This week in outdoor history features the first bike patent, independence for Croatia and Slovenia, and the declassification of Route 66.

June 25, 1991: Croatia and Slovenia proclaimed their independence from Yugoslavia, beginning the Yugoslavian civil war.

June 25, 1997: Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau died.

June 26, 1819: The bicycle was patented by W. K. Clarkson.

June 27, 1898: Joshua Slocum became the first person to successfully circumnavigate the earth alone when he landed his sloop Spray in Newport, R.I., a 46,000-mile trip.

June 27, 1985: The legendary Route 66, running from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif., was decertified, the victim of the Interstate Highway System.

June 30, 1859: French Acrobat Charles Blondin, AKA Jean Francois Gravelet, walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

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