Amazon.com: Route 66 Backroads: Your Guide to Scenic Side Trips & Adventures from the Mother Road (Backroads of ...): Jim Hinckley, Kerrick James, Rick Bowers, Nora Bowers: Books

Review

“Famous Route 66 begins at Grant Park in Chicago and ends by the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, Calif. The road and this book recall a time before franchise restaurants and chain motels choked America's highways. The journey begins in Illinois, travels through Missouri and Kansas, continues through Oklahoma, crosses Texas, enters New Mexico, traverses Arizona before ending in California. In total, the guide consists of 50 driving tours, which include plenty of side trips off the Mother Road. What truly sets the book apart from similar titles, though, is the more than 200 color photographs by photographers Kerrick James, Rick Bowers and Nora Mays Bowers.” - Arizona Republic

“Route 66 Backroads takes us on some of those journeys and in the process makes us wish for more memory cards for the camera and more days to spend on the road…Jim Hinckley takes us to with his lively narrative that both informs and intrigues. Through excellent photography of Kerrick James, as well as Rick and Nora Bowers, the places come alive and entice you to visit. For many of us, Route 66 is the adventure, the moveable feast of cross-country journey, but close to the Road, there are places equally as interesting and exciting. Route 66 Backroads explores some of these places, and adds even more reasons for making that next Route 66 trip.” - Route 66 Magazine

“Sure, the interstate will get you there faster, but driving the Mother Road gets you closer to history. If you know someone who’s enchanted with the double six, “Route 66 Backroads,” by Jim Hinckley with photos by Kerrick James, Rick Bowers and Nora Mays Bowers, may be just the ticket (Voyageur Press, $24.99).

What’s different about this tome: It offers 50 side strips on the road from Chicago to L.A., detours that could bring you face to face with the neon/big fins/diners/motels feeling you’re looking for. If only I hadn’t gotten rid of my ‘57 Chevy….” - LA Times

“I have been enjoying in the last few days a beautiful book named Route 66 Backroads: Your Guide to Scenic Side Trips & Adventures from the Mother Road. It was written by Jim Hinckley and features photography by Kerrick James, Rick Bowers, and Nora Mays Bowers. The title is somewhat misleading, but not in a bad way. Before looking through the book, I had assumed that it would highlight 66 sites and other places of interest nearby. While sites such as these are covered, the scenic side trips take you far away from the Mother Road, showing many of the other interesting areas within the eight Route 66 states… The photography throughout the book is stunning, and the narrative compelling. I give the book my highest praise: it makes me want to jump in the car and take a road trip!” - http://windycityroadwarrior.com/,

If you intend to explore route 66, this book will serve as a helpful guide. And even if you are not planning such a trip, the book’s photographs provide a remarkable catalog of natural and manmade wonders that will hold your interest.
--RV Life, February 2009

Sure, the interstate will get you there faster, but driving the Mother Road gets you closer to history. If you know someone who’s enchanted with the double six, “Route 66 Backroads,” by Jim Hinckley with photos by Kerrick James, Rick Bowers and Nora Mays Bowers, may be just the ticket (Voyageur Press, $24.99).

If only I hadn’t gotten rid of my ‘57 Chevy….
--LA Times, December 21, 2008

Through the excellent photography of Kerrick James, as well as Rick and Nora Bowers, the places come alive and entice you to visit. For many of us, Route 66 is the adventure, the moveable feast of cross-country journey, but close to the Road, there are places equally as interesting and exciting. Route 66 Backroads explores some of these places, and adds even more reasons for making that next Route 66 trip.
--Route 66 Magazine, Winter 2008-09

Product Description

Known as the Main Street of America and the Mother Road, U.S. Route 66 is the nation’s best known highway. Once the microcosm of a culture increasingly connected by automobiles, its sights and attractions are now a fascinating reflection of a nation on the move. Travel this iconic highway through the heart of America with Route 66 Backroads as your guide. This lavishly illustrated book steers you from Chicago to Los Angeles, traveling through the lowlands of the American Plains and the high plateaus of New Mexico and Arizona, from the Great Lakes to the mighty Pacific Ocean, and through major metropolises and remote country towns.

Branch away from the Mother Road, and you encounter gems hidden beyond today’s standard motels and tourist traps---the quaint frontier communities that date back to the nation’s westward expansion; the legacy of ancient native cultures; and the awe-inspiring natural wonders that have graced these lands since time immemorial. State parks, wildlife refuges, museums, historic sites, literary landmarks, and much more are there to be explored within a few hours’ drive from the path of Route 66. The fifty trips included here offer new travel opportunities for the thousands of road-trippers who follow this legendary route, looking for something more.

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Product Details

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Voyageur Press; 1st edition (November 24, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 076032817X
ISBN-13: 978-0760328170
Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #63,088 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
mother road

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
State Route, New Mexico, Mississippi River, Native American, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, Colorado River, Follow Route, Main Street of America, United States, San Diego, Missouri River, World War, Lake Shore Drive, Santa Fe Trail, Las Vegas, Illinois River, Fort Scott, Grant Park, Canadian River, Mark Twain, Meramec Caverns, Los Angeles, Painted Desert, Grand Canyon

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	53% buy the item featured on this page: Route 66 Backroads: Your Guide to Scenic Side Trips & Adventures from the Mother Road (Backroads of ...) 2.5 out of 5 stars (2) $16.49
	14% buy Here It Is! The Route 66 Map Series 4.2 out of 5 stars (73) $11.95
	13% buy Route 66: EZ66 GUIDE For Travelers - 2nd Edition 4.4 out of 5 stars (13) $17.59
	13% buy Route 66 Adventure Handbook: Expanded Third Edition (Route 66 Series) 4.6 out of 5 stars (27) $11.53

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Average Customer Review

2.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable book, June 23, 2009

By	Teri Landrum - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Although this book isn't specifically about Route 66 (where to stay, where to eat, what to see), it is a nice companion for knowing about the other interesting sidetrips along the way. The pictures are beautiful and the text is well written. I'm not disappointed that I bought this book but if you are looking for one that sticks to Route 66 in a roadmap sort of way (like the Route 66 Adventure Handbook does), you will probably be disappointed.

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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Dog Of A Route 66 Book, April 22, 2009

By	Gregory L. Dolce (Illinois) - See all my reviews

Using Route 66 as lead in, Hinckley basically offers us a guide to
'scenic side trips' from various points along Route 66. Again, this book attempts to ride on the route's name and establish it as a base for taking those side trips along it's course.

From that POV, it's not a bad book. Very limited in scope, it nonetheless offers some ideas of places to take side trips. It's not a Route 66 book.

I think that the carnaval Route 66 book, led by the Wallis' offerring of 1990, the book about the route being a real fun thing, has been pretty much played out. Those folks out there who strive to make a living selling Route 66 are forced to come up with new ideas to sell books. Instead of taking a deeper look into what the route really was, or its history, it seems to be better marketing to put out books like this, with a lot of pictures, etc.

After reading this book I had the that feeling that I'd just wasted some money actually buying it. It quickly went to the bottom of the stack of books I know I'll never look at again, let alone read.

Unless you like the side trips off Route 66, I'd advise you to pass on this one.

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