August 23rd, 2021 … Summer of Fun continues! Day 27 Route 66 Caravan - Kingman, AZ

Today we caravanned from Grand Canyon Railway RV Resort in Williams to a Harvest Host, Stetson Winery, in Kingman. Today we drove mostly on Route 66. From I-40 exit 139, just west of Ash Fork, a nice section of the old Route 66 two-lane runs along the railroad tracks just north of, and parallel to, I-40 all the way to the sleepy little town of Seligman. One of best places to stop and get a feel for the spirit of old Route 66. Seligman is a perfect place to take a break after following the interstate hordes. The town retains a lot of its historic character—old sidewalk awnings and even a few hitching rails—and offers lots of reasons to stop. Coming into Seligman on this stretch of Route 66, you’ll be greeted by The Rusty Bolt, a fantastic junk shop and oddball emporium that’s impossible to miss along the north side of the old highway.

A pilgrimage point for old-roads fans for decades, Angel Delgadillo’s barber shop now hosts the Route 66 Gift Shop and Museum. Angel’s brother, Juan Delgadillo, created and ran the wacky Snow Cap a half-block to the east, where the sign says “Sorry, We’re Open,” and the menu advertises “Hamburgers without Ham.” Behind the restaurant, in snow, rain, or shine, sits a roofless old Chevy decorated with fake flowers and an artificial Christmas tree. Juan’s family carries on the Snow Cap traditions. The burgers, fries, and milk shakes are worth driving miles for. Another good place to eat is the kitschy Roadkill Café near the OK Saloon and Rusty Bolt junk shop and the cold beer typically downed by cowboys and truckers across the road at the Black Cat Bar.

The longest and probably the most reminiscent stretch of old Route 66 runs between Seligman and Kingman through the high-desert Hualapai Indian Reservation, along the Santa Fe Railroad tracks through all-but-abandoned towns bypassed by the “modern” interstate world. Save the stretch between here and Needles for daytime, as it’s one of the most memorable of the Mother Road’s whole cross-country haul.

 

Though most people of today’s generation have never even heard of Burma-Shave, ask anyone who lived from the 1920s to the early 1960s, and you will mostly likely bring up a few memories and tales from that vintage era. Burma-Shave was a brand of brushless shaving cream that was sold from 1925 to 1966.  The company was notable for its innovative advertising campaign. To market Burma-Shave, Allan Odell devised the concept of sequential signboards to sell the product. Allan Odell recalled one time when he noticed signs saying Gas, Oil, Restrooms, and finally a sign pointing to a roadside gas station. The signs compelled people to read each one in the series and would hold the driver’s attention much longer than a conventional billboard.  Though Allan’s father, Clinton, wasn’t crazy about the idea he eventually gave Allan $200 to give it a try.

In the fall of 1925, the first sets of Burma-Shave signs were erected on two highways leading out of Minneapolis. Sales rose dramatically in the area, and the signs soon appeared nationwide.  The next year, Allan and his brother Leonard set up more signs, spreading across Minnesota and into Wisconsin, spending $25,000 that year on signs. Orders poured in, and sales for the year hit $68,000. Burma-Shave sign series appeared from 1925 to 1963 in all of the lower 48 states except for New Mexico, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Nevada. Four or five consecutive billboards would line highways, so they could be read sequentially by motorists driving by. So, it’s funny that we see the Burma Shave signs in Arizona today!

Coming into Peach Springs, we went down an incline and I captured a perfect shot of the caravanner in front of us.

We passed through Peach Springs. It’s this town that inspired the town of Radiator Springs in the Pixar Film “Cars”. We did not see anything related to the Cars movie there. In fact, aside from the Grand Canyon Caverns, we did not see much of anything else.

The town of Truxton had 3 gas stations, too bad only one of them looked like you may be able to get gas! Good thing, we filled up in Williams! Like the rest of the town the Truxton Station dates to the early 1950's. Over the years it has been a Whiting Brothers Station, an Enco station and in 1983 it was a Mobil station. In 1983 the large garage building had not yet been added and the canopy still had the traditional red and yellow stripes banding it.

I saw what I thought was an old school house and had to learn more. The Schoolhouse at Truxton Canyon Training School, was a boarding school constructed to assimilate Hualapai Indians.  Local road and railroad arteries affected planners’ decisions about where to put the facility. When workers completed the building in 1903, it was along the transcontinental Atlantic and Pacific Railroad and the Beale Wagon Road, which later became Route 66. Between 1870 and 1930, education was central to United States Indian policy.  This policy required mandatory attendance at boarding schools that removed children from their families and communities. Truxton was an industrial training institution.  Students spent some time each day in academic classes.  During the remaining hours, boys practiced a trade while girls learned domestic skills. Forced to work hard and separated from their families, many students found life at Truxton Canyon traumatic. Diseases such as measles, influenza, and tuberculosis were common.  For nearly three decades, the school continued to grow enrolling about 200 students throughout most of the 1920s and 1930s.  By then, not only Hualapai, but also Apache, Havasupai, Hopi, Pima, Tohono O'odham (Papago), Navajo, and Yavapai children attended.  In 1937, shortly after a Hualapai day school opened in Peach Springs, the Truxton School closed. Surrounded by an agricultural landscape, a dozen or so buildings once stood on the school grounds, but only the two-story brick schoolhouse remains now. The schoolhouse reflects a Colonial Revival style often favored by early 20th-century middle-class homeowners and progressive education reformers. Today, opinions vary among the Hualapai regarding preservation of the property.  For many, it evokes memories of a time of forced assimilation. For others, the property is a tangible reminder of a history that, however painful to remember, should not be forgotten.  The schoolhouse was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.  The Hualapai Indian Nation owns the building and is currently seeking funds for its rehabilitation and reuse.

And in Hackberry you can visit the Hackberry General Store. The Hackberry General Store is a favored stop among travelers of Old 66. There was a service station in Hackberry in 1930, owned by Robert E. Brown. The 1937 mentions it in the directory of campgrounds and trailer parks: "HACKBERRY— U. S. 66 NORTHSIDE GARAGE & CAMP - On U. S. 66. 28 mi. e. Kingman." The Store opened in 1934 on the new alignment of Route 66 that was built on the north side of the railroad and bypassed the small town. It had a Conoco gasoline station and remained in operation until the Interstate bypassed this section of Route 66 in 1978. That year it closed. Bob Waldmire acquired it, and re-opened it in 1992 as a souvenir shop and information center. He sold it in 1998 to John and Kerry Pritchard. The Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire, who traveled the road in his orange 1972 Volkswagen Microbus. We learned about him in Pontiac IL.  Bob was the unofficial inspiration of Fillmore in the Disney/Pixar movie Cars.

Antares Point is along the longest continuous curve on a US Hwy 66, approximately 2 miles and offers fantastic views into the Arizona desert.  The location, formerly Kozy Corner Trail Park (“Cozy Cone” ring a bell, Sally?) features "Giganticus Headicus."  Just when you think all possible manner of kitsch along Route 66 has long since been built, you find that someone like 36 year old artist Greg Arnold has constructed a totally new oddity along the venerable old route. A 14' high giant green head now peers at passing motorists from beside of what once was the cafe at the Ranchero Motel.  Although its appearance suggests otherwise, some supernatural force has not plucked one of the Moai heads carved out of stone from the Easter Islands and deposited it at the Antares curve.  Greg fashioned the giant head from wood and stucco.  As an offering to the tourist god, he included a bench for the weary traveler who can make his offering of change to the nearby vending machine.

We arrived at our Harvest Host location for our home for the next two nights, Stetson Winery. We have stayed at many Harvest Host locations before, but for some … dry camping will be a new and different experience! The Winery is nestled in a beautiful, high-desert valley and surrounded by the Peacock, Long and Music Mountain ranges. We had full run of the place, we could stretch our legs out on their veranda and watch beautiful hues of fuchsia, salmon, violet, gold and copper light up the sky as the evening sun sets over the mountains and you sip your glass of wine.

We settled in and drove into Kingman for our guided tour of the Powerhouse Museum, aka the Arizona Route 66 Museum. 

The museum shows the progress made in travel. Settlers who migrated west over the first wagon roads and the dust bowl refugees who dealt with despair and hardship while traveling down the Mother Road are featured throughout the museum. Bright murals, pictures, and life-size dioramas feature each of the groups.

Even the building has historical relevance to the highway, as it is situated within a historical building that once lit the way for Route 66 travelers. Built in two phases, the building came to be in 1907 and 1991 and was operated by the Desert Power & Light Company. It gave power to the early sections of Kingman along with the early mines around the middle of 1909. Restored 60 years later, the building was transformed into a visitor center in 1997 and remains open today.

We enjoyed a catered BBQ Dinner at the Stetson Winery and a perfect sunset!