Gearhead Curios on Route 66
This light painting story is really fun! It’s all about a project at Gearhead Curios on Route 66, that pretty much came outta nowhere! So, please, sit back and enjoy reading about this one!
Here’s the setup photo. Once it got dark out, Joannie and I went to work. What a cool location!
Getting Our Kicks on Route 66
In late August, Joannie and I were on our way to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for two cool Corvette light painting projects. That was followed by a third project of another Corvette with a Bentley Continental GT Speed, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The finished artworks and the links to each of their stories are below.
A Cool Light Painting of a 2015 C7 Corvette Z06 in Oklahoma.
Man, this is one hot car!
A Stunning Light Painting of a Long Beach Red 2016 C7 Corvette Z06
Both the Corvette Z06’s hood and trunk liners feature custom hand-painted artworks with blood moons. So, as per the owner’s request, I added one to the image in post!
A Two-Car Light Painting of a 2016 Bentley Continental GT Speed and a 2025 C8 Corvette E-Ray
Here’s our light painting project that we photographed in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was our first-ever Bentley! And, for that matter, it’s our first E-Ray too!
We stayed in Kansas City, Kansas, on our first night of the trip. The following morning, when selecting our route to Tulsa, we decided to avoid taking the toll roads, so we took a much more scenic route, using Highway 69 instead of Interstate 44. Well, that decision turned out to be a great one!
The Mother Road
Before our trip, I had a pretty good idea that we might see at least a little bit of Historic Route 66 somewhere along the way. Well, that very afternoon, our path crossed Route 66 in Kansas. So, of course, we made a brief stop there to take a couple of photos with the Route 66 road signs along the highway in Riverton, Kansas. The next thing we know, we’re visiting with a couple who suggested that we travel just a few miles away to Galena, Kansas, to take a look around. What a great idea that was!
On our route from Kansas City to Tulsa, we made a brief stop to take a couple of photos with the Route 66 road signs on the Mother Road in Riverton, Kansas. Little did we know that a short time later, we would discover Gearhead Curios and the cool vintage Texaco Station in nearby Galena!
Route 66 in Galena, Kansas
Despite some light rain at the time, we had to stop and get a selfie with this wonderful Route 66 mural in Galena!
The town of Galena, Kansas, is very proud of its Route 66 Heritage. There are wonderful murals and neat Route 66 goodies all over town! Joannie and I spent about 3 hours in Galena that afternoon. It could have easily been much longer, but we had one of the Corvette light painting projects scheduled for that night in Tulsa.
The art on some of the buildings in Galena is really cool! Here’s a photo of a large Coca-Cola mural.
One of the unique locations we stopped at in Galena was a cool Vintage Texaco Station. It’s owned by a guy named Aaron Perry. It is very safe to say that Aaron is quite the character! His gift shop there, called Gearhead Curios, is a Route 66 Destination all by itself! We spent at least an hour there.
Here’s a selfie of Joannie, me, and Aaron taken in front of his cool Texaco Station on Historic Route 66. His amazing “Gearhead Curios” is located inside the station. You gotta check it out if you’re ever in the neighborhood!
Aaron’s Vintage Texaco Station has tons of things to look at, both inside and out. He’s got a wonderful shop there (Gearhead Curios)which has great gifts, souvenirs, and artworks. It’s also a place to share stories – and Aaron certainly has a bunch of them!
Gearhead Curios also serves as the only State of Kansas Information Center on Route 66.
“The Most Photographed Restroom on Route 66”
Yes, you heard that right! This quirky and nostalgic place also includes one of the most unique and photographed restrooms that you’ll EVER see! This restroom has even hosted a wedding!
When you get to Galena, Kansas, you gotta stop in at Gearhead Curios to take the “Restroom Tour” with Aaron (and probably other guests too!)!
To prove a point, Joannie and I “Took the Tour” of that very restroom with four other people (there was room for a few more)! With us were two sisters, one lives in New York, and the other in Michigan, and another couple from Chicago. And, our tour guide, Aaron, was in there telling stories about it too! It’s pretty safe to say that this very scenario has happened thousands of times over the years!
The amount of thought and planning that Aaron put into his unique restroom is off the charts! There are tiny custom touches everywhere! (As a side note, I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to light paint that restroom sometime in the future!)
Light Painting Gearhead Curios
From pretty much the moment I saw Aaron’s Vintage Texaco Station, I wanted to light paint it. Both during our time there and after we left, I was “suggesting” to Joannie that we figure out a way to do so on this trip.
If you ask her, Joannie will tell you that I’ve been known to do that quite a bit since I became a light painting photographer. That’s how we created beautiful light paintings of orchids and other beautiful flowers at Hana Tropicals on the Hawaiian Island of Maui several years ago!
A “before and after” of one of the beautiful flower arrangements we light-painted at Hana Tropicals on Maui.
It was about 90 miles, one way, from our hotel in Tulsa back to Galena. We had an open day on our trip, so we decided to see more of Route 66 on our way back to Gearhead Curios. And, of course, we returned there via The Mother Road, not the interstate. You know what they say, “When in Rome”!
Light Painting on Route 66 – Literally!
I had talked to Aaron about light painting Gearhead Curios when we first met him. He was open to the idea, and so we exchanged phone numbers. Once we decided to head back, I texted him to make sure it was still ok, and he gave us the go-ahead.
We spent the whole day heading back to Galena and saw several other cool sites and towns along Route 66. You never know, we might have to go back to light-paint more of these amazing historical locations.
On the far left side of Aaron’s wonderful vintage Texaco Station in Galena, Kansas, there’s a large American flag created out of Kansas license plates. So cool!
We arrived just a little before Aaron was closing up shop for the night. He was heading to an event that evening, so we could pretty much do whatever we wanted to, setup-wise. After chatting with him, I chose the angle that got all of “Big A, the Texaco Giant” in on the far left side, and “Doc Hudson”, the 1951 Hornet, from the hit Disney/Pixar film “Cars”, on the far right.
That meant placing our camera and tripod literally right on Route 66! We used our Honda Odyssey, the Enterprise E, to protect it from any traffic coming too close once it got dark. Then, we set up a director’s chair for Joannie so that she could be comfortable while triggering the camera. We were all set to go once it got dark enough to begin the light painting process.
We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have our photo taken with “Doc”, from the hit Disney-Pixar movie “Cars”.
Light Painting Magic
Because Aaron wasn’t going to be there while we did the actual light painting, he had to put away some of the cool props that were outside, because, well, some people can’t leave nice things alone. So, we had to improvise a little bit.
Both Betty Boop and the Trico Wiper Blade Box were light-painted all by themselves before he put them inside. Watch the Build Video below to see how we did that. In fact, if you look closely, you can see Betty Boop safely inside the station. Also, the “Souvenirs” and “Open” neon signs were turned off when he left. I figured out a way to turn them back on via some messing around in post-production.
The final artwork turned out so cool!
Gearhead Curios on Route 66 – The Movie
Because this project was for fun, and not for a client, I had to put it on the back burner until I completed all of the other cool light painting projects that we had lined up before winter set in. I was pretty sure that we nailed it, but you never know for sure until things come together back in the studio. It was very hard to wait a few months to put it all together! However, now that it’s complete, I do believe that Joannie and I did indeed nail it that night!
The link below takes you to the Build Video on our YouTube channel. It shows all of the images that we used, including our improvising with Betty Boop and Trico Wiper Blades. Then you’ll see the image come alive, one layer at a time, in post-production.
Joannie and I took 333 that night, and I used 119 of those (in 187 different layers) to create the Master File of this really unique image. I’m so pleased with the way this turned out! Perhaps it might be available for purchase at Gearhead Curious someday? You just never know!
A huge thank you to Aaron for the great visit, the “Bathroom Tour”, and for granting us carte blanche to light paint your cool establishment! We certainly hope that our paths cross again! – M&J
Here we are at one of the many Route 66 photo-op locations in Galena, Kansas.