AUTHOR

MAGAZINE WRITER

PLAYWRIGHT

HISTORIAN

Photo of old Route 66 near Dwight, Illinois, by Cheryl Eichar Jett.

AUTHOR…

Announcing my upcoming book!

From the Coffee Pot to the Drawing Board: Women’s Work on Route 66

Cheryl talking about the women of the Mother Road in “Route 66: The Untold Story of Women on the Mother Road,” a three-part documentary series by filmmaker Katrina Parks. Courtesy of Katrina Parks and Assertion Films.

I’m so happy to announce that, after seven years of collecting stories, conducting interviews, writing, and re-writing, the final version of From the Coffee Pot to the Drawing Board: Women’s Work on Route 66 (my seventh book) is in sight for a tentative 2024 book release!

MAGAZINE WRITER…

Freelance feature story writer/regular contributor to ROUTE Magazine, Show Me Route 66, and other publications. Monthly Illinois Route 66 column in the Prairie Land Buzz.

Courtesy ROUTE Magazine & Thin Tread Media.

NEWS & BLOG…

April 1, 2023

Wow, it’s been my pleasure to be a guest on Robby Robinson’s Monday night show, “Jam’n Java,” with a Route 66 segment since January! Just in case you don’t know Robby, he is a phenomenal musician and has been keyboardist and music director with the incredible (and still rocking at age 88!) Frankie Valli for 45 years! Robby is also my long-time, high-school-days friend from Litchfield, Illinois, and we have definitely done some reminiscing during some of the Route 66 segments. (Litchfield is, of course, an Illinois Route 66 town.) Robby did a fantastic arrangement and recording of the “(Get Your Kicks) on Route 66” song with amazing upcoming vocalist Sara Niemietz (you must listen at Route 66 Robby Robinson). And of course, we’re both BIG fans of our hometown’s Litchfield Museum & Route 66 Welcome Center! So that’s sort of how I ended up with an invitation to do a Route 66 segment for a while on his Monday night show, which is always packed with music, Route 66, Frankie Valli tour info and reports, and “all things Robby Robinson,” as Robby seems to have even more projects going on than I do! Anyway, please join us soon on a Monday evening!

JAM’N JAVA Monday evenings 9 pm Central, 7 pm Pacific at Jam'n Java

Screen shot from Robby Robinson’s “Jam’n Java Live,” during the new Route 66 segment.

HISTORIAN…

Cheryl Eichar Jett is an American author, playwright, historian, and award-winning short-story writer who covers historic Route 66 attractions, women’s history, U.S. history and politics, and the places and times where those topics intersect.

Photo of sunrise in Pontiac, Illinois, by Cheryl Eichar Jett.

Route 66
and other blue-line highways

Route 66 — the very words inspire nostalgia, excitement, and a longing for the open road. I’m old enough to have ridden and driven pre-decommissioned Route 66. Back then it was the way you got to where you were going. My first two Route 66 books were published in 2010 by Arcadia Publishing, followed by two more in 2014 and 2016. Currently, I’m working on a book about women’s lives and work on historic Route 66 and hoping for a 2023 publishing date. In the past decade, I’ve written over 200 published historical articles, most about Route 66, which have appeared in Route 66 Magazine, Show Me Route 66, most recently ROUTE Magazine, and others. In September 2022 I celebrated ten years of writing my monthly column, “Along Route 66,” for the Prairie Land Buzz, an Illinois publication.

Women’s History
and the legacy of women’s work

Growing up, my mother was an inspiring role model, a woman with a career (music educator) but also an attentive, nurturing mother. My 4G grandmother Celea Sampson Cole was a heroine of the War of 1812; she spotted British troops off the coast of western New York and rode to alert American militiamen. A distant cousin, Deborah Sampson, disguised herself as a man to join the patriot forces in the American Revolution. As for myself, I’m content to be the researcher and writer of women’s stories! As a non-traditional student twenty years ago, for my master’s thesis, I wrote about Native American women’s work roles in World War II. Now in 2023, I’m on the home stretch of writing my book about the lives and work of the women of historic Route 66. I can hardly wait to share it with all of you!

Americana
and U.S. travel

There’s no end to the list of intriguing road trips and destinations in the U.S. It’s my privilege to chronicle some of the most iconic destinations in America as a contributing writer at ROUTE Magazine. My first feature story in ROUTE was about charming and quaint Atlanta, Illinois, published in the October/November 2020 issue. Since then, I’ve covered the iconic, neon-kissed Conoco station in Shamrock, Texas; the Diaz family and the murals of Pontiac, Illinois; the Stuckey Company, with the founder’s grand-daughter Stephanie Stuckey now at the helm; the backstory of the Elbow Inn at Devils Elbow, Missouri; and numerous others. Don’t miss my exciting stories coming up in future issues. You can pick up a copy at your local Barnes & Noble or Books-a-Million bookstore or at a Route 66 gift/souvenir shop, or subscribe to ROUTE.

PLAYWRIGHT…

My stage play, Aprons Away: Women’s Work on the Mother Road, premiered in a one-act version in October 2018 as one of the conference session slots at the fourth annual Miles of Possibility Route 66 Conference, hosted by and held at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois. It was truly a thrill to “bring to life” some of the significant stories of women from the historic Route 66 era on the stage of the amazing, state-of-the-art Bothwell Auditorium on the Blackburn College campus. Next, a full two-act version of Aprons Away was generously sponsored by the Route 66 Association of Illinois and produced by Pontiac Tourism at the lovely, restored Eagle Performing Arts Center in Pontiac, Illinois, on June 22-23, 2019. Again, what a thrill! With an amazing cast and crew, we wowed them in Pontiac! Then, with interest high in bringing Aprons Away to additional Route 66 venues and cities, the pandemic changed our lives forever. Now, I hope to create a new production of Aprons Away for 2024 bookings. Please visit the Aprons Away website at Aprons Away on Route 66 for photos and more information.