It’s usually a bad sign if a festival prunes back its entries and hours of operation. But the Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino, Calif., with an annual attendance of well over a half-million, is not just any festival.

The San Bernardino County Sun reports that the number of car entries will be cut back from 2,448 to 1,900 to ensure that everyone participating has a reserved parking space. The number of entries last year was 2,151.

The festival is also closing each night at 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. for public safety reasons. The mayor says that people are usually tired by 8 p.m. after spending all day in the sun.

The article also details some other changes to the Rendezvous:

Another change will be that the popular Burnout Contest, which has typically taken place on Friday night, will move to Saturday night in hopes it will attract more people.

The Rendezvous will remain in downtown San Bernardino, but its reach will expand to Fifth Street this year. Last year, the streets of the cruise route were between Rialto Avenue and Fourth Street.

Geoff Ladd, chief of Logan County (Ill.) tourism, said the agency will be promoting a 1926-30 alignment of Route 66 and a second, more obscure alignment through Lincoln, reports the Lincoln Courier.

A second alignment, which was used for only 10 months in 1928, means the Logan County Courthouse and still more local businesses can be promoted along with the route.

One of the alignments passes the sign at the Lincoln Depot that commemorates Abraham Lincoln christening the city with watermelon juice.

“That’s an incredible one-two punch,” Ladd said. “It goes to the heart of the whole Abraham Lincoln promotion.”

The routes also take in the site of The Mill restaurant, which the bureau is working to save as a historic site, and the “ghost bridge” crossing Salt Creek.

There’s also some good news regarding the Pig Hip restaurant.

Ladd also announced that tourism volunteer Walt Radespiel will set up his shop on the Pig Hip site at Broadwell this summer to provide some interpretation at the site. The Pig Hip Museum and former restaurant, a Route 66 icon, was recently destroyed by fire.

Purcell Productions has posted a nice promotional video touting the annual Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino, Calif. This year’s event is Sept. 13-16.

More than a half-million people attend each year. But the stars of the show are the cars, as this video shows.

The Kingman (Ariz.) Daily Miner caught up with Detlev Henschel and his wife Katrin Frommhold as they trudge across North America on wagon trails and the oldest roads they can find, including Route 66.

Detlev explained that he wanted to show the “good news” about America - one removed from world politics and the biggest cities and focused instead on the smaller towns, natural beauty, history and everyday kind of people that help make this country the great place it is.

When asked about his thoughts regarding the Kingman area, he said the area was “beautiful - the people (are beautiful) as well. One place in particular that stood out in his mind was the Cool Springs store located along old Route 66 at the base of the Black Mountains near Oatman. He said they’d had a pleasant stop there with the owner.

You can follow Henschel’s adventures at his Web site here.

The excellent 2006 documentary about indie businesses struggling to survive, “Independent America,” will have its television debut on July 4 on the Sundance Channel, the filmmakers announced.

There’s no time yet announced for the broadcast; check your listings closer to the Fourth of July holiday.

We reviewed “Independent America” and highly recommend it. Route 66, which is featured in a few scenes of the film, is a microcosm of what independent businesses across the country are facing today. You can order the DVD here.

Don’t look to rent it from Netflix or Blockbuster; it’s not at either. Instead, check to see whether your indie rental store has it.

KOTV in Tulsa uncovered an interesting story about the Route 66 town of Catoosa, Okla., and the state highway department’s plan to close an access ramp from an adjacent highway.

The state wishes to close a ramp from westbound U.S. 412 onto northbound Oklahoma 66, aka old Route 66. The state says the ramp’s design is dangerous by modern standards, and that only 300 vehicle use daily. By comparison, 19,000 vehicles a day use the eastbound U.S. 412 exit onto northbound 66.

Naturally, the town’s residents don’t like the idea:

Catoosa felt slighted when the turnpike (Interstate 44) moved further east a few years back. Now they feel like ODOT’s plan to close an exit ramp would cut them off even more.

“No, I don’t like it and the citizens don’t like it,” Catoosa Mayor Rita Lamkin said. […]

“That’s basically our main street right now,” Lamkin said. “It would cut off our main street.”

Apparently, you can get onto northbound 66 from westbound 412. But it’s not a snap.

“You have to get off the expressway to do that Texas turnaround, and do the turnaround, get back on the expressway to come back east and then locate the exit on 66. It’s more complicated than that sounds,” she said. “It’s going to discourage the people coming into our town that’s going to hurt our tax base and hurt our growth.”

The state highway department takes lightly the impact closing an access ramp would have on the town. But Catoosa isn’t stupid. It’s been bypassed by the interstate before. It’s not going to let highway access be further restricted without a fight.

And a lot more people now are aware of what destruction a highway bypass can inflict because of this Oscar-nominated scene from “Cars”:

BusinessWeek reports that many diners are increasingly seeking independent restaurants when they go out to eat. Here’s why:

Consumers tired of the chains’ clinical atmospheres, indifferent service, and mass-produced products are returning to small specialty stores where they can find unique products and know the face behind the counter.

In a sense, it’s something of a return to the time when mom-and-pop shops dominated the retail business landscape. “People are tired of the Wal-Mart effect and department stores, [where] they see exactly the same thing,” says Michael Levy, professor of marketing at Babson College in Babson Park, Mass. Levy adds that higher income and widespread travel abroad also have driven Americans’ interest in shopping small.

The article gives an old Route 66 establishment as an example of eating out going full circle:

In 2004, Irv’s Burgers, a West Hollywood (Calif.) institution, faced extinction when developers planned to raze the 57-year-old burger joint and put up a Peet’s Coffee in its place. But Irv’s, an enduring example of post-WWII roadside architecture (not more than a tiny shed, with a patio and a few stools and counters) located at the end of the old Route 66 on Santa Monica Boulevard, had a fierce customer base that refused to see the spot turn into another chain store. “The idea that a corporation was going to muscle in and use this place disturbed me and a lot of people,” says Don James, a semiretired movie composer and an Irv’s regular.

James and fellow regulars banded together and fought to preserve the place rockers Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison used to frequent, and which singer Linda Ronstadt once used as the backdrop for one of her album covers. It’s also a place where the current owners, the Hong family, work the tiny grill and know the regulars by name. In fact, they can usually anticipate orders before the regulars can open their mouths. In 2005, Irv’s loyalists succeeded in getting the city to give the burger spot historic-landmark status — ensuring the institution’s future.

If you seek independent restaurants along the Mother Road, click on the restaurant tab at the top of this page. If you’re not on Route 66, I suggest Roadfood.com as an excellent guide. Better yet, hit the independent restaurant in your town.

Most people think the only way to get to the bottom of the Grand Canyon is either by hiking or pack mule.

But, as the Arizona Republic reports, you can actually drive into the canyon, via Diamond Creek Road in the Hualapai Indian reservation. And the way to get to that road is via old Route 66 through Peach Springs.

Here’s another site about the road to the Grand Canyon.

While you’re at it, you can read about other attractions in the Peach Springs area, including the Route 66 standbys Grand Canyon Caverns and Hackberry General Store.

The National Park Service announced today that two Route 66 sites in Texas were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In the small settlement of Conway in Carson County, an old section of Route 66, listed as Texas Farm Road 2161, was placed on the register.

Here’s what Mock Turtle Press said about Route 66 in Conway:

Although Conway claims its share of old Route 66 buildings and businesses, the true star here is the road itself. Heading out of town, Route 66 veers away from Interstate 40 and into a landscape that is all its own. The independence of the road—its sense of freedom—the thumpety-thump that meets your ears as the pavement section lines smack your tires and roll away into yesterday—all will tell you, as we tell you here: this is a segment that MUST be driven if you want to understand old Route 66.

In the vicinity of Shamrock in Wheeler County, the Route 66 Bridge over the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railroad was placed on the register.

I’m having trouble placing where this bridge is. If anyone can send me a link or picture of it, I’d appreciate it.

The typically irreverent Roadside America was there on opening day of the Grand Canyon Skywalk. The report is one of the best I’ve read.

Roadside America also has a video from the ceremony. Much has been reported about Skywalk’s safety, but seeing the television reporters get buffeted by strong winds near the edge of the canyon, away from the Skywalk, was a lot more alarming.

Also, you can check out what the Hardest-Working Guy on Skywalk does.

Roadside America also has a second video of its drive on the horrid, unpaved road leading to Skywalk.

Parts of the best road, a 21-mile dirt 1 1/2-laner, is said to be almost impassible in rain; in dry weather, it’s really bumpy, dusty, and offers occasional boulder surprises.