>> this year c-span is touring cities across the country exploring american history. next our visit to merlot, texas. are watching american history tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span3. >> established in 1926, route 66 was one of the original highways in the u.s. highway system, carrying motorists over 2400 miles from chicago, illinois to santa monica, california. in the book, "a matter of time," route 66 through the lens of

a photographer and historian nick gerlich capture scenes along the route that speak to its past. in amarillo, we rode along with nick gerlich, following the path of the old highway. >> why do you think this highway is still popular today, even after decades after it was decommissioned? nick: it has a lot to do with nostalgia today. people want to revisit places that maybe they experienced as a child. that is a huge part of the nostalgia. but there is another kind of nostalgia as well. it is called anna moya. it is a desire to visit a place in the past that you never experienced. so for younger americans, and for international tourists of all ages for whom route 66 was only something they had heard about, coming to route 66 by car or motorcycle or bicycle today is getting to visit a distant

past that they have only seen in books. when route 66 came through town in 1926, our airport, at least the modern airport, was not here. today, you can drive in the northeast and you run into a fence that is now protecting the modern airport. but the road kept going. amarillo is one of three cities along route 66 in which the road is now buried by the modern airport. amarillo, santa rosa in new mexico and st. louis, missouri. so right up ahead here is where the fence and gate are. if you get high enough on a ladder, you can see a bit of concrete from the 1920's that was still left here. it exists beyond the outer road

of the airport and runs up to one of the current runways. i just saw a plane take off. it literally crossed over route 66. it is still there. hardly anybody knows about this little fragment of road that is hiding in plain sight, but right behind that gate is where the old road was and still is. >> where did the idea for this book start or come about? [airplane roar] nick: ellen and i met on facebook. it sounds cliché, but we did. in several facebook groups for route 66. she and her husband in germany had been wanting to pursue a book project, as they had been over to america a couple times prior and had done a lot of photography on the road. and they wanted to partner with someone from america who knew the route and was prepared to

write about it. so we kind of had a blind date in may of 2015. they asked me via facebook if i would meet them for dinner in downtown amarillo. i said, of course. i would love to do that. met and had dinner and they pitched the idea. and we all fell in love with each other. from that point forward, we started working on the structure of the book. where we wanted it to go, what kind of shot, what kind of narrations we wanted. and her husband, udo, who was already an accomplished author, had decided he was going to be our manager and he kept us on task through all of that. so we began our joint efforts in september of 2015 on one of their subsequent trips. we traveled extensively the next three years, visiting many sites all along route 66.

so that i could experience what ellen was experiencing and more specifically what she was seeing through the lens of her camera. and that had a big part in the naming of our book, "a matter of time: route 66 through the lens of change" - it was not just clever wordplay, it was truly what we were doing. we wanted to chronicle change. and that is a reoccurring theme in the classes i teach as well. i think it is important to know your history, how it all began. and then it is important to take note of where you are today. because the only way to plan for the future is to know your past and present. [clock ticking] that is what we wanted to do

with the book. in those photos, we were able to chronicle the decay of many things that were once prospering along 66. but also the emergence of new businesses along route 66, as well as the evolution of older businesses. because route 66 is not dead yet. i do not think it will ever be dead. parts of it are, but other parts are very much alive. we wanted to focus on how things have changed. some things didn't change for the best. but other things did change very well. people have evolved, businesses have evolved, and they are still out there meeting the needs of tourists today. ok, we are coming into downtown amarillo on pierce street. we will stop and look at the herring hotel, which was built in 1926 in five and a half months.

a 13 story building, absolutely amazing somebody could do that in five and a half months. they cannot even build an overpass into years, much less a 13 story hotel. it was situated just feet off route 66. it had a soft opening on december 15, 1926, which was only a month and four days after the birth of route 66. and then they had a big gala on new year's eve of 1926. and they were in business for good. it is an amazing hotel. it has been abandoned for many years. and it needs a lot of money and a lot of tlc, but it could be something today.

this had 600 rooms. and it had people who lived in it. in other words, it had condos for condos were a thing. people at full-size living quarters, apartments, on the upper floors. this is where the movers and shakers stayed. the basement had a club where oilmen and cattle barons could come hang out and do business. back in the old days it had on . the second floor a coffee shop. there was also a ballroom on the second floor. this was the premier establishment in amarillo. we are on southwest six, route 66 going through town. we have the courthouse and library on the right juxtaposed with nice modern structures with reflecting surfaces. right across the street the

, first bank southwest building a couple of blocks down the road, the tallest building between fort worth in denver at 31 stories. but right ahead here is the barfield building undergoing renovations right now. it will reopen in 2020 as the marriott autograph hotel. that is a big part of the experience of amarillo, being able to see the old amid the new. and how it all kind of comes together. ellen is a really good photographer. she has been influenced by some really good street photographers through the years. she could really see the juxtaposition of the old and the new, the skyscraper, the old sign and the old streets. we are in the far western region

of the texas panhandle, unfortunately driving a bit on interstate right now, but only because route 66 was obliterated here in the 1970's. we are going to get off at exit zero visit one of the coolest and ghost towns along route 66, glenn rio. we are going to cross the freeway here now and get onto little strands of old route 66, the last strand in texas going west and the first going east. with that in mind we are going , to stop at the first last motel, which is right on the state line. just like the name implies, it was the first or last thing you saw depending on which way you were going. we are standing inside the longhorn café, which was built

around 1951. in glenn rio. this is where everyone had their first or last meal in texas. it was an exceptionally busy and successful café because it was conveniently located in the middle of nowhere. people could fill up their bellies, fill up the tanks in their cars, and if they were tired they could get a room at the motel in the back. but either way glenn rio was a , happening town in the 1950's. we had a lot of fun photographing this. i had a lot of fun writing about it. this was truly a busy place along route 66. it is hard to imagine that cars would truly be stacked up five and six at the gas station, in the middle of nowhere like this. especially since it is so quiet today. all we have to do is look at the freeway a quarter-mile north, and that is where everyone is.

>> our cities tour staff recently traveled to amarillo, texas, to learn about its rich history. to watch more video from amarillo and other stops on our tour, visit c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching american history tv all weekend every weekend on c-span3. approximately 4000 seminole indians who live in florida today are descendents of a band of seminole who never surrendered to the u.s. 1817 and 1858. over the course of those years, the majority of seminoles were forced to move west of the mississippi river to what is now oklahoma. next on "american artifacts," a visit to the seminole nation of