Route 66 museum to cruise into K.C.

Kansas City, Mo. — For years, legendary Route 66 breathed life into Lebanon, Mo., and its collection of hotels, diners and other traveler havens.

Decades after the road passed into myth, Lebanon is hoping Route 66 still has some magic.

The town in south central Missouri plans in September to open the latest museum dedicated to the memory and history of this most American of highways.

The museum, being built in a former Kmart that now serves as the Lebanon-Laclede County Library, will feature remnants of Route 66’s past. That includes signs, furniture, gas pumps, a soda fountain, a hotel switchboard and a rotating collection of antique cars.

The museum will also have a research center, including 650 highways maps dating as far back as 1915, plus hundreds of books and magazines featuring Route 66.

Other Route 66 museums have sprouted in towns ranging from Eureka, Mo., near St. Louis, to Victorville, Calif., to varying success.

Jim Powell, founder of the Route 66 Association of Missouri, said Lebanon’s museum should do well as nostalgia for the route continues. It once ran 2,448 miles between Chicago and Santa Monica, Calif., but began disappearing in 1956 as interstate highways replaced it.

“People are trying to experience America at the slower pace of a two-lane highway,” Powell said.

Wyoming city ranks high on outdoor report card

Jackson, Wyo. — An annual report on the Rockies lauds Jackson as a premier playground for outdoor enthusiasts.

“Jackson, Wyo., located within Teton County, may be the supreme location for recreation in the United States,” states Colorado College’s 2004 “State of the Rockies Report Card.”

“Positioned as a gateway to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park, and at the base of the world-renowned Jackson Hole ski resort, it is difficult to image a better place for the outdoor enthusiast or second-home owner,” the report adds.

Hinsdale County, Colo., northeast of Durango, ranked second.

The number of acres preserved in wilderness or owned by the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management determined the rankings.

Scenic and outdoor recreational amenities are increasingly important contributors to economic and population growth for communities in the Rockies, the report said.