AUTHOR

MAGAZINE WRITER

PLAYWRIGHT

HISTORIAN

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

NEWS & BLOG…

January 1, 2025

Happy New Year, dear Readers and Friends! 2024 was such a whirlwind that it’s a bit hard to realize that the year is actually over! But it is, and here we are with a fresh new year of hopes and plans and projects and changes. There is a saying that “Everything you say YES to in this life means saying NO to something else.” I believe that’s true, because, after all, time is indeed finite! In order for me to say “YES” to an old project I’ve long been wanting to finish and to a couple new projects I’ve been thinking about for a year or so, I’ve said “NO” to continuing some other commitments. I’ll be sharing some news on the new projects before long, but I wanted to jump on here on New Year’s Day to say a big THANK YOU to all of your for your support!

November 18, 2024

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 for the past two years (during the summer/fall tourism season! 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 90!) Frankie Valli for 46 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 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 of November 18, 2024, I’m on winter hiatus from the show, but will be back on in the spring!

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. 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 2025 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, ROUTE Magazine, and others.

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

Growing up, my mother was an inspiring role model, a woman with a career but also an attentive, nurturing mother. My 4G grandmother Celea Sampson Cole was a heroine of the War of 1812. A distant cousin, Deborah Sampson, disguised herself as a man to join the patriot forces in the American Revolution. As a non-traditional student twenty-five years ago, for my master’s thesis I wrote about Native American women’s work roles in World War II. Now, 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 you!

Americana
and U.S. travel

There’s no end to the list of intriguing road trips and destinations in the U.S.! Over the past four years, I’ve chronicled some of the most iconic destinations in America as a contributing writer at ROUTE Magazine. Coming up in 2025, I’ll be sharing more stories of fascinating attractions and historic sites in various publications, including my chapter on Illinois in a Route 66 Centennial anthology with release expected in the fall! In the meantime, enjoy my stories in my column Along Route 66 and Beyond in the monthly regional publication The Prairie Land Buzz.

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, there’s hope for a new production of Aprons Away! Please visit the Aprons Away website at Aprons Away on Route 66 for photos and more information.