Route 66 Podcast

The story of Times Beach is not a celebratory one that showcases Route 66.  Instead, the story of Times Beach is one that not may people are familiar with, even 35 years later.   Times Beach was a beach community along the Meramec River that hired the services of a local waste hauler, Russel Bliss, to spread used machinery oil over the dirt roads to keep the dust to a minimum.  It would later be d...

The Wagon Wheel Motel is the longest continously operated motel along Route 66.     A talk with Mark Linder, who is bicycling Route 66 in honor of his son who passed away at the age of 6.     A talk with Dora XXX, and the upcoming Shamrock Festival in Texas, where 3,000 attendees are expected.

Decades before Route 66 the Mojave Desert Road took travelers miles across the Mojave Desert.  Dennis Casebier talks about his original intention of creating a 130 mile hiking trail across the Mojave Desert along one of America's first highway, but realizing that a 4 wheel drive trail would be more practical.   Guest Dennis Casebier founded the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association, and...

Meramec Caverns is one of the most famous sights along Route 66 and consists of almost 5 miles of a cavern system outside St. Louis, Missouri. Join host Anthony Arno as he talks with the grandson of the founder of the caverns, Les Turulli.   Les talks about how his grandfather came up with the idea of painting the sides of barns along Route 66 to promote the caverns to travelers, far and wide. In...

On March 4, 1928, 199 men lined up in Los Angeles, California, to participate in a 3,400-mile transcontinental footrace to New York City. The Bunion Derby, as the press dubbed the event, was the brainchild of sports promoter Charles C. Pyle. He promised a $25,000 grand prize and claimed the competition would immortalize U.S. Highway Route 66, a 2,400-mile road, mostly unpaved, that subjected the r...

Route 66 is sometimes referred to as The Will Rogers Memorial Highway, but not many people know who Will Rogers was. Rogers, Oklahoma's favorite son,  was a stage and motion picture actor, vaudeville performer, cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator who was born and raised along Route 66. Join Route 66 Podcast host Anthony Arno, as he talks with Tad Jones, Director of the Wi...

The Road Crew – America's Route 66 Band takes the Mother Road to their audiences throughout the world.  "We spread the history and stories of Route 66 to every generation through our 'Songs From The Mother Road.'  We encourage our audiences to discover America's Main Street for themselves." The band received the first time ever 'Bobby Troup Artistic Recognition Award' from the International Route...

Fort Reno in Oklahoma was once the home to 1300 German Prisoners of War (POW's) during World War II.  Originally established in 1874 to protect the Darlington Indian Reservation.  Fort Reno was used as a horse training camp for WW I and WW II, and the site was later used to house German soldiers who were captured in Northern Africa during WW II. Carolyn Barker shares some of the most fascinating (...

Tom Coffin remembers as a child being asked by his teacher to create drawings to help decorate his classroom for holidays and other special events.  From there, he eventually wound up in NYC where he worked for the NYC Historic Landmark Commission where he restored historic buildings, such as The Pierre, Carneige Hall, and the Smithsonian Museum for the American Indian.   Wanting to return back to...

000000E9 000000E9 00004A00 000049EC 0024D359 0024D359 00007EF6 00007EFF 00158DDB 00158DDB   The Coral Court Motel can undeniably be grouped with The Munger Moss and Blue Swallow, as an iconic Route 66 landmark motels.  However, The Coral Court Motel is long gone from the suburbs of St. Louis.   John Carr opened The Coral Court in 1942, during the US World War II mobilization effort.  The motel had...

The Route 66 News website at www. Route66News  is a clearinghouse of news and historic events taking place along The Mother Road.  Join The Route 66 Podcast host Anthony Arno as he interviews the curator of Route 66 News, Ron Warnick.   Ron has been publishing Route 66 news on almost a daily basis since October 9, 2005!   Listen in as Ron tells about: His earliest memory or Route 66 How Route 66 N...

Are you a dedicated fan of Route 66?  What makes you think so?  Do you have tons of Route 66 memorobilia in your home?  A wide assortment of Route 66 t-shirts?  Something special that screams out Route 66 on your car?   Join host Anthony Arno on The Route 66 Podcast as he interviews the ultimate Route 66 fan, Ron Jones.  Ron has over 150 tattoos on his body dedicated to Route 66.   Ron will tell t...

Burma-Shave was a popular brand of brushless shaving cream, made famous by a brilliant advertising campaign that featured a series of witty rhyming poems appearing in a sequence of roadside signs that would entertain the motorist driving down the road.   In this episode of The Route 66 Podcast, Anthony Arno interviews Clinton B. Odell, grandson of the founder of Burma-Shave. This episode begins wi...

As a high school teenager in 1958, he entered a talent show and played Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire .  The unexpected happened.... he won and didn't know how to play any other songs.   One year later, he would call Buddy Holly's manager and ask for an audition without even having an original song to play.  The unexpected happened, he got the audition and wrote the song in the back of the c...

Dylan Wallace just graduated high school in Wilmington, IL, and he's literally made a mark along Route 66 by painting a shield on the side of Two Hounds Antique Shop along Route 66.   

Author, Route 66 historian, and the voice of Sheriff or Radiator Springs in the Pixar movie Cars.  The very first episode of The Route 66 Podcast features an interview with the biggest advocate of The Mother Road.   Michael talks about his earliest memories of Route 66, the many changes that the road has endured, his work with helping Pixar create a movie about Route 66, and many of the other book...

The Route 66 Podcast featuring your host, Anthony Arno.  In this premiere episode, Anthony tells about his teaching background and how his students bicycled 2000 miles in the back of the classroom while learning all about Route 66.