Rt.66 Part 10, Best Spoof Of The Trip
Westward from Seligman en-route toward Kingman, AZ, just west of Peach Springs, we came across...
...
Hackberry General Store, situated by the side of the road, nothing else around it.
If you look at the walls you'll see money pinned on them. As we went further west, we saw more and more of this strange custom of pinning money on establishment walls and ceilings. I'd never really seen this before going on this trip. A bit strange to me.
Hackberry's also had a public service poster displayed inside...
...which I'm confident Chris would agree, was very civic minded and commendable of them. A most noble gesture I'd say.
JG
The sign reads,
" 300 Miles Desert Ahead, Good Luck". If, 80 years ago, you were departing toward California in your clapped out Model A and saw that sign, it had to be a little sobering.
Kingman had a splendid museum...
...that I considered one of the best of the trip. It was also key to a spoof I had started months before the trip. When our group first met months ahead to layout the ground work of the trip, I casually mention that, to commemorate the opening of Rt. 66 in 1928, they held a great
Transcontinental Footrace that went the length of Rt.66. That race had been won by a gentleman by the name of Andy Payne who just happened to be my "Great Uncle". Of course that's an outrageous lie but I couldn't resist the practical joke. Andy Payne did indeed win the race...
... but he was no relation to me at all. The trap was set.
Touring the museum, when we came to this wall displayed, I innocently announced,
"oh look, there's Uncle Andy that I told you about earlier." Well they insisted I get my picture taken next to his and for the rest of the time in the museum they talked excitedly about that remarkable feat and my good luck to have such a skillful relative. Upon exiting the museum I fessed up and told them the real truth. They had all bought it hook, line and sinker and we had a great laugh about it. I had been waiting the whole trip for this. Mission accomplished.
The next section of road, from Kingman to Oatman was some of the most beautiful of the trip.
Easy for a modern car to traverse, but a 1920's or '30's or even '40's car and this being desert, not so much.
Driving a highly capable, modern sporting car, who won't look forward to this upcoming section of road. Fabulous.
Oatman, AZ...
... is an old mining town that, with the mine played out, and no Rt.66, depends entirely on tourist trade.
Oatman's stores and restaurants had spectacular displays of
real money pinned to the walls. That's money wall paper. It was everywhere, amazing.
JG
Oatman also had wild but tame, burros that roamed the streets and even found their way into some stores on occasion.
No one seemed to mind but...
...when they wandered near the Corvette, my parental instincts kicked in!
Leaving Oatman were some more terrific driving roads...
...full of switchbacks. Note the sign and suggested speed, 15 mph (24 kph)...
...or this one, 10 mph. Inside the Corvette...
...you can see the steering wheel is positioned almost 180º which you'd never see driving on a modern highway.
In this photo note the position of the steering wheel, the speed, 22 mph, and the road ahead, top right, is a blind curve. Fun stuff!
I never got tired of the scenery.
During the trip, every so often...
... we'd encounter a closed portion of the road that was suppose to be open and have to back track, but that was part of the fun and challenge.
The next installment will be the last segment of the trip. There's more in store so please don't give up yet. We do indeed eventually find the Pacific Ocean. Thank you everyone for all the positive vibes on this thread.
Thomas
