The beginning of the new Millenium and what better way to start than doing a little sleuthing. We decided to go check out this abandoned section. It’s on the east end of town right before you go over the hill. There is an underpass that the railroad crosses on the north side of the road. Earl climbed up to the tracks and found 1932 stamped into the concrete. We followed the road as far we could go, about a half a mile. There is a culvert box at one point that didn’t have a date on it but right next to it is another one that the tracks for the transfer station go over that is dated 1932. There is old pavement all along this stretch. It looks like it was ripped with ripper blades. We walked along both sides looking for any survey markers or anything that would give us a clue. Nothing was to be found. It was a nice walk though.

We headed over to the Route 66 Magazine gift shop to see what was new and say HI. Then we walked over to the Pizza Factory for lunch. A very good pizza. We then walked around town looking at the old buildings and comparing postcards. Being New Year’s Day there wasn’t much open. Stopped in at the Route 66 Inn and talked with the owner and bought a few trinkets. This motel used to be the Hull’s Motor Lodge and also the Patio Motel. We then went to the north side of town to see where a proposed subdivision was supposed to be. Don’t know if it will happen with the water shortage that Williams seems to have. We jumped on the Interstate and went to see if a parcel of land we were interested in was still for sale. We got off at Parks Rd and then picked up Route 66 and headed west. Just past the Parks General Store was the land. To our surprise it now has a house sitting on it. :( Guess we’ll have to look for another lot. We really liked this one because it was on the Mother Road and had lots of trees. It was a little pricey last time we checked it out. Only drawback was that you have to haul water. We’ll be going back to Winslow tomorrow.

We hit the Interstate and headed east towards Winslow. Decided it wasn’t that much further to go to the Jackrabbit Trading Post. Glad we did. The owner, Cindy, was fun to talk to. Really enjoyed it. They’re out of the “Here it is” underwear. :( Sorry, Bernadette. Didn’t have the wallet I’m looking for either. After a nice visit we headed west again to Winslow and made our first stop at the Old Trails Museum, it was closed. So the obvious next stop was the new “Standin on the Corner” park. We had purchased a brick and wanted to find it. We did. The park is really nicely done. Diane Patterson of Roadworks had the stereo blaring Eagles hits while we walked around. Of course we had to go see what she had new in her shop. Had another nice visit. Now we were going to treat ourselves to lunch at the new La Posada restaurant, unfortunately they’re closed on Tuesdays. :( Diane recommended a couple of other places that were closed also. We had to settle for the Country Market at the Flying J.

Winslow, Arizona “Falcon Restaurant” owner Pete Kretsedemas, long time friend and one of our favorite stops over the years.

After a filling lunch we followed the route through Winslow. There is still quite a bit of the flavor of the old days here. It’s a fun place to explore. We then headed west again to Meteor City. Sad to see it sitting vacant now. Then we stopped at another closed place, Twin Arrows. And yet another one, Two Guns. We finally saw the great old bridge here. We’ve always come here from the west side and never saw it until this time, entering from the east. There was not a soul around and it was real tempting to jump the fence and go check out the ruins of the old zoo that had once been here. We decided against it, but next time, I don’t know. We traveled on and didn’t forget Winona. ;) We cruised through Flagstaff. Another town that still has a lot of flavor left over from the old days. A great town. We especially like the cruise out the west end of town. It winds through the pine forest and is just great. Back to Williams.

Today we left Williams and went to Needles CA. We’re making camp at KOA. This is the first campground that we’ve been in that we can see the Mother Road from our window. It’s great to see the shield stenciled to the actual road; you can always tell when you’re on the right route. We got here early enough that we can do a little exploring. We drive back to the Colorado River and explore around there. It’s great that you can still get to this point and overlook where the old bridges used to be. Then we take a cruise through Needles. Not much has changed since we were here last. Tomorrow we have to take a detour down to Lake Havasu City.

We left Needles via old Route 66. Got on the super slab for a short distance, took the Hwy 95 North exit until we reached Goffs Road and then headed west. From here all the way to Ludlow is a great stretch. We’ve driven this with the motorhome several times. We get to Goffs and stop to see if we can check out the General Store. It’s closed, but to our great luck the owner, Robert Ervin is unloading boxes from his car. We chat awhile and he decides we’re okay people and lets us in for a tour. Bob is a pretty cool guy. And really funny. He moved here from LA for his health. He’s beating the odds BIG time. He was diagnosed in 1983 with cancer and was given 2 weeks to live. He and his wife moved here and bought the store and began to restore it. Sadly, his wife died a few years ago, but he is continuing the dream they had. He was recently in an auto accident and was depressed that the store had to be closed for the last 3 weeks. Think we cheered him up quite a bit. There’s still a lot to be done, but it’s coming along nicely. I hope more people will stop in and visit with him.

Goffs General Store Goffs, California

We continued on to Essex and past Danby. On up to Summit and then down to Chambless. We tried to read all the words that have been formed with rocks along the dikes as we drove by. We had never seen anyone actually writing these until today. There was a father with his son and daughter writing their greeting to the road. Then we were in Amboy. Roy’s wasn’t too busy today, only a couple of cars there. Probably due to the rude treatment of patrons. We found out that the owner lives in NYC and could care less about how people are treated. As we drove past the Amboy Crater we noticed that there was a vehicle out near it, probably someone out for a hike. First time we’ve seen anyone out there. We stopped for a sandwich at Kalli’s favorite spot on Route 66, Bagdad. There weren’t many cars on the road so it was really quiet. Quite a few trains went by though. Past Siberia and into Ludlow. We were surprised to see a new gas station and Dairy Queen on the north side of the freeway. Progress has hit Ludlow. Although this stretch is a great one to cruise on, it is a bit rough. We were tired of all the bouncing and caught the Interstate to the Daggett exit. Here we went north and are making camp at the Barstow Calico KOA.

We got set up with the essentials and got the Vette out and hit the road for Barstow. It was a little after 3 PM and we wanted to get to the Mother Road Museum at the old Harvey House RR Depot, Casa del Desierto. We made it with about a half hour to spare. We were really impressed. For a new, small museum it is packed with lots of great images other things from the area. They’ve really done a good job. They have a pretty good little gift shop also. Sadly, we will have to be away from our beloved road for a couple of months, but we’ll be back. We have to go north to visit with the grandkids and then we’ll go to Phoenix for some NHRA drag races. See ya when we get back to do some more cruising. In the meantime, get your kicks however you can.

Barstow, California

Outside the Barstow Museum on an old alignment of Route 66. The folks at the museum were kind enough to send me this photo.