Followed the old road into Joseph City; pretty interesting town, even if not much remains of the heyday era. Next stop, Holbrook. Pretty nice town. We checked out the Wig Wam Motel. Found ourselves wondering about the inside of these, was there room for more than a bed?, was the bathroom upstairs?, and were there kitchens in any of them? The proprietor wouldn’t be there until 5pm, so our questions will have to wait for another time. We wanted to do a bit of shopping at the Old Route 66 Trading Post, but it has gone out of business. We later found out that Lisa, the girl who ran it, had gotten a job at one of the banks in town. It’s pretty sad to see a new business go under. We were going to eat at Roma’s, but they were closed for the holidays. We ended up at the El Rancho Motel restaurant. It was pretty good, we both had Mexican food. I knew it was hot when Earl started sweating, and I mean beads on his forehead. Great!
We had visited the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert on another trip, so skipped them. We headed west on the freeway for another spot that we have passed several times and always said “Next time, we’ll stop,” the Meteor Crater. It was okay. It was interesting in some ways, but boring in others. We have been to Cape Canaveral in Florida, so the astronaut stuff was small in comparison. And we have been to Crater Lake in Oregon, so the size was unimpressive. But, it is a Route 66 landmark, and we had to go.
From here we rushed back to Winslow, the Old Trails Museum is only open until 5pm and we didn’t want to miss it. It’s a great museum for such a small area, laid out nicely with a good mix of what Winslow is all about. We had a most enjoyable visit with Janice Griffith and Inez Meyers. They were very friendly and very knowledgeable about the town. From here we went to the old Santa Fe railway depot and La Posada. A very sturdy building, and beautiful! We hope that the Historical Society has great success in obtaining the place for a larger museum. It would definitely be a BIG waste for it to be destroyed. Now we will head home for a Happy New Year!
“Standing on the Corner” in Winslow, Arizona. Made famous by the Eagles rock group (my favorite group of all time).
Tomorrow we head for Phoenix, we will stay at the Black Canyon City KOA. My brother lives here and I have not seen him for a year and a half, so it will be a side track from Route 66 for a few days.
Well, it’s back to the slow paced action of 66. We had a good visit with relatives. We had originally planned on stopping in Williams and touring Flagstaff, due to predicted snow and minus degree temperatures, this will be saved for another time. As it turns out, wish we would’ve done it now. We got off the four-lane at Seligman. There was a funeral this day and we didn’t get to chat with Angel Delgadillo, but did talk with his brother Joe. We walked around town for a bit and then moved on. We decided we would stop at the Grand Canyon Caverns this time. We did, but with a flat tire. Tow trucks are hard to come by out here, luckily, the manager of the Inn and the maintenance guy were nice enough to lend a hand and get us on our way. We will always be grateful. By now it is dark, so we cruise on into Kingman. We have been on this stretch of the highway before, but wanted to spend a bit more time exploring, another time. We’re making our base at the KOA.
The next day is spent getting a few new tires; this was our second flat of the trip. Now we should be safe. We also need to get provisions, so we will do most of our exploring tomorrow. We did go to the Chamber of Commerce and stopped at the Quality Inn. All of Jerry Richards’ stuff from the Route 66 Distillery is on display here, we missed going to it when it was open by two weeks. He has a really great collection of memorabilia, and it’s wonderful to be able to view it. We also stopped at the Route 66 Gifts and Souvenirs. We had been wondering how long before we ran across an Asian owned shop. They have some pretty good stuff, some unique.
The next day we headed to Oatman. We had taken the road from Needles before, a trip in itself. We had been told we would have no trouble driving our motor home up there; there was a bus parking lot up there. WRONG! The road up was fine, but once we got up there we had to unhook our tow vehicle and hold up traffic in order to park anywhere. Luckily, it was off- season and it wasn’t that crowded. We knew better this time. We took the Oatman Road from Kingman this trip. What a beautiful drive! It was a bit rainy and foggy and made for a lovely scene. We stopped near Ed’s Camp, it is closed and For Sale. We finally got into Oatman and wandered the Street. Had lunch at the Silver Creek Saloon. Majority of the businesses were closed due to the weather, but some opened as more tourists came into town. The burros were even in hiding when we got there, but eventually made it into town too. We then left town via the newly paved road all the way into Topock. Then we took the Interstate back to Kingman. Depending on the weather, we may go back to Peach Springs and Truxton tomorrow.
Unfortunately, it rained all day, so we laid low. We will head towards California tomorrow. We took the Interstate and made our base camp at the Adelanto RV Park. On a previous trip we drove the road from Ludlow to just past Essex. On this trip we stayed at Pax’s RV Park in Cadiz. The owner was your typical ornery old man; hopefully he is a bit friendlier now. Unbeknownst to us we picked up a passenger here, a rat with approximately an 8 inch tail; he stayed with us all the way to Kingman.
We were stuck in the motor home for the better part of the next two days due to heavy rains and major flooding. The rain let up for a bit the afternoon of the second day so we took the old road from Victorville to Barstow. This has got to be the most depressing section of the road! Well, at least once you get past town. There is nothing but run down shacks, here and there, and dust. It’s hard to believe there is such a place in California; it’s always thought of as such a rich, beautiful place. There aren’t many of the old places left in either Barstow or Victorville.
The next day we were LA bound. The old road is under the Interstate until you get to Devore, where there is a great 5 mile stretch, it’s very scenic. We followed the old road through San Bernardino and then on to Rancho Cucamonga. It was kind of strange to be on the road through a place that you didn’t feel real safe. We stopped at the Wigwam Motel in Rialto, it is still kept up pretty good, but there is no flavor of the old days. The manager of the motel was found behind a glass partition. He was oriental and was only interested in knowing if we wanted to “do it in a teepee”.
Wigwam Motel - Rialto, California
We also stopped at Bono’s Restaurant. It was not time for lunch so I had a pleasant chat with the owner’s son. Seems that this place started out as an orange juice stand many years ago. The food smelled great!
In Rancho Cucamonga we visited the museum. It wasn’t open yet, winter hours, so we went next door to Knowlwoods for a burger and a beer. Was good food, they have done a great job of maintaining the appearance of the winery.
Went back to the museum and looked around. There isn’t much to it; they are in dire need of some donations. We thought that this was also the location of the California Rt 66 Association, we were mistaken, and not told any different. We were out of time and had to leave. We are very sad that we did not make it in to LaVerne and the association office, next time. We took the Interstate back to our base camp. We stopped and checked out the Hula Ville Museum in Hesperia, what a neat little side trip. Definitely worth a look.
I hate to say it, but we must now bid adieu to the Mother Road. It has been a fun trip. I must admit that I did not enjoy California as much as the other states. It seemed the people were not as friendly as in the other states, and they were not quite as proud and enthusiastic about the old road. I’m sure this must come from the invasion of progress and the attitude of being the mecca of all that is “in”. I’m sure that all of the area is not like this and I will seek out the roadies on our next trip. We only touched the surface of all the things we want to see and explore, we missed so many things. Hopefully, everything we missed will still be there when we are able to make a return visit.
