Joe Berardi

Route 66 Yesterday and Today: a Nostalic Journey Down the Mother Road Joe Berardi

Publisher Marketing: The book, Route 66 Yesterday and Today is the updated re-titled Route 66 Favorites book. It now has 15 large color maps for retracing the fragments of the original Route 66 highway. More color photographs have be added to this edition. Route 66 was the first all-weather cross-country highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. This book covers a little of the history and several of the sights and nostalgic relics of this by-gone time. We mention a few museums that have been erected to celebrate this magical era of freedom of travel. This type of travel was previously not possible or recommended due to lack of reliable maps and bad road quality. Now, mostly replaced by Interstate 40, Route 66 still calls to those who remember or long for that trip down the Mother Road. Old classic cars, trucks, gas pumps, motels and restaurants, some now rusted and aged, others newly restored, are featured in full color photographs. A description of our experience driving the route from Arizona to Missouri is included with special consideration given to the best places to visit. There are some humorous stops with decorated cars or mannequin mechanics. There is even a restaurant called The Roadkill Cafe and a motel where you sleep in a wigwam. Join us on this nostalgic journey down what's left of Route 66." Contributor Bio:  Berardi, Joe Joe Berardi, Utah Slot Canyon Hikes Photographer and Adventurer I started my second career as a landscape and wildlife photographer in 2003 after working 24 years in Electronic Engineering. I traveled all over the Southwest states of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado building my original photography portfolio in 2003. That year I had the thrill of photographing my first elk rut at Rocky Mountain NP. I hiked my first slot canyon in 2006 with an adventure into Buckskin Gulch and I have been hooked ever since. I have hiked the Red Rock Country around Sedona hundreds of times. I have survived many monsoon thunderstorms at Canyon de Chelly yielding the best rainbow adventure a photographer could ever dream of. I hiked into the Superstition Wilderness (Arizona) for Spring Break 1976 introducing me to the world of the Sonora desert and the thrill of hiking it. I have published several books on photography and my hiking adventures including slot canyons. The Slot Canyon Hikes & Adventures 2nd edition has been recently updated. This past year the author has focused on slot canyon hikes in Utah and Arizona and has introduced a series of topographical canyon atlases made for slot canyon hikers. The San Rafael Swell 2013 Canyon Atlas was the first in a series of five books and the Escalante River 2014 Canyon Atlas and Paria River 2014 Canyon Atlas has been recently updated for 2014. I was exposed to photography at an early age and wanted to take my own photographs. I purchased my first camera by age 13 using my newspaper earnings. I developed my first roll of B&W film by age 14 when I purchased a used 35mm SLR camera my freshman year in high school. During my freshman year I learned the fundamentals of photography and how to develop film and make prints. Growing up, I had a passion for making things and photography fit right in with this passion. My first photographs were of my hobbies; slot cars, model rockets, mini-bikes and boys being boys such as lifting weights. My later teenage years, I captured my skiing adventures, cars and motorcycle road trips. For my first career I followed my Dad into electronics and moved to Arizona to attend and graduate from Arizona State University. Moving to Arizona introduced me to hiking the great outdoors of the southwest. http: //www.slotcanyonsutah.com http: //joeberardiphotos.wordpress.com