Feature | Thursday, September 23,2004

One man's journey on Route 66

From tow truck to guppies

During its half-century as a cross-country highway, Route 66 was the road taken frequently by migrants. In 1933 and '34, a half-million people drove it to Chicago to see Sally Rand and the Worl

News | Thursday, September 9,2004

Crossroads

By Tom Teague

After a 27-year career in state government, Maynard Crossland quietly cleaned out his desk at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and left. With his departure, announced by the agency on

News | Thursday, June 17,2004

Getting his kicks

By Tom Teague

Last week in Tulsa, Rochester artist Bob Waldmire won Route 66's most prestigious honor, the Steinbeck Award. He is the third consecutive winner from Illinois and the fourth overall. The family of J

Feature | Thursday, April 29,2004

Small town, big dreams

By Tom Teague

Bill Thomas may make his living on the cutting edge of computer technology, but he treasures small-town life. Most of the staff of his Atlanta, Ill.-based company, Teleologic Learning, live in

History | Thursday, December 11,2003

Hippie’s calendar salutes 40 years of Mustangs

By Tom Teague

Everyone has his contradictions. Bob Waldmire, for example, is an unreconstructed hippie, as green as Ralph Nader. "Small is beautiful. Slow is beautiful. Old is beautiful," the itinerant artist inton

Feature | Thursday, September 25,2003

The Road on the Web

Route 66 lives on the information superhighway

By Tom Teague

The Internet is a great but often shallow sea. True to its populist and idiosyncratic nature, you find just about anything on it. There just aren't too many Marianas Trenches of information alo

Feature | Thursday, September 25,2003

He’s got a million of ’em

Ernie Edwards serves up some stories from the Road

By Tom Teague

Ernie Edwards, longtime proprietor of the Pig Hip Restaurant in Broadwell, is one of Route 66's most gifted and proficient storytellers. With 54 years in business and a dozen years of retirement

Feature | Thursday, September 25,2003

Speaking in plates

By Tom Teague

Since vibrations first tickled our vocal cords, mankind has been a compulsive communicator. From petroglyphs to DVDs, from Dead Sea scrolls to skywriting, we've left no expressive stone unturned in ou

Feature | Thursday, August 21,2003

Barry Friedman’s Downtown Hat Trick

How one local boy came to own the Alamo, Two Brothers, and Norb Andy’s

By Tom Teague

As a 13-year-old goalie for the Springfield Kings, Barry Friedman's job was to turn people away and deflect their shots. He did it well enough to win a college scholarship. Now, as owner of three of t

News | Thursday, March 27,2003

War as tradition

By Tom Teague

My son's leaving for Iraq this week. I wish him well. For years I've told him what his generation needed was a good war. It would be a wonderful character builder. See how it worked for mine? But I me