Today’s destination: Needles, CA
After breakfast at the Holiday Inn, we take another tour of downtown Williams for some photos. Soon, we discover The Quilter’s Mercantile Store, which immediately swallows Ann whole. While she is attempting to escape its clutches, I walk the main street looking for photo-ops.
Leaving town, we are forced to join the interstate for about 8 miles until we escape onto the Mother Road for a 159-mile stretch of uninterrupted, 1930’s pavement. We arrive in Seligman, home of the “Father of the Mother Road”: Angel Delgadillo. Angel’s old barbershop has morphed into the best Route 66 souvenir shop we have seen. Angel is taking the day off, but his wife and daughter are on duty to deal with two busloads of tourists who arrive about 5 minutes after we do. One of the buses is loaded with Japanese tourists and they swarm the shop like army ants. We escape to the street to see the Snow Cap Drive-In, also founded by the Delgadillos It is clear that Seligman has become a Route 66 museum and curio-shop town. All along the main street, we see tourist shops full of the same-old, same-old. Only The Delgadillos seem to have chosen the “right stuff” to sell. We do get some good photos of the Roadkill Café and its clientele.
Leaving Seligman, the road arches northward toward Peach Springs. Along the way, we see a succession of Burma-Shave signs. If you remember these from the old days, they have a message spread across four signs placed about a tenth of a mile apart and a final sign saying just Burma Shave. Here are some of the gems we encountered:
It would be more fun
To go by air
If we could put these signs
Up there
Burma-Shave
The one who drives
When he’s been drinking
Depends on you
To do his thinking
Burma-Shave
If daisies are
Your favorite flower
Keep pushing up
Those miles per hour
Burma-Shave
Big mistake
Many make
Rely on horn
Instead of Brake
Burma-Shave
On past Peach Springs, Truxton, Crozier and Valentine, we find the road in good condition and the vistas magnificent. At Hackberry, we stop at the general store, another Route 66 museum and gift shop. But there are tons of splendid artifacts, old vehicles, service station tools and Burma-Shave signs to see. A 1956 Corvette sits in front of the store.
In Kingman, we have lunch at Mr. D’z, an authentic Route 66 café with authentic décor, food and patrons. We take a miss on the Arizona Route 66 Museum across the street from Mr. D’z and press on toward Oatman.
The legendary Oatman highway is a twisting, narrow road up and over Sitgreaves Pass (el. 3550). The road is in good condition but the precipices are steep and Ann spots a burned-out hulk of a car at the bottom of one of the cliffs. They didn’t read the Burma-Shave signs. The road down into Oatman is equally tortuous and delightful.
Oatman is a tourist trap of gigantic proportion. We arrive in the middle of a (scheduled) mock gunfight in the middle of the only street through town. The semi-authentic, old-west, outlaw, gunslinger theme has overpowered the Route 66 Grapes-of-Wrath theme here in Oatman. We both agreed that Oatman is way over the top in kitsch and cheesy commercialism. The resident committee of free-ranging street-burros wanders aimlessly among the crowd of camera-toting tourists, begging for a handout of snacks. Too cute for words.
Escaping Oatman without ever leaving the car, we motor serenely down into Topock and approach the Colorado River and California. At the border, we are forced to join I-40 briefly as we sail into Needles. We have been through Needles many times during the past 30 years and have always tried to avoid stopping or staying there. It was built to serve the railroad and is now one big truck stop. After having read the dismal reviews of places to stay in Needles, we decide to try a suggestion from the Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide. We find Fender’s River Road Resort in west Needles, right on the Colorado River. It is vintage Route 66: clean, funky and nostalgic. No internet connection, but a full DirecTV menu. The air conditioner is noisy and the bathroom hardly has water pressure, but it is only for one night.
After breakfast at the Holiday Inn, we take another tour of downtown Williams for some photos. Soon, we discover The Quilter’s Mercantile Store, which immediately swallows Ann whole. While she is attempting to escape its clutches, I walk the main street looking for photo-ops.
Leaving town, we are forced to join the interstate for about 8 miles until we escape onto the Mother Road for a 159-mile stretch of uninterrupted, 1930’s pavement. We arrive in Seligman, home of the “Father of the Mother Road”: Angel Delgadillo. Angel’s old barbershop has morphed into the best Route 66 souvenir shop we have seen. Angel is taking the day off, but his wife and daughter are on duty to deal with two busloads of tourists who arrive about 5 minutes after we do. One of the buses is loaded with Japanese tourists and they swarm the shop like army ants. We escape to the street to see the Snow Cap Drive-In, also founded by the Delgadillos It is clear that Seligman has become a Route 66 museum and curio-shop town. All along the main street, we see tourist shops full of the same-old, same-old. Only The Delgadillos seem to have chosen the “right stuff” to sell. We do get some good photos of the Roadkill Café and its clientele.
Leaving Seligman, the road arches northward toward Peach Springs. Along the way, we see a succession of Burma-Shave signs. If you remember these from the old days, they have a message spread across four signs placed about a tenth of a mile apart and a final sign saying just Burma Shave. Here are some of the gems we encountered:
It would be more fun
To go by air
If we could put these signs
Up there
Burma-Shave
The one who drives
When he’s been drinking
Depends on you
To do his thinking
Burma-Shave
If daisies are
Your favorite flower
Keep pushing up
Those miles per hour
Burma-Shave
Big mistake
Many make
Rely on horn
Instead of Brake
Burma-Shave
On past Peach Springs, Truxton, Crozier and Valentine, we find the road in good condition and the vistas magnificent. At Hackberry, we stop at the general store, another Route 66 museum and gift shop. But there are tons of splendid artifacts, old vehicles, service station tools and Burma-Shave signs to see. A 1956 Corvette sits in front of the store.
In Kingman, we have lunch at Mr. D’z, an authentic Route 66 café with authentic décor, food and patrons. We take a miss on the Arizona Route 66 Museum across the street from Mr. D’z and press on toward Oatman.
The legendary Oatman highway is a twisting, narrow road up and over Sitgreaves Pass (el. 3550). The road is in good condition but the precipices are steep and Ann spots a burned-out hulk of a car at the bottom of one of the cliffs. They didn’t read the Burma-Shave signs. The road down into Oatman is equally tortuous and delightful.
Oatman is a tourist trap of gigantic proportion. We arrive in the middle of a (scheduled) mock gunfight in the middle of the only street through town. The semi-authentic, old-west, outlaw, gunslinger theme has overpowered the Route 66 Grapes-of-Wrath theme here in Oatman. We both agreed that Oatman is way over the top in kitsch and cheesy commercialism. The resident committee of free-ranging street-burros wanders aimlessly among the crowd of camera-toting tourists, begging for a handout of snacks. Too cute for words.
Escaping Oatman without ever leaving the car, we motor serenely down into Topock and approach the Colorado River and California. At the border, we are forced to join I-40 briefly as we sail into Needles. We have been through Needles many times during the past 30 years and have always tried to avoid stopping or staying there. It was built to serve the railroad and is now one big truck stop. After having read the dismal reviews of places to stay in Needles, we decide to try a suggestion from the Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide. We find Fender’s River Road Resort in west Needles, right on the Colorado River. It is vintage Route 66: clean, funky and nostalgic. No internet connection, but a full DirecTV menu. The air conditioner is noisy and the bathroom hardly has water pressure, but it is only for one night.
1 comment:
Very fun stage it sounds like - I would love to have detailed captions on the photos - they look amazing!
Post a Comment