ROUTE 66 : ‘It’s Almost as if the Road’s Alive’

First the music.

“It was sunset and I was sitting in the swing on my front porch like I often do, watching the cars go by,” remembers Diane Patterson, whose brick doll house fronts Route 66. “That’s when I heard the old Glenn Miller tune ‘String of Pearls’ coming from the Elks Club.”

Then the road started singing to her.

“Next day, I got the record, brought it here, got my map out, looked at Route 66 and all its towns and said: ‘My God, it is a string of pearls.’ ”

“Just at that time, Tom Snyder was coming through town the first time, researching Route 66 for his guide and we met and . . . “

And Patterson, 47, a Jill-of-all-trades ranging from artist’s model, mother of two, local historian and expert drywaller, grabbed the serendipity and ran with it.

As a champion of all things bringing attention and funding to the preservation of Route 66, Patterson is a member of the national Route 66 association and all eight state organizations.

She has planned and promoted the road’s sock hops and rock tours, Miss Route 66 pageants and restoration of Winslow’s buildings along the highway. And Roadworks, her little company, makes the prettiest four-color, commemorative T-shirts anywhere along the route.

The road, she believes, is her guru: “She just shows me what to do, she guides me . . . it’s almost as if she is alive.”

In return, Patterson will continue to serve the highway and its history.

“Right now, I’d like to form a foundation to convert La Posada (Winslow’s former Route 66 Harvey House) into a mall with restaurants, a bar, boutiques,” she says. “I want to get the band shell back. I want music up there and that’s my ultimate goal: To bring the music back to Route 66.

“You know, the way the world is today, this might be a good time to go back and relive those days.”