A Conversation with Cheryl Eichar Jett - Route 66 Author & Historian 11-10-15

U.S. Route 66 was one of the original highways within the U.S. Highway System. Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles. Route 66 served as a major path for those who migrated west in the 1930s. It supported the economies of the communities through which it passed. A generation later some of those same communities withered when the new Interstate Highway System bypassed them. Route 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System on June 27, 1985. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic Byway. Our guest today is a Route 66 historian, author, blogger, and roadie, Cheryl Eichar Jett. Her writing is a mostly lighthearted look at traveling along Route 66, its history, and its tourism. Ms Jett serves as president of the Illinois Route 66 Blue Carpet Corridor Coalition and recently served as Conference Director of the Miles of Possibility Route 66 Conference in Edwardsville Illinois. Today we will be learning more about the romance which is Route 66. Conversation with Lee Presser is a weekly half hour television program seen for nearly fifteen years in the St. Louis market on Charter Cable TV.