Life on Route 66: Personal Accounts Along the Mother Road to California. This item is unavailable.Life on Route 66: Personal Accounts Along the Mother Road to California

Winding through the rugged heartland of the American West, Route 66 has resonated for generations in hardscrabble stories of hopeful seekers of new homes and lives. The Mother Road has inspired books and shows by the dozens, exploring the mythology and anticipation of freedom road. But here is something new. Coauthors Alan and Claudia Heller, longtime residents of Duarte, California, along Route 66, hitched their trailer to a retirement dream and traveled the road again, in their home state and back to Chicago. They collected stories of the iconic highway, and what it means to the people who live along its way, for a series in the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. Retrace their journey with this collection and find the people and places that make Route 66 truly historic.

The oldest of seven children, Claudia grew up in Hollywood, California, and graduated from Los Angeles City College with an AA degree in journalism. Living in Duarte, California, for the past thirty years, she has become engrained in the community, serving as president of the Duarte Historical Society and Museum for the past twelve years. She is a former president of the Duarte Woman's Club. For more than ten years, she has authored a biweekly column for the Star News, a section of the Pasadena Star News. Her columns feature people, events and history of the Duarte area. Growing up in Silverlake, California, Alan earned a BA degree in biology at California State University, Los Angeles. He currently serves as president of Duarte's Public Access Channel (DCTV) and is a former commissioner of the Duarte Parks and Recreation Commission. Alan is a member of the Westerners Corral of History Writers and E Clampus Vitus, a historical society that places history plaques throughout the West. He is also a former president of the Underwater Photographic Society. His photographs have appeared in many professional publications, including Westways magazine and Skin Diver magazine. Alan is retired from his career in sales.