Traveling the Mother Road: America’s Route 66

Program Type:

History & Genealogy

Age Group:

Adults
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Event Details

THE COLONIE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Cordially Invites You to a Special Presentation by 

Joanne and Rick Reynolds 

Traveling the Mother Road: America’s Route 66

U.S. Route 66 was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System, established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. One of the most famous roads in the United States, it ran 2,448 miles from Chicago to California.

Joanne and Rick Reynolds share the story of their personal and professional road trip from the beginning to the end of America’s Route 66. In the Fall of 2023, Rick and Joanne Reynolds with two friends traveled from Chicago to California following historic Route 66. In talking about planning for this trip Rick said, “One of my primary objectives was to stay in vintage motels, we wanted to stay in places like people had done many years ago.”

Two of the most historic of these places where they stayed during their adventure were the Blue Swallow Hotel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, which has been maintained nearly unchanged since 1939, and the Wigwam Hotel in San Bernardino, California, one of the last of this chain of tipi-shaped motel units, so iconic that it was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2012.

Not only a travelogue, “Traveling the Mother Road” is an examination of the story of this road. This is a presentation full of stories, pictures, and an emphasis on the preservation of the past for all to experience now and into the future.

Rick is the Town Historian of Ballston, Saratoga County and he is a retired teacher. Joanne is a retired school nurse.