Although we are still in Arizona, we mentioned the “end” of the journey for the first time today. There was still plenty of Route 66 to travel though, so were ready to hit the pavement early. As we crossed the motel parking lot for breakfast, we recognized a vehicle in the parking lot, and sure enough, Gene and his wife had spent the night at the same motel! It was great to see the reaction on the faces of some of the people in the restaurant. Two dudes in leather vests yelling, “Gene” as they got up from the table shaking our hands and giving us hugs. They invited us for breakfast, where Gene told more stories of their time living on Route 66 in Arizona. We also got our pictures taken together. That’s what the Mother Road is all about!
We had a nice drive through Flagstaff. It is a city rich in Route 66 culture. We found the last Bunyan giant on the west side of town and then headed toward Bellemont/Parks and the Brannigan Park Auto Tour signs. We found the entrance to the walking trail on the Post-1939 alignment and walked (hiked) all ¾ of a mile and back. We also found the remnants of the 1931 alignment. We stopped at the Parks Store for a refreshment before taking the Deer Farm Road alignment back to I-40 before making our way to Williams. Williams is a really cool place (Mike and I would have loved to stayed overnight) and is bustling with businesses selling Route 66 and Grand Canyon gifts.
There are signs of earlier 66 (some of which is now a bike trail) west of Williams as I-40 descends toward Crookton Road and Seligman. I had my heart set on meeting Angel, but there was no sign of him anywhere in town. Seligman was the busiest small town we’ve seen yet. There was a bus tour in town, along with countless other tourists in cars and on motorcycles. It was too busy for my liking. It is difficult to take in the experience when there are people everywhere!
From Seligman, we took old Route 66 through Peach Springs, Truxton, Valentine, and Hackberry, where we visited the Hackberry General Store. It provides many photo opportunities, and was a great stop before the stretch to Kingman. We ate a late lunch at Mr. D’s before taking the Oatman Highway. Our first stop was Cool Springs. We met the gentleman who did a majority of the restoration with Ned. He had some interesting stories for us! The road really is crazy after Cool Springs! For those of you familiar with the road to the summit house on Mount Holyoke (Skinner Mountain), that is nothing compared to this. The view at the top was worth it though. The landscape here is simply amazing!
Oatman may be a ghost town, but is now lined with every type of gift shop imaginable, and the burrows are wild but very friendly. We just had to watch where we stepped! There were also many ruins from the mining days on both the west and east sides of Oatman. The ride to Topock was uneventful and really kind of boring. Before we crossed the Colorado River into California, I showed Mike the Old Trails Arch Bridge, which used to carry Route 66 across the river. We decided to crash in Needles (we covered a lot in one day!) and continue the journey in the morning.
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