US Route 666, “The Devil’s Highway” serving the Four Corners region, was renamed US Route 491 in 2003. Its Satanic connotation, combined with a high fatality rate along the New Mexico portion, convinced some people the highway was cursed. The problem was compounded by persistent sign theft.
Four Corners is the only point in the USA shared by four states. According this book, there are 61 other points which are shared by 3 states. Of these 61, 37 are ‘dry land’ points which conceivably are accessible by the enterprising traveler.
Of the 48 states in the Continental US, only Maine does not share a point with 2 other states.
Both Tennessee and Missouri share borders with eight other states. Their neighbors, listed clockwise, are:
Tennessee: Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri.
Missouri: Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.
There have been four warships named USS *Maine *to serve in the United States Navy. The sinking of the first, a protected or armored cruiser (technically not a battleship, as is often stated) in Havana harbor in Cuba, was a key cause of the Spanish-American War. The current USS *Maine *is an Ohio-class Trident ballistic missile submarine in commission since 1995.
ETA: The USS *Kentucky *is a sister ship of the current USS Maine.
William Randolph Hearst entered the Spanish-American War as a private citizen. At one point he accepted the surrender of several Spanish soldiers, transported them aboard his yacht Sylvia, and demanded a receipt from an American commander. He had the note (“Received of W.R. Hearst twenty-nine Spanish prisoners”) framed and mounted on the wall of his office at the New York Journal.
Attorney & author Andrew Vachss worked in Biafra, entering the war zone just before the fall of the country. He attempted o find a land route to bring donated food and medical supplies across the border after the seaports were blocked and Red Cross airlifts banned by the Nigerian government; however, all attempts ultimately failed, resulting in rampant starvation.[
Jello Biafra, the songwriter and lead singer for The Dead Kennedys, ran for the Green nomination for President in 2000, finishing a distant second to Ralph Nader. In 1979, he ran for Mayor of San Francisco, using the ad catchphrase “There’s always room for Jell-O” as his campaign slogan.
Route 66 existed from 26 November 1926 to 26 June 1985. In 1926 its length across the country was 2,448 miles. Its contemporary length is 2,278 miles. “Get your kicks on Route 66” was its popular slogan.
The Phillips 66 Company traces its name to the top speed attained by a car powered by its new gasoline in a test on Route 66. Union Oil introduced its 76 fuel shortly thereafter, allegedly referring to American independence. That company is now simply called 76.
Good trivia, good to know. Next year I am planning a road trip along Route 66 and am gathering info on it and on the entire route. Prepare for Route 66 info in my upcoming plays. 
In play: That 66 MPH test run was done in 1927. Route 66’s shield-shaped sign inspired Phillips 66’s own logo.
Phillips Petroleum Co. was founded by L.E. Phillips and Frank Phillips of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and incorporated on June 13, 1917. The new company became involved in the rapidly developing natural gas industry. In particular, the company specialized in extracting liquids from natural gas and by 1925 was the nation’s largest producer of natural gas liquids.
The first Phillips 66 service station opened November 19, 1927 at 805 E. Central in Wichita, Kansas. The building has been preserved and is now home to a used-car lot.
Henry Frank Phillips was a U.S. businessman from Portland, Oregon. The Phillips-head (“crosshead”) screw and screwdriver are named after him. The credited inventor of the Phillips screw was John P. Thompson who, in 1932, patented a recessed cruciform screw and in 1933, a screwdriver for it. After failing to interest manufacturers, Thompson sold his self-centering design to Phillips in 1935. Phillips formed the Phillips Screw Company in 1934. After refining the design himself for the American Screw Company of Providence, Rhode Island, Phillips succeeded in bringing the design to industrial manufacturing and promoting its rapid adoption as a machine screw standard.
The Mendocino Complex Fire in California is now 400,000 acres—more than half the size of Rhode Island.
Rafael Bombelli published the first three volumes of his Algebra in 1572. This was the same year he died, so he was not able to finish the final two volumes of this work. In Algebra, Bombelli not only explains how to do arithmetic with complex numbers, but also arithmetic with negative numbers — even negatives were barely understood at that time. Despite its huge historic importance, Algebra has apparently never been translated into English.
Nitpick: I think you mean The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. 
The fire is already more than 15 times bigger than Aquidneck Island (aka Rhode Island).
Words of Arabic origin now used in English that were created in the intellectual flowering of the medieval Arab world include algebra, algorithm, cipher, average, azimuth, cube, nadir, zenith, and degree.
Though all the constellations have Latin names, most of the proper names for individual stars within the constellations are Arabic in origin, because during the European Dark Ages, when Europe lacked interest in science and astronomy, Claudius Ptolemy’s manuscript the Almagest that contained the original Greek and Latin names for stars was temporarily adopted by the Arabs, who translated many of the original Greek and Latin star names into Arabic.
Meteor Crater, near Winslow AZ, is a preserved meteorite impact site. It is the result of a collision between a piece of an asteroid traveling at 26,000 miles per hour and Earth approximately 50,000 years ago. Meteor Crater is nearly one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 feet deep. It appeals to people interested in science and astronomy.
And it is along Historic Route 66.
The Eagles album Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 just became the top-selling album of all time, overtaking Thriller by Michael Jackson. Track 1 on Side 1 of this album is the song ‘Take It Easy’, which contains the well-known lyric “Well, I’m standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona”. ‘Take It Easy’, which was the first single released by the Eagles, was written by Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne.
The Eagle, Globe, and Anchor (EGA) is the official emblem of the United States Marine Corps. The current emblem was adopted in 1955, with a minor change to the eagle from the EGA of 1868.
In 1776, the emblem consisted of a “fouled anchor” of silver or pewter. (A fouled anchor is an anchor which has one or more turns of the chain around it). The fouled anchor still forms a part of the emblem today. Changes were made in 1798, 1821, and 1824.
In 1868, Brigadier General Jacob Zeilin (and then-7th CMC, Commandant of the Marine Corps) appointed a board “to decide and report upon the various devices of cap ornaments of the Marine Corps.” On 13 November 1868, the board turned in its report. It was approved by the Commandant four days later, and was signed by the Secretary of the Navy on 19 November 1868.
The official uniform colors of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team are red, black, bay orange, and pewter. Before 1997, their helmet design was the head “Bucco Bruce”, probably the swishiest mascot in pro sports history, until he was replaced by a red wind-swept flag displaying a white pirate skull and crossed sabres which is a modified Jolly Roger.