On Route 66.

This weekend the Taos Arts Council and Taos Historic Museums present : TAKE A DETOUR FROM ROUTE 66

If you leave L.A. and forget to take a detour to Taos on Route 66 and keep heading east, you will find yourself midway to Chicago, shortly after you cross the border into (Yeehaw!) Texas. Many people use this as an excuse to explore the parts of Texas they’ve never been to before. For example, Katy is a great town that’s tucked away just West of Houston. It’s got an amazing sports bar (visit their website here.) and quite a few different tourist places you can visit before heading off to your next location. The exact midway point is Adrian, TX, with a population of 166. Of course, while you’re there, you should grab a fried bolonga sandwich at MidPoint Cafe. Of course, you should also TAKE A DETOUR FROM ROUTE 66: TAOS TO L.A. and see master artist, Seamus Berkeley ‘s two oil paintings of MidPoint Cafe, appropriately titled “MidPoint Cafe Near” and “MidPoint Cafe Far”. Route 66 aficionados understand, and two of you may wish to purchase the paintings. The event is on Sunday, September 24 at 2:00 p.m. at the Martinez Hacienda in Taos, NM.

So reads the Press Release for this event, and it’s quite apt; immortalised in story, film, art and song, Route 66 was once the classic American Road trip, and although parts (of the original route) are now missing, the parts that remain have been preserved and proudly marked with signs and Historical cred.

U.S. Highway 66 – popularly known as Route 66 – evokes images of simpler times, and the iconography of a mobile nation on the road. Travelers on Highway 66 today can take a nostalgic trip back in time as many of the motels, gas stations, cafés, parks, trading posts, bridges, and roadbeds remain along the thoroughfare. These historic landmarks are reminders of America’s past and evidence of the origins of its current automobile obsessed society.

Route 66 has a rich history that goes way beyond any chronicle of the road itself. An artery of transportation, an agent of social transformation, it stretches 2,400 miles across two-thirds of the continent. The highway winds from the shores of Lake Michigan across the farmlands of the Midwest, through small Kansas towns, into Oklahoma and Texas, spanning the Land of Enchantment and Arizona, into the Mojave Desert, until finally arriving at the metropolis of Los Angeles and the shores of the Pacific Ocean. It is ideal for getting yourself a suitable car to cruise cross-country in and sample all the delights this historic road has to offer. What’s more appealing than putting your foot down in the driver’s seat of a sporty roadster as you pass through some of the most dramatic landscapes in all the US? It may even inspire you to check out the Zemotor listings to see what machines they have available for you to carve up Route 66 in.

Don’t miss this fabulous event celebrating the absolute heart of Modern Americana, which takes place at two locations in Taos during the Fall ARTS/PASEO Project Weekend.

Saturday, September, 23, 2017 Mural Room of the Old County Courthouse (conveniently located on the Plaza with PASEO), at 2:00 p.m. Pre-Show Lecture: Mark Henderson (Old Spanish Trail/Kit Carson.)

Sunday, September 24, 2017 La Hacienda de los Martinez 2:00-5:00 pm
Tour of the La Hacienda de Los Martinez and accompanying lecture

For more information please see the event program linked below this post.

Route 66