Burros, Check Engine Light & a Detour to Vegas

            Wednesday, 12 September.  A out early for me to drive through Kingman to the current alignment of 66.  And as the road curved south I took pictures of the older road across the railroad tracks.  –  to drive out of Kingman and then across the Sacramento Wash and was a very nice drive were I could enjoy the scene range and watch the Black Mountains approach.  –  my first stop was Cool Springs.  Though they were closed, officially, there were people working to set up the store and invited me in.  We had a nice chat and I took some pictures of the interior of the building.  Needless to say I took photos of the exterior surroundings as well.  –  Then up the road to Sitgreaves Pass.  Along the way I took some pictures of Ed’s Camp and the lovely scenery.  Near milepost 30 I tried to find Schaffer’s Fish Bowl Springs with no luck.  However at this point today took a downward spin when my check engine light came on.  –  I continued on to Oatman where I arrived in time to watch the nasty guys rob the store and get shot up.  Truth and justice will prevail.  I wandered the town and watch people feed to wild burros.  Along the way I noticed that the Goldenroad mine no longer offer tours.  –  At this point I called it a day, even though it was about 1 o’clock and headed for Las Vegas.  That was the closest Saturn dealership to me.  By five o’clock I was on the road to my friend’s house in Vegas.  –  I was going to come for a visit after I had reached California, but as I was now here I would kick back and enjoy your visit with my friend and come back from San Diego.  The thick plottens, but that is for a couple days later.  –  As with most of the days on this tour the weather was beautiful in a little warm.  Temps in the low to mid 100s are little warm for me.

Back on the Road Again.

            Tuesday, 11 September.  –  I took a leisurely start to the day which seems to be the norm.  A good breakfast and a short walk around the neighborhood.  Allen did not pick his home for the scenery, but he could not help getting lots of it in the area in which he lives.  –  I headed up 179 to 89A and then north to where it connects with I-17.  The drive north was through amazing scenery.  I took a number of photos and stopped at the Oak Creek Vista to get a bunch more.  Part of the drive up to the Vista was along the road with many a switch back and tight turn.  It was so much fun to drive.  –  then a quick hop down the interstate to Kingman where I found a room, got something to eat, downloaded and answered some e-mail, and crashed out early.

Lazing in the Sedona Area

            Monday, 10 September.  –  today I took a side trip to visit a good friend and outstanding artist Alan Gutiérrez and his family who lived just south of Sedona.  Once I escaped from Phoenix traffic it was a delightful drive through increasingly beautiful scenery.  It wasn’t until I reached just outside of Sedona that construction slowed traffic down to a crawl.  Thanks to my GPS system I was able to find Allen’s home with no problem.  –  after settling in my stuff Allen took me and the rest of the family on a four-wheel-drive up Schnebly Hill Road. This drive is not for the faint of heart nor a low-slung 2 Wheel Drive car.  However the drive was more than worth it by the time we got the top portion of the drive, the road, as one could see into tomorrow while standing amongst some extremely gorgeous scenery.  –  the reward for this was lots of good pizza and conversation when we got back as well as their allowing me to show them the documentary film on Arthur Upfield, he did play on their DVD player though only in black and white.  It is a region 4, Australia, DVD.  My film Ringers, a documentary on the Lord of the rings fans, in which I get mentioned in the credits, played it just fine.  More conversation followed and eventually some sleep was allowed.  –  as the two girls from Indiana noted the drive-through was Sedona area is well worth a detour for any roadie driving through the area.

Conning at Coppercon

            Friday, 7 – 9 September.  –  I had never attended a Coppercon previously, though I knew a goodly number of the people who were working on the convention.  I did meet a couple, originally from Chicago, who now lived in Phoenix and in addition to being SF fans were route66 roadie having driven the road many, many times.  I also met a young lady who it gone to several callbacks for the who wants to be a superhero TV show.  Not only was she more than good-looking enough to be a superhero but she appreciated my back runs.  –  I had a number of panels and workshops to put on some even had attendees.  As seems the case most of the time the tech oriented people at the convention could not figure out how to connect my laptop to a projector so I can show my slides of my trip to Middle-earth.  I had an enjoyable time helping out with the charity auction and also being a judge at the masquerade.  There were enough parties to keep one up very late and leave one with little time for sleep.  All in all it was a most excellent convention and I’m glad I made time to detour to the convention.

From Kingman to Phoenix

            Thursday, 6 September.   –  today was a driving day.  I began by doing the short cut off section of old 66 that ran to the east side of the railroad tracks.  As might be expected there was no one on the road.  Except for one right angle turn under a railroad viaduct the road was an easy drive though the cut in one section was quite narrow and I would expect one would have had to honk their horns to warn other people. The scenery as you drive down the road is quite attractive.  I expect it to be no less so when I take the current version of 66 to Oatman. The road ended at the Route 66 Speedway.  It was obviously a dirt track of some sort.  –  I now called it a day and headed back to pick up the interstate which would take me to 93 and then south to Phoenix.  –  93 was much prettier than I expected or remembered.  In many places the road had been laid out with a very long ruler.  This did nothing to detract from the very pretty scenery which one drove through.  As I was in no big hurry I drove exactly at the speed limit and let the other drivers pass me.  –  with a slight detour to do a search and destroy mission at the local AAA office I found my hotel and settled in.  Unfortunately the portable hard drive that was waiting for me no longer worked.  –  I ran into a few people who were at the hotel early for the convention.  However it still was a fairly early to bed evening.  Tomorrow the con begins.

From Seligman to Kingman: a delightful drive!

Wednesday, 5 September. – I did a lot of easy driving today. First I headed back to the Crookton overpass where I got some photos of the old railroad overpass. For some time along the road the old 1930s pavement or gravel paralleled the current highway. – I then drove into Seligman and spent a very delightful several hours wandering the town and talking to people. There were a great many German tourists in town today and this allowed me to practice my German on them. I also got Angel to pose with me for a photograph. Lunch was a cheeseburger from the Snow Cone. – I then continue down the road under mostly sunny skies. At one time it looks like I might be in for a shower but the clouds blew away. It was a warm day under the sun. The temps were probably in the upper 90s. – The drive to Flagstaff wound through some very beautiful countryside with little or no traffic. I took some photos of the scenery as well as a couple items in Truxton and, of course, the Hackberry General Store. I do like empty roads to drive on and only ran into traffic on the approaches to Kingman. – tomorrow I shall go hunting for old 66 alignments in Kingman and then head for Phoenix and science fiction convention.

Run away! Run away!

I just received this from JC Carey of Cats Tale Productions:

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Have you seen you on youtube yet or myspace

both under catstaleproductions or sign in: key word wombat should bring up the trailer

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If I’ve copied the URL correctly,

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SfaVJXfHt_oShould get you to it.

Now I think, I give “good scream!”

Check it out.

A Yellow Bellied Dinosaur? Yes, Really!

            Tuesday, 4 September.  –  After breakfast I tracked down the missing portable hard drive and made arrangements to have been mailed to me.  –  I drove through central Flagstaff completing my tour of the various alignments.  –  I headed west and fun driving the 2 alignments near Bellemont.  Then came a series of paved and unpaved roads all the way from exit 185 to exit 165 where I joined the business 40 into Williams.  As it was time for lunch, I dropped by Rod’s Steakhouse.  The visit 15 months earlier was a pleasant one and so was this one.  I had a very nice lunchtime special.  –  the next leg of today’s drive was to Ash Fork.  Along the way I detoured off on to Devil Dog Road and then a little later on to Welsh Road.  The latter road included a segment that had been built as early as 1922.  The shocks on my car agreed that the road was very old.  –  Ash Fork is a pleasant little town with a couple of alignments.  It also has a 58 DeSoto perched on top of an old gas station which is now DeSoto’s Beauty And Barbershop.  –  at exit 139 I turned off on to Crookton Road which is in the almost uninterrupted stretch of 66 all the way he too about the California border.  As it was getting a little bit late I called the head and booked a room at the Grand Canyon Caverns Inn.  There restaurant has a nice “yellow bellied dino” in front.  Eat up or it will eat you!  It is a nice place and has a very old-fashioned feel about it.  My room is quite nice in has what I need for good nights sleep.  –  I did the run from the turnoff through to the Inn more or less straight through at a reasonable speed.  Tomorrow I shall return for a number of photo ops along the road.

Flagged DownIn Flagstaff

            Monday, 3 September.  –  The previous night’s thunderstorm had washed the sky clear.  The temperature was comfortable as I headed into Holbrook take some photos, the Wig Wam, of course.  –  In Joseph City I start to get the answer to the next scavenger hunt question and then continued on down the old 66 to get a few more photos of long gone businesses.  –  At the Jackrabbit Trading Post ISAF are some photos and ran into some tourists from downstate New York.  We chatted about driving Route 66, & I gave him one of the e-group cards.  –  In Winslow I had my photo taken with the chap who stands on the corner.  Needing refreshment I stopped at the La Posoda Hotel for lunch.  The food and service were excellent.  Refreshed I searched for the various alignments in Winslow.  –  I stopped in Meteor City to check out the world’s longest map of route66.  –  As I continued on down the road to Flagstaff, I took time to check out and photograph both Two Guns and Twin Arrows.  They are sad remains of an almost forgotten era.  –  while I couldn’t forget Winona is a very small and quickly driven through town.  However the bridge on the west side of town is well worth stopping in taking a photograph of.  –  Flagstaff like so many towns has a lot of construction going on in it especially on the east side of town where is it to alignments of 66 come together.  It appears they are expanding the mall there and building a better intersection part of which is on top of the junction of the two alignments of 66.  Such as progress.

Holing up in Holbrook

            Sunday, 2 September.  I took my leave of the El Rancho Hotel and slowly drove the two alignments through Gallup.  It was a lovely day, lots of sun, and almost no traffic.  The town has lots of buildings in stores relating to route66.  There was even a Giant Muffler Man along the way.   –  The drive to the Arizona border was pretty straightforward.  I took a few photos and enjoyed the lovely scenery.  The road took me through a number of small, dusty towns with lots of old cars in the front yards of the homes.  –  At the border one is enticed by Chief Yellowhorse’s tourist enterprise.  I took a pass.  –  Between the Arizona border and Holbrook there seems to be little left of route66.  I did drive the dirt road option by Querino.  The only other bit of 66 was the Adamana Road at exit 303.  –  I did get off and take a tour of the Northern portion of the Painted Desert.  It was well worth the time.  The scenery is magnificent.  I drove the road until it reached the point where old 66 crossed it.  There is nothing really to see of old route66, but the road apparently followed the line of disused telephone poles.  At the information center I met a couple of Aussies who were driving 66.  –  unfortunately the Wigwam Motel was full so I had to make do with a newer motel.  –  Once again the night sky provided a sound and light show in the form of a large thunderstorm.  –  By the way I would like to mention, I have been dilatory in providing the link, another blog covering the journey of two ladies on route66.  Our paths crossed along the way: http://route66withhazelandpenny.blogspot.com/ .  Checking their blog today I note they are on their way home to Indiana.  I hope they had a marvelous, marvelous time.  It seems so.