Route 66 – Page 2 – The Sandcastle

Day 32 Route 66

We started the day today at a T/A truck stop in Kingman, Arizona. We wanted to fill with diesel before we hit California gas taxes and we weren’t sure what we might find along today’s route. Plus we wanted to weigh the RV to be sure we could still carry the solar panels we want to get. Unfortunately, we arrived at the truck stop about the same time as three busloads of tourists so everything took longer than usual. It’s a good thing we don’t have to keep to the type of schedule the truckers do. And it looks like we can still get two solar panels with the accompanying gear without going over our weight limit.

Then we set out on Route 66 headed to Oatman, Arizona. We’d been warned that RVs over 30 feet shouldn’t try this road. We saw a sign that said trucks over 40 feet were forbidden. We knew that meant a steep and winding road was ahead of us. We saw signs saying “Do not enter when flooded” where the dry washes crossed the road. But we went anyway. You’d think after having driven Alkalai Road in the Bighorn Mountains and refusing to take a road around Dead Man’s curve we wouldn’t risk taking this road. But we did. We took it slow and easy. We pulled over for for other vehicles we met or who wanted to pass. And we climbed that narrow, twisty road to Oatman. Where we met a tour bus. Apparently going down the other side would be easier.

Oatman has two claims to fame: The old Oatman Hotel and the burros that wander the street sticking their nose into anything they think might contain food. The street is narrow and full of burros and tourists and the shops along the street now cater to those tourists but everyone ought to go to Oatman once to see the burros.

Just through town, before heading down the hill, Dave decided to try our antenna system again. When he pulled over we each had three bars on our cell phones. He plugged in the antenna and we each got five bars. The antenna/booster works! The Sprint air card we use to get Internet, though had no signal to boost so we still don’t know if that part works.

Once we got down the other side of that mountain, we crossed the Colorado River into Needles, California. Lunch was high on our list of things to do next so we stopped at this Burger Hut for lunch. We are in California where the dining room is open to the air and where most people like their food spicy. We decided we’d order our burgers plain and add our own seasonings in the RV. The cook was offended that we wanted them plain. I explained we had our own sauce. Then he came outside and saw our RV smiled and said, “Perfect.”

This is the El Garces Hotel in Needles, California. It was built as a Harvey House along side the Santa Fe railroad. It is about to be restored to its previous grandeur.

We pulled into the Desert View RV Resort without a reservation. We have made no reservations anywhere so far on this trip. When we told the greeter we’d like to stay two nights she looked worried then said she’d see what she could do. She found one spot. They have a rally coming in this weekend and some of the people are coming tomorrow but some aren’t coming until the next day. So as long as we promise to leave before the others come we can have this spot.

So, we are settled here for the next two nights. The spaces are close together but they have oleander hedges and trees between them which keeps you from looking into your neighbors windows. It doesn’t keep you from listening to their conversations though. Be careful what you say.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 31 Route 66

Our fist stop today was Peach Springs, Arizona. This town is about as far from the freeway as we’ve been for quite awhile so Dave thought it would be a good place to test our Wilson Trucker’s antenna and booster. My phone is a T-Mobil and Dave’s is AT&T. Neither one was getting a signal to boost so we still aren’t sure our antenna system works.

Next we stopped at the Hackberry General Store. This place was advertised as one that would bring a smile to the most road weary person. It lived up to its billing. If you are ever in this vicinity, don’t miss this one.

In Kingman, Arizona, we ate lunch at Mr D’z. Great decor! Ordinary food.

Then we crossed the street to the Powerhouse Museum to see their Route 66 display. This was well worth the small admission they charge. There are very few cars I recognize on sight but for some reason Studebaker is one so I felt smart when I saw this one. I recognized that Edsel the other day, too, since we had one of those for a while.

I was not feeling well so we decide to stop for the night here at the Fort Beale RV Park. We covered enough ground today there just wasn’t as much stuff to see along it except for more great Burma Shave signs.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 30 Route 66

Yesterday the wind kept us in camp again but today the rooster and my sinuses got me up at 6 a.m. so we were on the road by 9.

In Holbrook, Arizona, we saw one of the Wigwam Motels. I want to stay in one but it can’t be today.

Near Joseph City we stopped at the Jackrabbit Trading Post with it’s famous sign. Dave thought it important to get a picture of the jackrabbit but he wouldn’t climb on it first.

I bought my own pair of moccasins here so Dave can have his back again. We are getting a kick out of the fact that we sold our home in Minnesota, traveled for nearly six months, then bought me a pair of Minnetonka Moccasins which are made in Minnesota one suburb over from our former house.

Looking ahead at he mountains we see snow. Must keep moving.

In Winslow, Arizona, I kept my promise to only do Route 66 things until we get past the bad weather so we didn’t stop at the Standing on the Corner places. We did stop at WalMart and Flying J and to get this pictures of La Posada Hotel.

We also stopped at the Meteor City Trading Post but since I already bought my moccasins we stayed outside and took these pictures. Big map. Big dreams.

We also stopped at the former Twin Arrows Trading Post but there’s no longer anything there worth seeing.

There are patches of snow along the road and the weather is 44 degrees and sunny at 1:30 in the afternoon–quite pleasant inside but a tad nippy when we get out. So we don’t do it much.

In Flagstaff, Arizona, we stopped at the Museum Club. I thought this former roadhouse was now a museum but it appears to still be a bar so we didn’t go in.

Here’s another iconic motel–The Western Hills. Sorry about the Jiffy Lube sign but this was the best I could get.

We choose not to camp in the snow but as we drove by the Kit Carson RV Park I saw lots of other RVers made a different decision.

Williams, Arizona, bills itself as the Gateway to the Grand Canyon. Sometime when it’s warmer I’d like to camp here and ride the train into the canyon. There are several RV parks here but there is also snow so we kept moving.

Route 66 across this part of Arizona has a bunch of Burma Shave signs. We are enjoying reading them.

Finally, we reached Seligman, Arizona, our destination for today. The Snow Cap Drive-In was closed so we ate at the Historic Copper Kettle and took several pictures of downtown Seligman. Judging by the vehicles parked around town, they take their history seriously.

Then we pulled into a gas station for fuel and discovered a small RV park out back. So we parked there for the night. At least we appear to be past the snow.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 29 Route 66

Since I still haven’t relearned to stay up late and sleep late since we crossed into mountain time zone during the switch from daylight savings time, we were on the road about 9 a.m. today.

Our first sighting was the Rio Puerco Bridge. You can no longer drive across this bridge but they did turn part of the old road into a parking area so you can walk out to the bridge.

Dave would like to drive as much Route 66 as we can without having to backtrack but when he mentioned today’s route included a section called “Dead Man’s Curve” I balked. It makes no more sense to me to drive a road with that name than it does to drive in 35 mile an hour cross winds. As we bypassed it on I-40 he pointed it out to me–it didn’t look as bad as it sounded but still…

There is a lot of nothing out here. So much so that we saw a sign saying, “Driveway Entrances Next 5 Miles.” If those ranchers can’t enter the freeway from their driveways, where are they supposed to go?

Driving uphill we caught up to a truck from the Swift company. Not so much so today, eh?

We did see a lot of trains. We drove over an eastbound piggyback one that was stopped on a super-elevated curve which made it lean to one side. It seemed an odd place to stop.

Then we saw a westbound tank train that looked like it was stopped, too, until we came to a bridge against which we could see it was moving along quite nicely. Apparently, sage brush is not something against which you can measure movement.

In Grants, New Mexico, we saw several Route 66 places. The Franciscan lodge had been described as a “pretty swank place.” I wonder when the author last saw it?

The Grants Cafe and the Uranium Cafe were both closed and our picture of the Monte Carlo did not turn out.

So, we headed on west and saw more trains. In order: an eastbound stack train, a mixed freight and another stack train all stopped on the main. It was good seeing so many locomotives in the old Great Northern paint scheme but it was not good to see them all stopped. Dave wondered if there was a rookie dispatcher working today since it’s Saturday.

On the other track we saw several hundred empty stack cars, also not moving. Then we saw another EB piggyback train, also stopped.

Several miles later a hy-rail went by Eastbound and he was moving a quite a clip. It was nice to see something moving even it it was just a truck. But the rest of the day we saw only eastbound trains, plenty of them, but no west bound trains at all. I wonder if something happened to tie up the westbound main? Or both mains, since the first batch of EB trains were all stopped?

We pulled into Gallup, New Mexico, just as my stomach was saying, “Lunch now, please.” I was glad we had reached Earl’s family restaurant because I was looking forward to eating in a place that was built the same year we were and that Frommers still recommends. I wonder if he would recommend us?

Earl’s was quite an experience! We had seen evidence earlier that Saturday is flea market day. That wasn’t quite true at Earl’s but it was a day for locals to set up tables on the restaurant’s sidewalks selling jewelry, pottery, and other crafts. They also brought samples to the tables in the restaurant to try to sell them to the diners. Lots of sellers. Lots of samples. Some people more than once. You couldn’t just ignore them because they stood there until you said, “No, thanks,” or shook your head if your mouth was full. And around those vender servers were scurrying everywhere trying to keep up with the demand.

The menu offered things that were original and things that were new. There was a section of sandwiches which had only been on the menu since 1982. We both ordered from that section. Dave had a clubhouse and I had an adult grilled cheese. I ordered it without onions so it only had two types of cheese, tomatoes, bacon, olives, and avocado. It was delicious.

The other thing odd about Earl’s is that except for two employees we appeared to be the only gringoes in the place. No one made us feel unwelcome, though. Staff and vendors alike treated us the same as all the other customers. And there were lots of other customers. When we left, they were lined up out the door waiting to be seated.

I was so busy watching all this action I forgot to take pictures. Sorry, you’ll have to go see for yourselves.

We did take pictures of our other stops in Gallup, though. Here’s the El Rancho Hotel/Motel “lovingly restored to it’s 1930 glory” and the El Morro theater, a recently restored Spanish Colonial theater built in 1928.

I had planned to stop at Richardson’s Trading Post to buy some moccasins since I keep borrowing Dave’s. The Richardson’s have been traders on the reservation since the turn of the last century so I expected them to have the most authentic stuff. But when we got there the signs said “Cash and Pawn” so instead I felt like they were still taking advantage of the natives; we drove right on by.

From Gallup on west Highway 66 plays In-and-Out-the-Windows with I-40. For a few miles it is the north frontage road, then for a few miles it is the south frontage road, then for a few miles it goes right down the freeway itself, then it repeats. So our primary challenge this afternoon was keeping track of the exit numbers so we’d be on the right piece of road at the right time.

About 3:30 p.m. we took our final exit from the freeway and nearly hit our first roadrunner as it crossed the exit ramp to Sun Valley, Arizona. We’d been on the road for nearly seven hours–a long day for us. So, we were glad to reach our goal: the Root 66 RV Park. We are parked on gravel right by the freeway but we are glad to be parked and glad to have our Passport America membership save us money again. $14.50 for full hookups. Not bad.

TTYL,

Linda

Day 28 Route 66

We aren’t actually leaving Albuquerque yet but we spent today doing things here in hopes of leaving tomorrow. Our first stop was the UPS store to pick up the new, more padded seat for my Segway. Unfortunately, we got there before the seat did. We thought that the tracking number indicating the seat was in Albuquerque was enough. Nope, it was in ABQ all right but not yet to the store we asked it be delivered to. Normally it would have been there by the time we found the store but today’s delivery driver was running late. So we decided to make our other stops and come back later. But, the delivery driver pulled in before we got out of the parking lot, so we waited after all. At least, we didn’t have to backtrack for it.

Then we went to WalMart. Our groceries were amazingly low for us and I needed to order another prescription. We’ve been moving all our prescriptions from Target to WalMart because there are more WalMart stores than there are Targets once you get out of Minnesota. This may be a bad idea, though. As I’ve indicated previously, WalMart pharmacies don’t seem to have their act together well at all. They treat each new prescription as if I’m a brand new customer so they don’t get the address right nor do they see that they are supposed to give me easy-open caps. This one didn’t notice they were supposed to fill with a generic if possible nor did they file a claim with our insurance company. So Dave had them do it over again. I think I need to Google Target and see if they are more prevalant than I originally thought.

At least, this WalMart had recycling bins. We finally got rid of that bag of cans we’ve been carrying around plus another bag we filled up while trying to get rid of the first one. Yay!

Then we started seeing the Route 66 sights in ABQ. We were supposed to do this earlier in the day so the photos didn’t come out as well as I would have liked. And some of the places we saw didn’t have good photo opportunities at all since they were all along Central Avenue, a busy 4-lane street. But, we did see the De Anza Motel, the Royal Motor Inn, the Town Lodge Motel, the Aztec Motel, the Lobo Theater, the 66 Diner, and the KiMo theater.

We had lunch at the 66 Diner. We almost didn’t because we couldn’t find a place to park. We got trapped in their parking lot without finding a spot then found ourselves turning into a very narrow alley trying to get out again. I got out and helped Dave figure out the maneuvers required. We had about three inches on each side of us as we made the turn but we didn’t scrape anything. Then we parked in a lot next door, with me helping him back up over that same alley so close to a utility pole that when Dave got out of the RV it leaned into the pole. When we were ready to leave, he pulled out of that one before I got in or something would have been damaged.

The diner had lots of memorabilia on the walls including a row of hundreds of Pez dispensers which reminded me of my friend the late Pat Walker who also had a collection of them. I still miss him.

The diner also had George Lopez eating at the table next to our booth. All the waitresses suddenly felt a need to come to our end of the counter to roll silverware in napkins. And a few people stopped to ask for photos and/or autographs. All of this happened behind my back so I didn’t know what the fuss was until he and his friends left. I’ve never watched his TV program so I wouldn’t have known who he was if the waiter didn’t tell us. He did look like he should be somebody, though. Something about his tan and his clothes and the way he carried himself. I wonder if celebrities don’t get tired of never being able to eat a meal in peace, though.

Driving down old route 66 in cities can be a challenge because I see lots of places that look like they should have been on our list and wonder why they weren’t. One of the reasons may be because they bought their signs from this place–The Absolutely Neon Co. How would you like to have that display in your front window?

We also went to the American International Rattlesnake Museum. Sort of. It was in Old Town where the streets were narrow, not as narrow as that alley, but narrow anyway. And the only parking was in a paid lot where we couldn’t tell if we would fit between the gate posts. And the museum, which we only wanted to see because it advertised a display on how to be safe around rattlesnakes, looked more like the old rattle snake/trading post tourist traps than a museum.

So we skipped it and headed back to camp where Dave is installing the new seat on my Segway and we will do laundry to be ready to hit the road again tomorrow–God willing and the creek don’t rise.

TTYL,

Linda