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Proprietors of the Mule Trading Post on Route 66 in Rolla, Missouri
At I-44 exit 189, on a dead-end stretch of Route 66, is the Mule Trading post. Carl Smith, who with his wife, Velma, owns the Mule. This photo of them was taken by Jonas Hansson, a very good Swedish friend of mine, on his trip with his father Hans in 2006 (via their vintage Volvo PV convertible) across the USA on Route 66. With Jonas' permission, I've been selecting some of my favorite photos of their road trip along the "Mother Road" and doing some post processing... enhancing, cropping, tone mapping, special effects, etc.
INFORMATION ON ROUTE 66:
U.S. Route 66 (also known as Route 66, U.S. Highway 66, The Main Street of America, The Mother Road and the Will Rogers Highway) was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, US 66 was established on November 11, 1926. It originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles for a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).
Route 66 was a major path of the migrants who went west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and supported the economies of the communities through which the road passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway, and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive even with the growing threat of being bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System.
US 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System on June 27,1985 after it was decided the route was no longer relevant and had been replaced by the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic Byway of the name "Historic Route 66". It has begun to return to maps in this form. Some portions of the road in southern California have been re-designated "State Route 66", and others bear "Historic Route 66" signs and relevant historic information.
Over the years, U.S. Route 66 received many nicknames. Route 66 was advertised as The Main Street of America by the U.S. Highway 66 Association to promote the highway. In the John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath, the highway is called The Mother Road, the title that The Route most often receives today. Lastly, Route 66 was unofficially named The Will Rogers Highway by the U.S. Highway 66 Association in 1952.
In 1990, Route 66 associations were founded separately in both Arizona and Missouri. Other groups in the other Route 66 states soon followed. The same year, the state of Missouri declared Route 66 in that state a "State Historic Route". The first "Historic Route 66" marker was erected on Kearney Street at Glenstone Avenue in Springfield, Missouri. Other historic markers now line—at times sporadically—the entire 2,400 mile (3,860 km) length of road.
Source: Wikipedia
Proprietors of the Mule Trading Post on Route 66 in Rolla, Missouri
At I-44 exit 189, on a dead-end stretch of Route 66, is the Mule Trading post. Carl Smith, who with his wife, Velma, owns the Mule. This photo of them was taken by Jonas Hansson, a very good Swedish friend of mine, on his trip with his father Hans in 2006 (via their vintage Volvo PV convertible) across the USA on Route 66. With Jonas' permission, I've been selecting some of my favorite photos of their road trip along the "Mother Road" and doing some post processing... enhancing, cropping, tone mapping, special effects, etc.
INFORMATION ON ROUTE 66:
U.S. Route 66 (also known as Route 66, U.S. Highway 66, The Main Street of America, The Mother Road and the Will Rogers Highway) was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, US 66 was established on November 11, 1926. It originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles for a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).
Route 66 was a major path of the migrants who went west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and supported the economies of the communities through which the road passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway, and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive even with the growing threat of being bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System.
US 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System on June 27,1985 after it was decided the route was no longer relevant and had been replaced by the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic Byway of the name "Historic Route 66". It has begun to return to maps in this form. Some portions of the road in southern California have been re-designated "State Route 66", and others bear "Historic Route 66" signs and relevant historic information.
Over the years, U.S. Route 66 received many nicknames. Route 66 was advertised as The Main Street of America by the U.S. Highway 66 Association to promote the highway. In the John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath, the highway is called The Mother Road, the title that The Route most often receives today. Lastly, Route 66 was unofficially named The Will Rogers Highway by the U.S. Highway 66 Association in 1952.
In 1990, Route 66 associations were founded separately in both Arizona and Missouri. Other groups in the other Route 66 states soon followed. The same year, the state of Missouri declared Route 66 in that state a "State Historic Route". The first "Historic Route 66" marker was erected on Kearney Street at Glenstone Avenue in Springfield, Missouri. Other historic markers now line—at times sporadically—the entire 2,400 mile (3,860 km) length of road.
Source: Wikipedia