When traveling Route 66 through Missouri, we make it a point to stop at A Slice of Pie in Rolla.

We don’t think it’s hyperbole to say this is among the best pie to be found, period. Rural Missouri magazine readers agree. Early editions of Jane and Michael Stern’s Roadfood books agree. And locals certainly agree.

A Slice of Pie tends to get overlooked by roadies because it’s on a more obscure alignment of Route 66. It’s tucked away in an old strip mall at 601 Kingshighway (map here). But even with the traditional U.S. 63 alignment of 66, it’s just a stone’s throw away.

For lunch or dinner, A Slice of Pie usually has quiches (such as bacon and spinach), salads, pot pies and soups, along with a warm, soft dinner roll as big as your fist.

But many folks come for dessert. The prices are a bit higher than usual diner fare, but the slices are, too. So make sure your appetite is up for it.

A restaurant flier lists the types of pie:

• Apple (American and Dutch)
• Blackberry crumb
• Boston cream
• Cherry (double crust / crumb)
• Cherry/raspberry
• Chess
• Chocolate chip mint
• Chocolate cream
• Coconut buttermilk custard
• Coconut meringue or cream
• Custard
• Dixie
• French Silk
• Fresh strawberry
• Fudge brownie (with ice cream), with plain, nut, mint or toffee
• Key Lime
• Lemon meringue
• Mincemeat
• Moe’s Millionaire
• Mudslide
• Peach
• Peanut butter chocolate swirl
• Peanut Butter Lust
• Pecan
• Pumpkin
• Strawberry/rhubarb
• Sweet potato
• Tahitian cream
• Toll House

I’ve not even listed the six types of cheesecakes or the five cakes.

Here is my favorite pie: Peanut Butter Lust, along with a glass of iced tea. I couldn’t resist taking a bite before snapping the photo.

A Slice of Pie is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Its number is 573-364-6203. But, remember, the restaurant is cash only.

These photos show why Illinois Route 66 preservationists John and Lenore Weiss won a prestigious Steinbeck Award a few years ago during the annual Route 66 awards dinner.

This is a “before” shot of the long-neglected Art’s Motel and Restaurant sign on Route 66 in Farmersville, Ill.

This is a shot after the Illinois Route 66 Association and the Weisses were through fixing it. The Weisses are the key reason why Illinois has taken the lead in restoring Route 66 landmarks.

Even some of the neon lighting was restored. More photographs of the sign can be seen at Peter Stork’s Digital Route 66 site.

By the way, Art’s restaurant and motel still are going strong.

(Photos courtesy of Digital Route 66.) 

Reuters correspondents James Kelleher and Nick Carey on Friday ended their Route 66 Revisited journey at Lou Mitchell’s restaurant in Chicago, near the eastern terminus of the Mother Road.

Kelleher wrote:

We expected to see and experience many things and to meet some interesting people, as there is a lot of America in between the West Coast and the Windy City.

Our expectations have been exceeded. We’ve spent time on American Indian reservations, talked to firemen in Flagstaff, police officers in Albuquerque, cowboys on vast feedlots in Texas, Christians in Oklahoma and a sinking town in Kansas. […]

We return to Chicago with mixed feelings. It’s good to be home and it will be even better not to live out of a small bag or sleep in motels. The bad news is how much we’ll miss roaming around the country.

Route 66 is America’s ultimate road trip, with a broad cross-section of scenery, people and issues across a large chunk of the country.  It’s been an amazing ride, hope you enjoyed it too.

In case you missed the many stories they filed along the way, you can read them here.

A couple days ago, I received an e-mail from Mike Gassman, reporting that the annual World’s Largest Catsup Bottle Summerfest in Collinsville, Ill., was abruptly canceled less than two months before its July 8 date.

Gassman promises more “gory details” over the weekend, but this story from the Belleville News-Democrat clearly shows that bickering, power struggles and bad decisions by the City of Collinsville sank the festival.

Gassman said it’s “all a bunch of nonsense, and unfortunately it’s the community that suffers.” He said it wasn’t as much a conflict with Downtown Collinsville as with the contractual demands of the city.

So the festival is canceled, and no one is sure about next year. Each group said it wants Summerfest to continue.

The festival was named after a specially painted water tower in Collinsville that resembles a giant Brooks Catsup bottle. The Brooks Catsup bottle isn’t on Route 66; it’s about a mile and a half from the Mother Road. But it’s frequently featured in Route 66 guidebooks as an example of roadside kitsch.

The 2007-2008 edition of the ever-popular Oklahoma Route 66 Association Trip Guide is hitting the streets this week. Copies have been distributed at some state tourism centers, and over the course of the next few days, volunteers will be delivering copies to the association’s member businesses across Oklahoma.

The 72-page guide includes a full-color cover, maps, turn-by-turn directions, information about the history of the towns along Route 66 in Oklahoma, photographs, trivia facts, a business directory, an Oklahoma Route 66 Association membership application, and more.

Copies will be available at the Sapulpa Route 66 Blowout (June 1-2 in downtown Sapulpa), Tulsarama! (June 15-17 in downtown Tulsa), the National Route 66 Festival (June 21-24 in Clinton), the Oklahoma Route 66 Association office in Chandler, state tourism centers, and many Oklahoma Route 66 businesses. Plans are also in the works for the guide to be available as a downloadable PDF on the Oklahoma Route 66 Association Web site.

And if you happen to bump into yours truly along the road somewhere, odds are good I’ll have a few copies stashed in my beloved Starlight Express, which frequently doubles as a rolling tourist information center.

Last weekend, on the way back to Tulsa from Illinois, I stayed overnight in the Wayside Motel at 7800 Watson Road (Route 66) in the St. Louis suburb of Marlborough, Mo. (map is here.)

According to the late Skip Curtis’ well-researched book, “The Missouri Route 66 Tour Book,” the Wayside was built in 1940. It’s across the road from the site of the Coral Court Motel, an Art Deco masterpiece that was razed in 1995 despite concerted efforts to preserve it.

The Wayside is remarkably well-preserved, mostly because the structures are made of brick. And its owners have kept up the interior, too, as these photos show.

Those driving classic cars on Route 66 should take note that the Wayside has original carports in which to park their beauties while staying overnight. This is a bonus for those who want to protect their vintage rides from hail and bird poop.

The price for my room was $51, with tax. This sounds inexpensive to some, but it’s high enough to keep most undesirables away. About the only thing I heard during my restful night at the Wayside was a freight train about a half-mile away.

The Wayside’s phone number is 314-961-2324.

This article from Travel + Leisure doesn’t have any Route 66 content, but the stories about creative and driven owners who took over forlorn motels and turned them into unique attractions is required reading for anyone thinking about buying and rehabbing a vintage Route 66 motel.

It’s something that Bill Kinder at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, N.M., would understand.

(via World Hum) 

The National Route 66 Festival is coming up in a few weeks in Clinton, Okla., on June 21-24, and here are a few items related to that event:

– The Oklahoma Route 66 Association is sponsoring a hands-on historic preservation project at the former Ray’s Motel at 720 S. Eighth St. in Clinton from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 22 and 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 23-24. It’s at Eighth and Opal (map here) with a Route 66 sign in front. Michael Wallis, the noted author and Sheriff of Radiator Springs from “Cars,” will appear at least one of the sessions. Bring your work clothes, sunscreen and elbow grease. Call the association at 405-258-0008 or e-mail sundayjohn66(at)mac(dot)com for more information.

– In conjunction with the festival, the Old Route 66 Association of Texas is organizing a self-guided tour on the Mother Road across the Panhandle that can be taken anytime between June 1 and June 22. Prizes for participants will be awarded at the festival. You pick up a “passport” at one of these locations: MidPoint Cafe (Adrian); Oldham County Chamber of Commerce, Roark Hardware, Boot Hill Saloon and Grill, or Hickory Inn (all in Vega); Fort Amarillo RV Resort, Cattlemen’s Cafe, or Golden Light Cafe (all in Amarillo); Devil’s Rope Museum, (McLean); U-Drop Inn (Shamrock). You get it stamped at the unique Route 66 sites listed in the passport. The fee is $5. The more stamps you have, the greater your chances are to win. For more information, call 806-267-2828.

– The Road Crew will be performing songs from its recent album, “Songs from the Mother Road,” in the downtown Clinton stage from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Saturday, June 23. Band members are former CBS Records artist Don King, songwriter Woody Bomar, Tony Darren and roadie Joe Loesch. Readio Theatre, which produced the album, also will have a booth at the festival if you like what you’re hearing and want to buy the CD.

There’s nice interplay between Natalie Cole and jazz singer/pianist Diana Krall during this version of “Route 66.”

In case you youngsters didn’t know, Cole is the daughter of Nat King Cole, who popularized the Bobby Troup classic.

As predicted here a few weeks ago,the Rose Bowl in Tulsa has been repainted back to some semblance of its original pink color, eschewing the red, white, blue and purple colors that it sported briefly before it closed, reports KOTV.

Chris Whinery of Whinery Mortgage is the owner of the Rose Bowl, which was built in 1962 along the 11th Street alignment of Route 66. Most of the former bowling center’s wooden lanes have been dismantled and auctioned. One set of lanes went to an airport bar to be converted into tabletops in Farmington, N.M.; another went to a restaurant in Hermosa Beach, Calif.

It’s sad the lanes are leaving, but it’s just as well. When AMF closed the Rose Bowl in 2005, included was a noncompete clause that disallowed it from reopening as a bowling center.

A few of the lanes will be kept for what is hoped to be a restaurant in one area of the Rose Bowl. Whinery told me a few weeks ago he was looking to establish a steak-and-sushi place, like a Club Sushi in Hermosa Beach.

The rest of the massive building is slated to be used a special-events venue, such as for concerts or kickboxing, he said.

Whinery has launched a Web site, tulsarosebowl.com. It says there will be a grand reopening next month. The site also says:

Starting in the summer of 2007, the 30,000 Sq. Ft. Rose Bowl will be available for rent. So plan your next Car Show, Rally, Gun Show, Rave, Wedding, Reception, Meeting, Concert, Flea Market, Auction, Home & Garden Show, Expo, Etc., at the Historic Rose Bowl on Route 66. Contact C.S. Whinery at (918) 684-9090 to plan your event at the Rose Bowl.