Adventure Archives

The Women of Route 66

And Their Roles in Creating and Maintaining the Highway’s Kitschy-Americana Environment

Lillian Redman ran the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari New Mexico along the famed Route 66, a 2,448 mile highway of kitschy-Americana buildings that crossed eight states to connect Chicago to Los Angeles.

John Steinbeck dubbed it the Mother Road in his 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Grapes of Wrath. In 1946, singer Nat King Cole invited Americans to get their kicks on Route 66. And in 1972, the you could find the Eagles “standin’ on the corner in Winslow, Arizona.”

Frying Doughnuts and Dodging Bombs in World War 1

The Salvation Army’s Doughnut Girls Traveled with U.S. Troops

World War I Doughnut Girls distributing fresh baked treats to the troops — The Doughnut Girls traveled with the troops, frying and distributing doughnuts on the battlefield.

In 1917, the Salvation Army sent 250 female volunteers from its cities and towns to France to boost the morale of troops serving with the American Expeditionary Force on the Western Front, where they braved dangerous combat conditions to provide emotional support. They became known as the Doughnut Girls of World War I, their stories, for the most part, footnotes in America’s wartime history.

The Women Who Walked on Wings

Three of the High-Flying Daredevils of Early Aviation

Lillian Boyer performs at an aerial stunt show in the 1920s.

As early as 1911, aerial wing walking emerged when pilots had no choice but to venture out onto the wings of their planes to make repairs or technical in-flight adjustments.

Sophie Blanchard – The Woman Who Defied the Sky

One of History’s Most Extraordinary Aerial Pioneers

From Napoleon’s favorite balloonist to the first woman killed in an aviation accident, Sophie Blanchard transformed ballooning into a profession and became one of history’s most extraordinary aerial pioneers.

Madame Sophie Blanchard (1778-1819) was a trailblazing French balloonist. While she wasn’t the first woman to take to the skies in a balloon, she was the first to pilot her own customized craft solo, the first to make ballooning a full-time career, and the first killed in an aviation accident.

Mary Cleave: A Dire Message from Outer Space

The View from Orbit that Scared an Astronaut

Mary Cleave in NASA garb — For environmental engineer and NASA astronaut Mary Cleave, the Space Shuttle was the ultimate platform from which to study the massively destructive effects of climate change that threaten Earth and its inhabitants.

Dr. Mary Cleave was a pilot, an environmental engineer, and one of the NASA’s first female astronauts. Her name may not be well known, but she did remarkable work for NASA – both in space and here on planet Earth.

Dot Robinson – Biker Babe From Cradle to Grave

A Trailblazer in Promoting Motorcycling for Women

Dot Robinson, co-founder of the Motor Maids of America — In the mid-20th century, Dot Robinson pioneered the concept and formed a club of a female bikers who owned, maintained, and rode their machines as well as any man and, in some cases, even better. She and husband Earl (above left) became leaders of the pack at their Detroit Harley-Davidson store.

Dot Robinson, born in Australia in 1912, was quite literally a biker babe. When her mother went into labor, her father loaded his heavily pregnant wife into a Harley-Davidson motorcycle sidecar rig and rushed her to the hospital. And when her mother came home, it was in that same sidecar, holding her tightly swaddled newborn daughter.