with vintage restored gas pumps, accessories and vintage signage.

Pat Bertoletti of Chicago won the title at the Cozy Dog Eating World Championship by devouring a stomach-churning 51 in 10 minutes on Saturday in Springfield, Illinois. That far outpaced the runner-up, Darrien Thomas of Toronto, who ate 37 1/2 Cozy Dogs. Jerome Burns of Danbury, Connecticut, finished third with 25. Bertoletti was considered the favorite in the contest, according to…

A 70-minute documentary film featuring a Route 66 journey by an Italian traveler was recently released on YouTube. Corrado Parlati, editor of MentiSommerse.it, an independent cultural publication based in Naples, Italy, drove Route 66 from end to end this summer and released the documentary, titled "Route 66 - The Guardians of the Mother Road," online on Sept. 12. Much of it is in Italian, with English subtitles if you click on the closed-captions button of the video.

The Town of Normal, Illinois, recently named Terri Ryburn, ambassador of the Route 66 landmark Sprague's Service Station, as its 2026 Citizen of the Year. Mayor Chris Koos recognized Ryburn's renovations of the station and other work documenting the history of Route 66, reported WGLT radio. More from the town's Facebook page: The honor serves as a sort of sendoff for Ryburn, who…

Kap’s Coffee Shop & Diner, a fixture along Albuquerque's Route 66 corridor since 1968, will close for good on Oct. 11, after the city's annual Balloon Fiesta ends. Nicole Kapnison, a daughter of longtime owner Nick Kapnison who now is the operator, told the Albuquerque Journal that challenging conditions have prompted her to close. But worsening safety conditions along Central, an area plagued by drug activity and homelessness, have made it difficult to go on, Nicole Kapnison said.

Brandy's Cafe recently merged with the Proper Meats + Provisions eatery inside the former Grand Canyon Cafe in downtown Flagstaff, Arizona. The Daily Sun in Flagstaff had the scoop: The announcement came on Sept. 3, two weeks before the transition officially took place last Thursday as the longtime Brady’s Café in Southside closed its doors. The new concept, offering breakfast and lunch alongside pastries, espresso, cocktails, beer and meats, is at Proper’s space along Route 66, the former Grand Canyon Café location.

The Oak Street railroad bridge, better known as "Whee" Bridge, in Carthage, Missouri, probably has only about a year remaining in its subsantial life before a new bridge is built there. The Joplin Globe reported: Carthage’s engineer, Jason Eckhart, with Zanevan Engineering, said Missouri Department of Transportation inspectors who look at the bridge annually have been telling the city for the last few years that it has significant age-related deterioration.

Terri Ryburn, the de facto savior of the historic Sprague's Super Service gas station in Normal, Illinois, recently announced she is retiring from the station's Ryburn Place shop and visitor's center at the end of the year. Ryburn stated on Facebook: "I have loved meeting so many interesting and fun people at Ryburn Place at Sprague's Super Service in Normal but if I'm going to have a retirement, I've got to retire.

Rick and Sheila Koch announced earlier this month they were selling over a dozen ASAP Energy properties in Oklahoma, including Lucille's Rhoadhouse restaurants in Weatherford and Clinton. The Casey's convenience store megachain is purchasing the properties. "We want more for our Employees - more opportunities for professional growth, more resources, and more possibilities for long-term success," the Koches stated in an annoucement about the sale.

The popular Monarch Donuts shop in Arcadia, California, closed on Sept. 21 to make way for a residential and retail development. Los Angeles Times food critic Jenn Harris said the shop's apple fritter is the best in a region known for many doughnut shops. Indeed, Monarch Donuts had long drawn a lengthy line of customers when it opened at 5 a.m.

The iconic neon entrance sign for the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California, will be removed soon for restoration and a long-awaited bridge project. KTLA-TV in Los Angeles reports the sign's removal is part of the city's plan to replace the nearly 90-year-old bridge that connects to the pier. Although the city has not announced an official removal date, the historic signage is expected to come down by the end of September, according to the…

"Take Your Seat on Route 66," an international photography and storytelling project created in collaboration with the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership, has been designated an Official Route 66 Centennial Project by the U.S. Route 66 Centennial Commission. The project will bring the story of Route 66 to a global audience through a major digital photographic installation at Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada’s largest and busiest airport.

Heritage Corridor Destinations and the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway celebrated Route 66 communities along The First Hundred Miles of the Mother Road with new Route 66 centennial road signs and flags.  The signs were distributed ahead of National Scenic Byway Day on Sept. 22. The Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway created the centennial signs and provided them to destination marketing organizations for distribution to communities along the highway.

The Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership recently announced it was awarding a total of 14 Preservation & Economic Development Grants worth $2,500 each in 2026. Recipients were chosen from 124 applications. Qualifying projects were reviewed by an independent review committee from across the eight Route 66 states. Eligible activities included capital improvements, historic preservation planning or work, and accessibility or community outreach for businesses and attractions located on Route 66 that employ fewer than 20 or are a small, locally owned franchise with five or fewer locations.

A group of the world’s top competitive eaters will gather in Springfield, Illinois, to compete at the inaugural Cozy Dog Eating World Championship at 1 p.m. on Sept. 26. The event is part of the larger Mother Road Festival, a celebration marking 100 years of Route 66. Sanctioned by Major League Eating, the contest will feature former Hot Dog Eating Champion Pat Bertoletti of Chicago (the No.

Historic Hotels of America announced its Great American Road Trip Hotels list for 2026, including seven along Route 66. It recognized a total of 25 authentic historic hotels "that have shaped the American road-trip experience along scenic byways, historic highways, national park routes, coastal drives, and legendary corridors," according to a news release. The motels on or near Route 66 that made the list were:

The iconically shaped Beef Burger Barrel restaurant in Amarillo, Texas, was recently put on the market for $100,000. The eatery is at 3102 Plains Blvd., a little more than a mile south of the city's Sixth Street alignment of Route 66. But its early roots were part of the Mother Road. Lyons Realty is listing the property. This is what it said about it:

The Grill, formerly known as the venerable Golden Spread Grill in Groom, Texas, has closed due to the owner's health issues. Owner Karen Brown announced on Facebook that the restaurant at 407 E. Front St. (aka Route 66) would close on Sept. 13. She thanked the community for its support over the years. She had owned the restaurant since 2008.

The acclaimed Salsa Brava restaurant in Flagstaff, Arizona, closed Saturday after a 40-year run, but its owner plans a new restaurant along that same Route 66 location. Saying it was "time to turn the page," owner and founder John Conley announced the closure on Facebook three days before shuttering the eatery at 2220 E. Route 66 Blvd. "We are incredibly grateful for every customer who's pulled up a chair, every employee who's been part of our team, every friendship that's started here, and every opportunity we've had to give back to the community we call home," Conley wrote.

Route 66 takes center stage this month when "The Great American Road Rally," a national television event celebrating America’s iconic highway through cars, celebrities, storytelling and philanthropy, premieres on The CW Network. The series premieres today and continues through its finale, scheduled for Nov. 25, the night before Thanksgiving. Throughout the series, viewers will be invited to make donations to participating charitable organizations, including The Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership.

Rowley's Farmhouse Ales, an award-winning brewery and restaurant off the Cerrillos Road alignment of Route 66 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, by spring will move across town into a restaurant space at the Pecos Trail Inn at another Route 66 alignment. Rowley's Farmhouse Ales has spent 10 years at its current location at 1405 Maclovia St., about a block off the Cerrillos Road alignment.

The switch was thrown for the restored neon sign at the Western Motel in Sayre, Oklahoma, during a ceremony on Saturday night. The City of Sayre stated it was the first time the neon glowed at the Route 66 motel since the 1980s. Here's a short video by Noreen Patterson of the countdown of the sign being relit: More from Jacque Sangosti Johnson, who reports that the motel has had only three owners since it opened and is relatively unchanged.

David M. Knudson, founder of the trailblazing National Historic Route 66 Federation during the mid-1990s, died on Aug. 31 in Yucaipa, California. He was 86. Knudson's death was announced by his son on Friday. A memorial service will be on Sept. 26 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Yucaipa. His obituary states he was born in Nebraska and adopted by a family in Michigan.

The historic Gold Dome in Oklahoma City faces an uncertain future after another party unexpectedly bought the property during a sheriff's auction. The sale occurred the same day the city council approved $3 million in tax incentives for another developer who wanted to turn it into a music venue. The Journal-Record has a good summary on the tangled saga: Chickasaw Community Bank filed in November 2025 to foreclose on a mortgage with $1,163,195 owed.

Pixar recently released four videos on YouTube that take a behind-the-scenes look at the Route 66 research the animation studio undertook for its 2006 film, "Cars." Animators took several trips on Route 66 starting in 2001 to see the places and people of the Mother Road. Not only do the videos include several key characters or inspirations for "Cars," but also Pixar animators who helped guide the film.

The Cal-Linn Building in Albuquerque, where computer megacompany Microsoft was founded, was designated to the National Register of Historic Places. The National Park Service, which administers the program, announced the designation in an email on Sept. 4. The designation was effective on Sept. 1. The Cal-Linn Building is at 6320 Linn Ave. NE, one block north of the Central Avenue alignment of Route 66 in Albuquerque.

On Nov. 11, exactly 100 years after the commissioning of Route 66, the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway will host its inaugural Mother Road Conference at Route 66 Motorheads Bar & Grill in Springfield. The conference will bring together Route 66 business owners, tourism professionals, preservationists, enthusiasts, elected officials and community leaders to celebrate the highway’s centennial while setting the stage for its next century.

Jeffrey Richardson, curator of the traveling "Route 66: The Road and the Romance" exhibit, will explain how artifacts were chosen as part of this month's Route 66 Centennial Speaker Series. The free streaming session will be broadcast at 2 p.m. Eastern time and 11 a.m. Pacific on Sept. 8 from the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles.

A road-trip app developer has developed a three-dimensional map and another website that lists every business on Route 66. Jake Boyles, who described himself has "a dad of 5 who lives near Cincinnati who who builds a road trip app nights and weekends," stated in an email to Route 66 News that he has mapped "every living business on the driveable route" of Route 66.

The Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway is launching the inaugural Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway Awards, celebrating the businesses, attractions, communities and individuals who contribute to the continued vitality and legacy of Route 66 in Illinois. With Route 66 celebrating its 100th anniversary, the new awards provide an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the people and places that make Illinois Route 66 a destination for visitors from around the world.

The Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona remains open to visitors despite severe flash flooding that killed at least two people, with one missing. However, hotels at the park and some types of camping will remain closed indefinitely, mostly due to the floods damaging a major water pipeline to the area. According to the National Park Service, it enacted Stage 4 water restrictions on the South Rim on Aug.

Cabin Boys Brewery in Tulsa recently created a Blue Whale Lemon Wheat Ale, where its sales will help the landmark Blue Whale and its new visitors center in nearby Catoosa, Oklahoma. According to TulsaPeople magazine, the brewery and the City of Catoosa collaborated on the beer. “It’s a natural fit,” says Cabin Boys co-owner and Master Brewer Austin McIlroy. “The cabin my dad and I built — the one our brewery is named after — is only about a mile from (the whale).

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is accepting applications starting today for its Preserve Route 66 Grant Fund. The grants provide financial support to public agencies, tribal governments, or nonprofit organizations to preserve and interpret historic places along the Route 66 corridor. Grants made from the Preserve Route 66 Fund will generally range from $2,500 to $10,000. The grant applications will be due on Nov.

If you want to know what a cheese loaf looks like 32,000 times its normal size, you ought to pay a visit to the Americana Motor Hotel along Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona. Cheesemaker Tillmook and the motel unveiled the gargantuan replica of a Medium Cheddar Baby Loaf -- dubbed a Cheeseside Attraction -- on Saturday in front of more than 400 people.

The Arcadia Round Barn in Arcadia, Oklahoma, announced a few days ago that Samuel D. “Mr. Sam” Gillaspy, a longtime ambassador for the Route 66 landmark, has died. He was 99. The ever-affable Gillaspy started giving tours at the Round Barn in 1992, not long after the structure was repaired. He didn't step away from those duties until 2020, when he was in his early 90s.

We've been made aware of several more books that Route 66 fans may consider cracking open during the highway's centennial year. The first is Michael Kenny's historical novel, "Summer of 66" (Amazon affiliate link), which was published in May. Kenny dexcribed the book to Route 66 News via email: "The story takes place in the late 1950s. Ike has set in motion his plot to decommission 66; Bud Baxter, running his family's trading post in southeastern Kansas, sees the neon writing on the wall.

The State Historical Society of Missouri recently uploaded onto YouTube five videos documenting historic Route 66 in the Show-Me State. Kathleen Seale, regional director of the Rolla and Springfield Research Centers of the historical society, stated: Beginning at the Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River in St. Louis, we traveled to the state line west of Joplin, to see the sights and meet the people along Missouri's portion of the legendary road.

The neon sign for the long-gone Ko Ko Motel along Route 66 in Joplin, Missouri, is being restored. The Ko Ko, built in 1955 at 3102 E. 7th St. (aka Route 66), was demolished in 2007. Jeremy Morris, president of the Route 66 Association of Missouri, stated on a Facebook post that the sign, after being stored off-site for many years, is being restored by Sign Designs in Joplin.

The Seaba Station Motorcycle Museum, housed in a century-old former gas station on Route 66 near Warwick, Oklahoma, soon will change hands for the first time in 17 years. Owner Jerry Ries told KOCO-TV in nearby Oklahoma City that it was time to turn the keys of the property over to someone else. “You put so much of your life into something.

The historic Gold Dome in Oklahoma City may receive a $3 million loan to help convert the former bank into a music venue and restaurant. KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City reported: The Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust approved a deal this week that could provide $3 million in funding for the project. The money would come from the city’s economic development financing program, which is designed to support redevelopment efforts.

A 12-foot-tall fiberglass penny was installed last month at the recently opened Museum of Route 66 in Lincoln, Illinois. WSLS-TV reported the penny was made by Mark Cline of Enchanted Castle Studios -- the same place the makes new Muffler Men, many on Route 66. The Lincoln Daily News posted a video of the big penny being installed: The museum is at 508 Broadway St., about 1 1/2 blocks from the Kickapoo Street alignment of Route 66.

The co-owners of the picturesque Route 66 ghost town of Spencer, Missouri, said they plan to convert the service station into an events center and reopen the diner. They're also considering reopening the barber shop and other possibilities. One of the key buildings in the town is called Spencer Station. Those tidbits emerged in a recent story by the…

The City of Catoosa, Oklahoma, held a ribbon cutting on Thursday for a new Route 66 monument at Gazebo Park, celebrating the community’s history along the Mother Road. Given to the City by the Oklahoma Route 66 Commission, the monument features artwork directed by the local community that highlights Catoosa’s Route 66 story. It is one of several monuments being installed in communities across Oklahoma as part of the Route 66 centennial celebration.

An Albuquerque district judge this week scheduled a bench trial for June for a lawsuit filed by the New Mexico Route 66 Association and one of its longtime officers, Johnnie Meier, against purported former association president Melissa Beasley-Lee. The complaint, filed in January, accuses Beasley-Lee of fraudulently seizing control of the association's assets -- including $46,000 in cash -- after a stormy board meeting in March 2024 where she reportedly resigned as its president.

A cheese-championing organization has compiled a Route 66 Cheese Trail, where travelers can stop along or near the Mother Road during its centennial to sample cheese varieties. CheeseTrail.org, a site for artisan cheese lovers and professionals, created a map. A perusal of the site turns up these cheese makers or servers. You may notice a few are quite a few miles from Route 66, but cheese enthusiasts might consider a side trip.

The Lebanon-Laclede County Route 66 Society, based in Lebanon, Missouri, announced last week that it received the archives of late Missouri Route 66 author and researcher Skip Curtis. Curtis, who wrote the seminal but long-out-of-print "The Missouri U.S. 66 Tour Book" (Amazon affiliate link) in 1994, died of cancer in 2007 at age 63. He also wrote “Birthplace of Route 66: Springfield, Mo." in 2001, also out of print.

The City Hall in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, recently received a vivid new monument celebrating the town's links to Route 66, The big Route 66 shield in front of the property was paid for with a grant from the Oklahoma Route 66 Commission as part of the highway's centennial this year. City Hall in Sapulpa is at 425 E. Dewey Ave. (aka Route 66).

The historic but long-closed Redland Theater on an obscure alignment of Route 66 in Clinton, Oklahoma, will soon reopen under the new ownership of Ryan and Natalie Houck. Natalie Houck told the Clinton Daily News (subscription required) that they plan to turn the century-old venue into a community performance and arts events space. That would include music shows, dramatic productions, film festivals and comedy nights, along with the theater being available for rental for private events such as weddings, receptions and parties, she said.

Albuquerque City Council President Klarissa J. Peña and the Department of Arts & Culture last Wednesday flipped the switch on Neon @ Nine Mile Hill, a new park featuring a collection of vintage roadside signs that reflect the style and culture of Route 66. Visitors can now experience the glow of these restored signs at Route 66 Visitor Center on the city's far west side.