Wednesday? I don’t need no stinkin’ Wednesday

Wednesday, 10 June 2009.  I decided, I would call off the world today.  I curled up in a recliner and read for most of the day.  It felt very good.  Not the day was bad, as usual the morning and most of the day was cloudy with what everyone calls June Gloom, I just decided I didn’t want to do anything.  So there.  🙂

Bono, & McDonald’s & 66, Oh my!

Tuesday, 9 June 2009.  I sort of slept in.  Today was cool in overcast.  I can deal with weather like this.  When I finally staggered out of the room, I found Kim trying to get his computer to hook up to the Internet.  Unfortunately, he was not having much success.  I went downstairs brewed up some coffee, had a few slices of bread and was now somewhat ready to face the universe. 

I headed out to do some of Route 66 heading East this time.  Kim decided to break up his routine and come with me.  He was most patient is I stopped from time to time along Foothills Boulevard, Route 66, and take pictures.  I got a couple nice ones of the Wigwam Motel.  

I pulled into the parking lot at Bono’s Restaurant.  I wanted to take a picture not only the restaurant but the little orange juice stand adjacent to it.  This may be the last one remaining.  As I started to take photos, a gentleman approached me from the restaurant.  This turned out to be Mr. Joe Bono who is in the process of restoring the restaurant.  It had been closed for some time following the death of his mother.  He invited Kim and me into the restaurant to take a look at what he was doing.  We had a nice conversation about how he planned to reopen the restaurant with an old-time theme.  Before we could ask, he did show us a photo of him and his nephew, Bono.  Pressing forward with the restoration as there would be a photo shoot involving the GM Volt and his restaurant along with a tie in to Route 66. 

From there we headed east toward San Bernardino.  I continued something from time to time to take photos.  We drove both the main alignment as well as part of what was known as City 66.  One item of importance along City 66 was the very first McDonald’s restaurant.  It is now owned by the same person who bought Amboy, and he has turned it into a Route 66 as well as a McDonald’s Museum.  Tim and I spent a fair amount of time wandering through the museum and chatting with some of the people there. 

We then decided we had driven enough for the day and headed back to Kim’s place and some pizza for dinner.

Doing the Barstow Rt. 66 Museum

Monday, 8 June 2009.  I awoke to a cloudy and cool Barstow.  Just as I was getting ready to head out for breakfast Debra Hodkin return my calls from the previous evening.  She is the curator of the Route 66 Museum in Barstow.  The museum is normally open Friday Saturday and Sunday.  It was now Monday but Deborah said she would open the museum and let me have a look around. 

I did some needed work on the computer and then cleared out of the room and headed over to the museum.  Deborah was already there and allowed me to wander at will throughout a fascinating and excellent collection of Route 66 material. 

As it turned out, a number of people dropped by to visit the museum.  People from England, Switzerland, Germany, Australia and even the US were among the visitors.  Once more I get to inflict my German on the German speakers. 

After about three hours of enjoying the museum, Debra and visitors, I got my act together and prepared to head down to Mira Loma where Kim and Susan lived.  I decided I would spend the next couple days working back from I-15 and Foothills Boulevard to Barstow.  Three or four hours a day should pretty well cover it. 

It was easy ride down Kim and Susan’s place.  After sitting around and chatting for while we headed over to Applebee’s for some needed nourishment.  The was quite plentiful and good and we had a fair amount to talk about. 

Upon return to Kim and I tried, unsuccessfully, to hook up my computer to his system.  After about an hour or so we gave it up as a lost cause.  Maybe we’ll be able to do something tomorrow.  In any case I can do non-Internet related work. 

Once in bed I stayed up way too late as I continued to reread 1632.

A lunch in Bagdad

Sunday, 7 June 2009.  Up but not fully awake I wandered over to Denny’s for breakfast and some coffee.  It was warm and clear with the prospect of a quite warm day.  After nourishment I fired up the computer and booked a room at the Motel 6 in Barstow for one night.  I will probably stay two but it is easier to add a night then get my money back if I only stayed one and booked for two.  After doing my shoulder exercises I will head off into the desert. 

I headed out on I-40 until I reached the Mountain View exit.  I then started down the road to Essex.  I hadn’t gone far when I noticed a short stretch of parallel road.  As it didn’t seem to extend beyond the concrete curbs at each end, it appeared to be an abandoned at rest area for people driving the original Route 66.  I cruised along through very desolate and beautiful countryside until I reached Amboy were I topped up my gas tank.  

I spent a few moments there chatting with you people who were also passing through and then headed down the road towards Ludlow and Newberry Springs.  I was now on an exceptionally lonely stretch of highway.  It was also quite rough and bumpy.  It obviously had not been repaved for many a year.  Onward through Ludlow I cruised at 42 miles an hour eventually reaching Newberry Springs and the Bagdad Café. 

I arrived just as a busload of French tourists were leaving.  I chatted briefly with them before going in and having lunch which consisted of a cheeseburger and fries.  I chatted for a while with the folk running with the café and took a number of photos of the interior of the café.  My photo taken standing behind the counter with one of the women who ran the café.

As I was walking out the door to my car a busload of tourists arrive.  I went back inside to warn the people running the café there were about to be inundated with tourists.  By the time I got an outside and chatted with this second group of French tourists another bus arrived this time with tourists from Belgium.  I, of course, had to delay my departure so I could chat with the people who enjoyed the big Route 66 sign on the hood of my car and the fact that I was all the way from New York.  I finally left the good tourists to their food and photos and headed down the road.  I was staying in Barstow that evening.

I stayed at the local Motel 6 and bought a computer access card.  To my surprise when I fired up my computer I had Internet access without using the card.  I shall save it for another Motel 6 further down the road.  I then headed a couple blocks up Main Street to Pollo Loco for dinner.  This grilled chicken restaurant is owned by the chap who bought and is restoring Amboy.  I figured I would support the cause. 

I did some work on the computer, made a few phone calls and called it an evening.

This explains much

The door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly. -Ogden Nash, author (1902-1971)

Stand up for others!

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928)

Desert beauty and things that are blooming again.

Saturday, 6 June 2009.  Over the continental breakfast in the lobby I had a lovely chat with the young couple from Italy.  They were heading for the Grand Canyon, and I suggested, they drive route 66 all the way to Williams before heading up to the Grand Canyon. 

Taking Route 66 I wended my way through Needles, up I-40 for short while, then off onto the old road.  It was warm but not hot under a mostly sunny skies.  I turned off US 95 and headed down Goffs Road.  While this was not quite as lonely as I expected, it was pretty empty.  Nothing but desert for miles in all direction.

I stopped in Goffs to take a couple photos of the restored schoolhouse which was built in the mid teens.  I believe the town has 13 people living in.  From there I drove to Fenner where I got some gas, a full tank is a good thing in the desert, and had a nice chat with a couple from just outside of Sydney, Australia.  The wife enjoyed not only The Lord Of The Rings but the Upfield novels as well.  Obviously, they’re very nice people.  The husband had to take a picture of me with my car and license plate. 

I pressed on to Essex for a few photographs but along the way I did stop and if not smell the flowers at least photographed them.  Haven’t the faintest idea of what they are but they’re quite pretty.  Maybe somebody can take a look at my picture and tell me what the flower is other then some flowering weed along the road. 

From Essex it was a long slow drive over a low pass and then a straight shot into Amboy.  I did get a nice photo of the road stretching off into the far distance as they came around the bend down from the pass.  There is a lot of lot of nothing out there.  However, it is still very pretty in a desolate way. 

I stopped that Ray’s in Amboy for a snack.  I learned that it was open seven days a week and I could’ve gotten gas there rather than in Fenner.  However, I spent a delightful period there chatting with the various people who had also stop there.  There was a couple from France, a number of people from within 100 miles who decided to drive or bike out, and an American taking a couple friends from Germany out to see the desert and Roy’s in Amboy.  This was topped off when about 25 biker showed up in the were doing a bike tour from LA to the Grand Canyon and back.  Members of the tour were from all over Europe and the UK.  I gave the tour leader the e-group card and mentioned this company should take an advert in the Route 66 Pulse. 

I had decided to make this a short day and headed back around 1:30.  Back at the motel I watched the Belmont, to some e-mail and relaxed.  I eventually wandered over to the adjacent Denny’s for dinner.  My motel key got me 10% off the price.  After dinner I puttered on the computer for a while and made a couple phone calls.  I was able to contact my friend Kim in Mira Loma and arranged to crash there on Tuesday night.  From there I could backtrack and finish off a portion of 66 I still needed to cover.  This also means that the meeting of the “Tasty Mongols’ Horde” would be on Thursday evening, 11 June.  

True to my intent I actually not only got into bed but turned off the light well before midnight.  Tomorrow more desert, the Bagdad Café and Barstow, California.

Thru the eye of Needles

Friday, 5 June 2009.  I woke to find cloudy skies and cool temperatures which did last.  However the weather is as one might expect in the desert – dry.  I had a light breakfast at a restaurant adjacent to the motel and caught up on my diary which I hope to post tonight from Needles. 

I had a slowly down Route 66 to where turned into the Oatman highway.  On my previous trip I had taken the 6 mile dead-end stretch of very old 66 which was part of the National Old Trails Road.  This is a marvelous stretch of old, old 66 with a delightful blind 90° turn that can give you nightmares when you consider meeting a semi trailer in the middle of the night at this point. 

66 crossed under a I-40 and the Oatman highway turn off quickly appeared on one’s left.  Under mostly cloudy skies, which kept the temperature down, I headed across the Sacramento Wash towards the Black Mountains.  It’s an easy drive with almost no traffic.  I cruised along at my Route 66 cruising speed of 42 miles an hour and enjoyed the landscape.  I stopped to read the country by wayside just before I reached Cool Springs Café. 

I took a break tackles brings and chatted with the gentleman who actually rebuilt the building, Dennis DeChenne.  It was an enjoyable break from the road and some delightful conversation. 

Then I headed further down Oatman highway, crossing Sitgraves Pass in the long descent into the town of Oatman.  Avoiding the wild burros I managed to park my car along the main drag and went in search of lunch which I found at the Olive Oatman Restaurant.  I then strolled up and back down the wooden sidewalk checking out the various stores along the way.  There was a fun shoot out for the entertainment of all visitors.  They then pass the hat with the money going to charity, the Shriners, I believe. 

I wandered in to Fast Fanny’s Place which is owned by Jacky Rowland who is an occasional visitor to the Route 66 e-group.  We at a delightful chat and she most graciously gave me a copy of her book: OATMAN – History, Recipes, Ghost Stories. 

I continued on from Oatman down a most delightful road to drive.  While it was very dry desert along the way, I enjoyed this scenery, a stark beauty, and the curvy nature of the road itself.  One has to actually drive good portions of this road. 

I topped up the gas tank in Golden Shores as gas is much more expensive in California.  It turns out to be about 80 cents to a dollar more in California than Arizona.  I wonder who gets the money? 

However, before a cross in the California I took the short dead-end stretch of old Route 66.  Many years ago 66 crossed the Colorado on a bridge that now carries one or more gas pipelines.  Then up the interstate for one exit to explore the small bit of 66 which passes through Park Moabi.  The old road ran through some really rough land.  Bits and pieces of where the road continues can be seen from the sections you can still drive. 

Back on the interstate for one exit and then ought to old 66 which joins US 95 after a short while and continues on in to Needles.  Just as you get off of the interstate and on to old 66 you can see the dusty dirt road heading south across the desert landscape.  This was your highway back then. 

I continued a 95 taking my time into Needles.  I spent the next hour or so has slowly wandering around Needles looking at noted Route 66 icons.  I finally got to my hotel which is the Days Inn and Suites.  This is a motel I don’t recommend.  Not only was the room small but for some reason the wireless didn’t work in my room.  I just could not get any speed, and everything was downloading at a dial up rate. 

I need is some food so I headed over to the Wagon Wheel Restaurant.  It was very laid-back and home-style, and I had some very good chicken fried chicken. 

Before going back to the motel I checked with the Motel 6 across the street and tentatively booked a room there for the next night.  It was cheaper and maybe their wireless would work.  Back at the Days Inn I suffered through the very poor wireless connection getting a little bit done, chatting with a friend and finally crashing out so I can get some sleep before heading into the desert on the morrow.

Seeing some of Kingman

Thursday, 4 June 2009.  I had a late start on the morning as either I didn’t hear the wake-up call or it didn’t happen.  In any case I had just enough time to get my things together and head over to the Silver Spoon Restaurant with Jim and Bill The chap who works part-time with him.  We had a very nice breakfast, may even nicer by Jim picking up my tab, THANK YOU, JIM, and a very nice conversation. 

On the way back to the motel I got some pictures of the Silver Spoon Restaurant, Hilltop Motel and a couple other places I wanted to record.

At the motel I arranged to stay a second night and would call to get a room in Needles tonight. 

I headed over to the Powerhouse Museum.  While I had a free entry pass, the museum would have been well worth the admission fee.  It has an excellent historical display of the opening up of the countryside around and to Kingman.  Besides being an excellent Route 66 Museum, it has a very interesting display of the effects of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl.  The historical portion traced the various exploratory expeditions across the territory in order to find the best route to the West Coast.  I must’ve spent about two to three hours in the museum, and they were well worth. 

There was an excellent film on Route 66 as it pertained to Arizona.  Unfortunately, the film had seen better days.  Both the color and sharpness of the film had degraded.  Upon speaking with one of the museum guides she noted that they had tried to get a new copy but did not know how to get in touch with the producer.  I pointed out that Scott Piotrowski, who had produced the film was a member of the e-group and I had given her the card for the Route 66 e-group.  I also happen to have on my cell phone Scott’s cell and home phone number which I gave to her.  Here is hoping that the museum will be able to obtain a new copy of the film either on tape or as a DVD. 

One of the fun things about driving or being on Route 66 are all the neat people one meets from all over the world.  I ran into several groups from the Netherlands, a couple from France and another couple from Italy.  Not all were doing the Route but all were sampling the road having heard of it. 

From the museum I headed over to the Bonelli House which dated from 1915.  Much of the furniture, pictures, day-to-day items, things like the stove, etc., were all original to the house.  Many of the items had been returned by family members when the house was being turned into a museum.  The tour of the House was quite fascinating and worthy of the small donation I gave. 

As it was still fairly early in the afternoon, I drove up to White Cliffs Trail Park.  The park is on the north side of town, and after parking my car where the paved portion of the road ends, I hiked up the trail to where one can easily see the ruts cut into the rock by the wagon wheels as they went up and down the hills between the town and the mines.  One also notes the depressions on the side of the road that were used for stubbing posts and ropes to assist the wagons up and down the steep hills.  It was obviously rough work in very rough country. 

I retired to my room to regroup and then headed out for dinner.  I first stopped off to say hello and goodbye to Jim.  We had a nice discussion of what see and others in the Kingman area were doing to promote Route 66 and save historical buildings. 

Up the Hualapai Mountain Road to the Hualapai Mountain Resort for dinner.  I thought about saying up there but not only was it much more expensive, the review of the motel or rooms there indicated that they were nothing special.  The difference in price easily paid for my meal. 

It was interesting to compare the two dinners over the last two nights.  The food at the Brunswick Hotel was quite good, especially the mushroom soup and the service excellence.  At the Hualapai Mountain Resort the food was excellent, but the service left much to be desired for an upscale restaurant.  I got the feeling that as I was alone and not dressed to the nines, the waitress felt she was not going to get a big tip.  Her lackadaisical service ensured that.  

Both the drive up and down were quite pretty and it was a few degrees cooler up at the resort as it was several thousand feet above Kingman. 

It was time to call it a day and look forward to tomorrow’s drive to Needles via Oatman.

Back gettin’ them kicks!

Wednesday, 3 June 2009.  Up early and looked out the window to see a cloudy sky over Las Vegas.  No complaints as this would keep the temperature down a little bit on my drive down to Kingman. 

After a light breakfast I finished loading up the car and headed off to the southeast and Kingman.  The drive was pretty good up until Hoover Dam.  As I didn’t get there until about 1030 the tourist traffic had picked up and the road was very slow.  This is somewhat expected.  The construction of the Hoover Dam bypass was quite impressive.  However, once clear of the dam a long line of cars was held up by some idiot in his pickup truck doing about 15 miles an hour under the speed limit.  Now going slow is not a problem.  However, if you constantly bypass places where you could pull off and let everybody you were holding up pass you by, then I have strong impulses to use a sawed-off shotgun on the idiot.  Eventually the road became four lanes and 20 to 30 cars and trucks were able to pass them.  The rest of the way into Kingman was quick and easy.

My first task upon entering Kingman was to look up Jim Hinckley.  After little bit of map searching I was able to track down Jim at his office where he manages a Penske truck rental.  He graciously allowed me to use part of his counter to plan out where I was going next.  First was getting a motel room which I did at the local Motel 6.  I then had some lunch at the Calico Diner next to the motel. 

From there I went over to the Mojave Museum where I spent a pleasant hour or so.  It was a very well laid out museum and I enjoyed the section devoted to Andy Devine.  Yes I do remember him from movies and enjoyed his acting.  Next on the agenda was to go over to Locomotive Park which had a big locomotive, tender and caboose.  Across the street was Mr. D’z.  Next door was Dunton Motors which had a 27 Franklin along with two 60s Mustangs and an old motorcycle in the showroom window.  As I needed a little bit of nourishment, I stopped in at Mr. D’z and bought myself an ice cream cone.  It was really nice to eat on the hot spring day. 

For dinner I went over to the Brunswick Hotel which is a Route 66 icon.  I had a very nice upscale dinner.  While the filet was good, I really liked the mushroom soup.  Part of the decorations on the wall were vastly overpriced paintings.  The gentleman playing the piano felt the same way. 

As I walked to the car the owner of the 1956 Buick Special was just starting her up.  We ended up having a nice chat about the car, and the owner admired my shoulder bag.  She was wondering where I had obtained it, and when she learned I had made it, she wanted to know if I could make her one.  I said, let’s talk again when I get home and have access to my sewing machine. 

About that point to ladies walked over to also admire the car.  When I heard them speak in German to one another, I couldn’t resist nattering at them in German as well.  The younger of the two ladies had just finished a year in a South Bend high school as part of a student exchange program.

Back at the motel I caught up a little bit on my bookkeeping, I’m keeping a spreadsheet on how far I drive and what my expenses are.