Today we’d like to introduce you to David Clark.
David, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in northwest Indiana and moved to Chicago in 1980. I have always been obsessed with Chicago’s place in American History and I constantly explore the city with the curiosity of a tourist, the intensity of a detective, and the attention to detail of an investigator. For years I walked around, visited all of our museums and neighborhoods, rode the L and the CTA buses, and took every tour. I learned a lot but had lots of questions that could not be easily answered, so I had to do my own research to dive deeper into the “why” of this city.
In 2000, my wife and I started a new chapter in our exploration as we began to drive the blue highways that emanate from Chicago across the country: Route 66, the Lincoln Highway, US 41, and many more. These travels reinforced the importance of Chicago as the Gateway between east and west in American history, and the importance of transportation history to Chicago’s story. Now each of the things I do tell a piece of this story in some way–the books I write, the tours I lead, and the PowerPoint programs I present. It is a journey that never ends, that starts in the Windy City.
Has it been a smooth road?
If the road was an easy one, I would not have to be a “road warrior.” All entrepreneurs face challenges of marketing to find the people who are interested in their services, and in that my journey has been similar to everyone else that goes into business for themselves. Also, similar to many is the need to deal with family and personal matters that become detours along the road. In 2015, my wife Carol passed away from an illness related to her long addiction to alcohol; I did not find success in my own battle with the same addiction until later that same year. These obstacles and challenges are now part of my journey forward, and will be chronicled in serial format that will begin to see publication later in 2017 as a memoir and history: “Zeno’s Motel and Paradox on Route 66: Quantum Leaps on the Journey to Recovery.”
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Windy City Road Warrior – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Doing business as Windy City Road Warrior, I am a tour guide, public speaker, freelance writer, and book author. I do all types of tours in Chicago on any subject, including general local highlights, architecture, history, and culture. My specialties are the walking tours on Route 66 in the Chicago Loop (where the Road begins) and narrated coach tours from Chicago to downstate communities on the highway: Pontiac, Bloomington, Lincoln, and Springfield. I help people “Get their kicks on Chicago’s Route 66.”
Since 2006, I have been presenting PowerPoint programs on a variety of history subjects at Chicago area libraries, museums, and historical societies. Some of my most popular programs include “The Ghosts of Route 66,” about the spirited legends and the ghost towns along the highway; “Christmas in Chicago,” recounting the traditions like visiting the Marshall Field’s Walnut Room or watching the State Street Parade; and “The Illinois Rogues Gallery,” recounting our infamous history of felonious politicians.
My articles have appeared in many different journals and periodicals, most notably in “Route 66 Magazine.” I have three books currently in print: “Images of America: Route 66 in Chicago”; “Exploring Route 66 in Chicagoland”; and “The Roads that Lead to Lincoln.” A serialized memoir and history will begin publication later this year, entitled “Zeno’s Motel and Paradox on Route 66: Quantum Leaps on the Journey to Recovery.” I am also co-author of another book that will be published in early 2018–“The Curious Traveler’s Guide to Route 66 in Metro Chicago.”
My special area of historical research, touring, and presentation usually has something to do with the intersection of Chicago and transportation. I have found that this informs just about all aspects of the greater story of U.S. History, and in some ways the story of the last 200 years. And since past is often prelude, we can often get a good idea of where we might be headed on the road ahead by this look back. I am most proud of the feedback I have received from some of my customers, who have said they enjoyed the way I have been able to blend and bring together ideas about different things, such as canals, railroads, Route 66, and Chicago, and make them all make sense as one coherent story.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What daily breaks my heart about our city is the violence, the racism, and the economic divide. I am very concerned about the push of gentrification that is displacing economically disadvantaged people rather than bringing economic opportunity to their neighborhoods.
What I love about Chicago should be obvious by now–the city’s unique place in U.S. history has intrigued me from my first day as a resident here back in 1980. From our past has flourished an incredible culture of today. So on the surface, I love the things everyone talks about–Wrigley Field and the Cubs, deep-dish pizza, hot dogs without ketchup (or else!). But I love our architecture as interactive art that we live and work in, that we can touch as well as look at. I love to stand on the Jackson Boulevard bridge and think about the Native Americans and French voyageurs that once paddled on the river below; and from there I look over at the trains of Union Station, and the cars on the bridge driving on Route 66 into the Loop. There is nowhere else in the world that I would rather be.
Pricing:
- 2-hour walking tour – $25 per person
- 9-hour narrated coach tour Chicago-to-Pontiac – $99 per person
- Route 66 in Chicago, book, $19.99
- Exploring Route 66 in Chicagoland, book, $19.95
- The Roads that Lead to Lincoln, book, $13.75
- PowerPoint Presentations – Price Varies – Contact Me
Contact Info:
- Website: www.WindyCityRoadWarrior.com
- Phone: 312-432-1284
- Email: dave@windycityroadwarrior.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidClarkChicago
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/windycityroad
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/windy-city-road-warrior-chicago
Image Credit:
David G. Clark
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