Tuesday, May 11th - Williams AZ to Needles CA
Breakfast at 8:15a, on the road by 9:15a. After our "day off" yesterday, we were eager to see those Route 66 miles go rolling (ever so slowly) by.
There were a number of Route 66 places in Williams that we wanted to visit; our first stop was Dave Pouquette's Route 66 Twister's:
(That's Dave walking through the soda fountain area)
(This is Dave with his dash plaque)
Twister's is straight out of the fifties and has lots of fifties items as well as the usual Route 66 selections.
Next door to Twister's is the Route 66 diner. Food must be good because it was packed.
We'd been told by Fran at the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas, that we shouldn't miss the Red Garter Bed and Bakery. Legend has it that the upstairs used to be a brothel. The lady leaning out of the upstairs window did seem unusually welcoming:
Inside were the usual roadside curios and a tiny bakery counter:
We weren't permitted to see the bedrooms upstairs; I guess we didn't seem like the "right" clientele.. :(
Gael spotted these neat murals at Cruiser's Cafe 66:
Next stop was in Ash Fork, AZ at DeSoto's Beauty and Barber Shop:
Aficionados of Route 66 know that the person most responsible for the resurrection of Route 66 in Arizona is Angel Delgadillo. He and his brother Juan operate a neat pair of businesses in Seligman.
Juan runs The Snow Cap:
(When you visit The Snow Cap, look for our dashplaque)
A few doors west is Angel & Vilma Delgadillo's place, the Route 66 Giftshop:
(Angel still cuts hair here)
(Here's Angel with his dash plaque)
There's more in Seligman (could have spent hours):
Next we planned to tour the Grand Canyon Caverns:
..but, typical of our scheduling, we arrived ten minutes too late for the tour (with the next one scheduled an hour away) so we only got to take a few shots in the staging area. Still, it was good to see a likeness of my software company T-Rex Software's mascot.
Gael's now-famous book of Route 66 misinformation indicated that the Frontier Cafe in Truxton, AZ would be a great place to eat lunch. We got there about 12:30 and it was empty (not usually a good sign) but lunch was excellent.
The General Store in Hackberry is not to be missed. And we didn't. In addition to the usual Route 66 curios and off-the-wall stuff they have a very nice 1957 Corvette right out front:
In Kingman (what they call "the Heart of Route 66)" we saw Mr. D'z Route 66 Diner:
.. and, just down the road and across the street, the Kingman Powerhouse which contains the Kingman Route 66 Museum:
(Another depiction of the Joad family from Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath)
When we started touring the museum I gave the docent a dash plaque. A few minutes later as I passed his office:
(Notice the website up on his computer)
And then we found the dash plaque already installed:
(Be sure to look for it when you visit!)
They have a small theater and a 20 minute Route 66 film. We watched (from the perspective of those who've just visited) and it was great seeing our new friend Angel Delgadillo in the film:
The Kingman Route 66 Museum is a bargain. For your $3 ticket you also get admission to the Mojave Museum of History and Arts a few blocks down the road:
This is a very nicely done museum. This may be the only museum of its kind where there's an oil painting of every President and First Lady hanging there:
There's an entire room here devoted to Andy Devine, Favorite Son of Kingman, Arizona. Here's the saddle he used when he was Grand Marshal of the Rose Bowl Parade several times:
As we drove from Kingman, AZ to Oatman, AZ we were surprised that the road contained a few dozen 15mph switchbacks as we went up and down the mountains; none of the guidebooks we read mentioned that this would be a tortuous journey. I would hate to make this drive at night or in bad weather (a word to the wise).
The views were lovely:
.. but there were few places to pull off for photos. For the most part, heading West, there's a sheer drop on the right side (Gael and Jackie's) without the benefit of guardrail. Thankfully there was little eastbound traffic to contend with and only a small truck or two going our way. Consistent with our commitment to "drive Route 66 as much as possible", the trip to Oatman took about three times as long as it might have on I-40.
On that note: It's perfectly fine in our opinion to "do" Route 66 using the interstate and hopping on and off to visit Route 66 attractions -- it just isn't the way we wanted to do it. Except for dirt and gravel portions (and we did some of those, too, by mistake :) we want to put our tires on as much of Route 66 as we could; and we have!
Here's the signpost announcing our entry into Oatman, AZ:
Oatman is a tiny town with a single street lined with shops. Oh, yes. And they have burros running loose in town. Neat!
(Sorta reminiscent of the exotic animal park thing..)
More beautiful Arizona scenery on our way to tonight's destination, Needles, CA:
We arrived at our overnight (Best Western Colorado River Inn):
in Needles at about 5:15pm and set about getting laundry done before heading to a local Chinese restaurant for dinner.
Dinner was very good.
Tomorrow, off to Victorville, California meeting up with Corvette pal Janet Curran and others in Amboy. It's hard for us to believe we have only two days left for our Route 66 adventure!
If you find typos or other errors on these pages, please click to
. I can't always respond to the emails promptly (being on the road all day) but I do receive, read and act on them.
Another great day -- and much, much more to come...
Watch for more tomorrow, Day #16 on the Mother Road!
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