Grassroots dgrin shootout - The Mother Road

OffTopic

Update - we still need shooters in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas. We only have one person so far in Missouri, Kansas, and New Mexico. Arizona and California are rocking and rolling!

Rather than looking for state leaders, I am now asking that anyone interested in participating post up. I will do my best to help coordinate if needed in other states, but based upon how well the Arizona guys seem to be doing, I think we can do this with small local groups.


It’s been called The Mother Road, the Road to Opportunity and The Main Street of America.

It’s been immortalized in fiction, music and pop-culture television.

Stretching over 2,000 miles from the shores of Lake Michigan in Illinois to the Santa Monica Pier in California, no other road has played a more important role in our country’s history. It was officially given the number designation 66 in 1926 with the intent to connect the main streets of the rural communities along its route with the vibrant cities of Chicago and Los Angeles. A hodgepodge of state and county roads that wasn’t continuously paved until 1938, it facilitated the large-scale settlement of the west, was used to escape the despair of the Dust Bowl, and helped facilitate the single greatest wartime manpower mobilization in US history. After the war, Route 66 symbolized unprecedented freedom and optimism and played a major role in American car culture.

The later development of the interstate highway system saw many towns along Route 66 bypassed one by one, causing many of them to lose their economic lifeline and fade to nothing more than a name on old maps. When Route 66 was officially decommissioned in 1985 it sparked a renewed interest in preserving this rich part of our American heritage, and in 1999, through an Act in Congress, the National Park Service was directed to oversee a preservation program in conjunction with partners. But it seems that preservationists are fighting an uphill battle, mainly with building codes and funding in a tight economy, and we continue lose more of the history and quirky architecture along this great road all the time.

Wouldn’t you like to document this piece of American history before more of it disappears?


A few of us in another thread agreed that this would make for a great dgrin shootout, and Nikolai gave me a nudge to start a thread (and volunteered Schmoo to help with the book) to see if we can make this happen.


I would like to pick a weekend (so more people can participate) in the spring or fall (depending on how much time we need to pull it together) where dgrinners converge on The Mother Road for camaraderie and photography. Yup, all at once, so there would be a group of people shooting in Kansas, more shooting in Illinois, still others shooting in Arizona, all up and down the length of the road.


This would be a grassroots shootout, not one sponsored by SmugMug, just a bunch of people getting together to shoot in a coordinated effort. The only way to make it happen is if enough people are interested and volunteer to help make it happen. It’s a big undertaking covering a lot of geography that is going to require a bit of coordination!

To see if we can get this off the ground, I am hoping to find one volunteer in each state along the road to be a point person and do some brainstorming with me. It will be a big job (except in Kansas where they only have 13 miles! :wink). Initially I just need someone to take a good look at the stretch of road through your state and determine how it can best be covered in two days (can one group do it or would it require multiple groups). The road has gone through many realignments over time, and frequently the most interesting sights are on the older alignments. Much of the road is unmarked and navigation requires a guidebook, so it will require a bit of research to determine the best way to cover it.

Each state’s point person would then get a group of volunteers to assist with leading groups if multiple stages are required, planning out the actual schedule, finding appropriate lodging for the group if necessary, possibly working to obtain access to certain locations (for example, I would recommend talking with Mr. Marsh before descending on Cadillac Ranch with a group of photographers :rofl), and overall coordination for that state.

So, who is interested and willing to be my point person for any of the following states and working with me to get this off the ground?


Illinois

Missouri - J-N Design

Kansas - Art Scott

Oklahoma

Texas

New Mexico -Ekaj

Arizona - kdog, anwmn1, mountainhouse, JavaLover, EarthDog, dlplumer

California - me, aktse, BeachBill, CWSkopec, Angelo, TeeWhy



C’mon dgrinners, let’s go get our kicks on Route 66!

schmoo

I moved this to Locations because I think it'll fit better in there!

What a GREAT idea! This is so unbelievably exciting and glad that it's turning into a reality!! If I can't join in some part of the actual Route itself I'd love to have a hand in helping organizing the photos that come of it - gallery or book or whatever. I'm on-call!

anwmn1

I am in for this as well. Either shooting with kdog or even taking another section of the route through Arizona.

anwmn1

Is this photos taken during that specific weekend or is it open to previous photos too?


Williams, AZ


Seligman, AZ

aktse

clapclap

I might meet you on the CA portion of the trip.!!!

You might want to send a message to Dixie because he's done this before. And I'll point some people your way who knows more about driving around the west coast.

OffTopic

Thanks for your support Schmoo! I had put it in Journeys because it gets more traffic, but I had a feeling it would be moved here.

And if you can't make it to one of the shootouts, there is a section of the road in the Smithsonian.


Aaron, I've got you noted as a member of Team Arizona. Thank you for adding some photos to the thread.

Thanks for helping to spread the word aktse. I am very familiar with the Barstow to Needles section, but I could use some help with the logistics of the rest of the California route.

Art Scott

13 miles in kansas.....I bet if all of the Ks dgrrin photogs shot this we would all get different perspectives.....well I know we would as was shown in our little saturday shoot a few months ago.....I am in to shoot in Ks and maybe some in Okla.....if I couod find the funds I would shoot in NM also....I have driven I40 from Az to Amarillo wondering about the old Hiway that I was next to and why out govt always sees it fitting to destroy something so wonderful and great.....and then I turned north and headed for Wichita..around OKC......this time I kept off the intrstates and turnpikes.....night driving curvy narrow roads in a truck hualing television transmitters was interesting...........

Dee

I thought this might be interesting as I live in western California, but Route 66 goes through southern California, according to the link here: http://www.historic66.com/california/

Found another link with pictures http://www.cart66pf.org/66caravan/index.htm with Route 66 historian and preservationist Jim Conkle, for those who want to see what photo opportunities there are. He traveled the entire route.

This sounds like an interesting venture, I hope you get enough volunteers. If I can help with graphic design, just let me know.

My hubby just informed me that we drove on Route 66 on one of our trips in the 60s. I'm in the process of scanning in my old slides, and I'll ask him if he can remember what road we were on. My memory is horrid, . It might be neat for comparison's sake to see the road in the 60s and how it is in 2008.

mountainhouse

Would be great fun. That stretch out near Kingman, AZ is, I think, one of the longest original pieces. I can make that taking a Friday off.

As a Northern CA person, I've always thought about driving the length of US Route 50. Similar vintage to 66, but it's mostly intact as 2 lane road, all the way to the East coast.

kdog

mountainhouse wrote:

Would be great fun. That stretch out near Kingman, AZ is, I think, one of the longest original pieces. I can make that taking a Friday off.

That would be awesome. I'd really hate to have to do that long stretch all by myself.

BTW, I'm from Norcal too originally ('84-'03). San Jose to be exact.

Cheers,
-joel

anwmn1

kdog wrote:

That would be awesome. I'd really hate to have to do that long stretch all by myself.

Wimp!

kdog

anwmn1 wrote:

Wimp!

No. I just like to have someone else along to push in case the Jeep gets stuck.

OffTopic

No winch kdog?

kdog

OffTopic wrote:

No winch kdog?

Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot about that.

OffTopic

Ha, how did I miss your post kdog?

Here's back at you -

BeachBill

I've shot along Route 66 between Victorville and Amboy back in January 2007. I still need to process many of those images, and I still need to do a photo shoot at the Wigwam Motel on the San Bernardino/Rialto border. Been there scouting, but haven't gone back to shoot yet... You might recognize Wigwam as the inspiration for the Cozy Cone Motel in Disney/Pixar's Cars.

I would be up for another trip down Route 66. Maybe even hook up with anwmn1 and kdog in Kingman since it's close by. BTW, my wife's grandparents, uncle and father used to live in Kingman and I made several trips there before I was into photography.

jdryan3

kdog wrote:

Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot about that.

kdog wrote:

You mean I camo'd my Jeep for nothing? :cry

kdog: just how many Jeeps do you have? Plus a Suburban

jdryan3

anwmn1 wrote:

Is this photos taken during that specific weekend or is it open to previous photos too?

Lori /Schmoo:
What about previous photos? I too have some older ones, but I thought you were looking to do this as more of as a same day/ same weekend deal.

kdog

OffTopic wrote:

Ha, how did I miss your post kdog?

Here's back at you -

bow Now that's a Jeep. I'd be interested in hearing about the build-out some time. My Jeep is still pretty much stock, but it's amazing how well it does. I pretty much stick to trails rather than rock crawling, but some day that could change.

I've only been in the area for a while, so the whole desert exploration/Jeeping thing is still new to me. I checked out your galleries. Great stuff, and you've been to a lot of places that are definitely on my list, like the Mojave Road. You and your husband are living the life. We'll have to hook up some time for some Jeepin' and photographin'.

-joel

kdog

BeachBill wrote:

I would be up for another trip down Route 66. Maybe even hook up with anwmn1 and kdog in Kingman since it's close by.

Definitely.

OffTopic

kdog wrote:

bow Now that's a Jeep. I'd be interested in hearing about the build-out some time. My Jeep is still pretty much stock, but it's amazing how well it does. I pretty much stick to trails rather than rock crawling, but some day that could change.

I've only been in the area for a while, so the whole desert exploration/Jeeping thing is still new to me. I checked out your galleries. Great stuff, and you've been to a lot of places that are definitely on my list, like the Mojave Road. You and your husband are living the life. We'll have to hook up some time for some Jeepin' and photographin'.

-joel

Stock jeeps are amazing. We encourage everyone to wheel them stock before deciding to build because it's unbelievable what they can do stock. But I found that I was being a little too rough on my stock jeeps and it was time to build one that could take a little more abuse. Would love to talk about the build-out - my husband laughs and calls me a gearhead when I start talking jeeps with the guys. He couldn't tell you the first thing about what I have in it! Sometimes I second guess myself when I realize I could've bought a couple 1D series cameras and still have $$ left over for more L glass, but once I'm out on the trail I don't regret it one bit. I've been working on customizing it for shooting with lockboxes for my camera gear, an inverter for charging when I'm on the trail for days at a time...it's a work in progress.

Would love to hook up for some Jeepin' and photographin'. I have actually been working on putting together a group of photographers who jeep (as opposed to jeepers who bring a camera and don't understand about waiting for the light ) so we can set up some photo runs in places where it's best to travel with others.


jdryan3 - this is really about getting together with other dgrinners for comaraderie and photography. Any book that we might put together would only be secondary, and it would be created to document the event. It is something that could be discussed by the people who volunteer as state leaders, but personally the only way I would imagine that we might be open to accepting older photos would be if there was an important icon along the road that for some reason no one took photos of, and the group decided they really needed to include this icon in any book we might put together. If we don't limit the book to photos taken during the event, I imagine we would be deluged with images taken by everyone who has ever photographed a portion of the road, even if they don't participate in this event, and I don't think it would be fair to the people who do participate.

But if we don't get some more interest in this idea it looks like the shootout might be nothing more than a group of California people heading east and a couple of Arizona people heading west, and we'll meet up in the middle! Not much of a book in that, but I bet it would still be fun!

So, do you think this thread is just not getting enough views (every time I check I only see three people looking in Location, Location), is there just not much interest in the idea, or is there interest in the shootout but no one has time to volunteer to help organize it?

CWSkopec

AWESOME IDEA!!!!

I love it! I can't commit to being the volunteer leader in Western CA, but I'll drive up to volunteer for sure!!

And if it ever gets to point that a book is a good idea... well, I would be honored to help with that as well (I'm no expert, but I do graphic design for a living so I could certainly help out!! )

leaforte

Great project!

JavaLover

I can help!!!

I will be up on the eastern side of Flagstaff next week and can get some Flag-Winslow shots. Or if it has to be a certain day then I can try for that too.

leaforte

OffTopic wrote:

...I've been working on customizing it for shooting with lockboxes for my camera gear, an inverter for charging when I'm on the trail for days at a time...it's a work in progress.

Me, also, on my 86 Cherokee 4x4. I think I have the lock box down, and inverter is just a purchase. I have a 400 watter, but would like to up size. The printers run slow.

Route 66 project sounds like a winner!

anwmn1

Hey Java good to see you on here. There is a specific date in mind which has yet to be determined though.


I will go ahead and offer up to organize the Arizona group.

I do suggest picking a weekend such as Presidents Day or Martin Luther King Day as it will increase most peoples time by 1 extra day. For almost all AZ dgrinners (Kdog is one of the exceptions) it is a good 2.5 hour drive just to get to route 66 yet alone spread out across it.

If us Arizonians are agressive we could cover the state in 3 days with 2 groups using Flagstaff or Williams as the middle point.

OffTopic

Glad to have some more people on board! I initially thought it would be best to do this in the spring or fall so we had somewhat moderate weather all the way up to Chicago, but if it's just an Arizona & California shootout, winter works for me! Just no desert shooting in the middle of the summer.


leaforte, my first jeep was a 2DR '84 Cherokee. That is one sweet vehicle. Wish I still had mine.

OffTopic

And Aaron, thank you for offering to head up the Arizona group!

JavaLover

anwmn1 wrote:

There is a specific date in mind which has yet to be determined though.

Cool, we may call this next trip off. So later may work better. At least I can plan for it.

anwmn1

JavaLover wrote:

Cool, we may call this next trip off. So later may work better. At least I can plan for it.

If you go you will be able to scout out the route and places to shoot.

anwmn1

I am jealous of you Jeepers :cry

I am hoping to get a 4dr Cherokee or 4dr Land Cruiser next spring. Hopefully that will work out.