Day 11, Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Today was a VERY long day of driving and a bit stressful as well. Overall, we ended up driving around 500 miles today and made it through all the mountains, desserts and detours that were in our way.
It all started at 8:06am and we didn’t get to the hotel until 7:30pm. We drove from Williams, AZ saying goodbye to the Grand Canyon and headed through the dessert to California. When we left AZ, the temperature was 54 degrees, as we drove through California it was over 110. Since we had such a long stretch to go, we did not make as many stops as we normally would. So things like the Road Kill Café in Seligman had to be passed
We had to make a quick stop in Kingman to get the stamp from Arizona in our Route 66 Passports. They had a nice ’66 museum that showed the history of the area going back to the first settlers and not just what happened once the Route was created. They had a nice display about the Dust Bowl and once again they made reference to The Grapes of Wrath. I didn’t realize the term ‘the mother road’ was coined for Rt. 66 in that story. As we see this more and more in the museums we’ve gone through, I think I need to add this to my reading list.
After our stop in Kingman, we were making really good time but just before noon, we hit the part of ’66 that follows the Back Country Byway. Basically, we go into the mountains and follow tiny roads next to steep cliffs around hair pin turns where we can’t see who’s coming from the other direction. It took us about an hour and a half to go 40 miles and it may have taken years off our lives. One of the last landmarks on the Byway is Oatman, where the burros run the town. Oatman has only one through road and as we pulled in, we came to a dead stop. Watching the burros along the sidewalks, I thought perhaps one had been hit. Then we heard the gun shots. It was noon – high noon, and the town was putting on their daily High Noon Shootout. Honestly, we did not feel the need to get out and watch. Once the shooting was over and the bandits were captured, they cleared out of the street and the line of traffic was able to move again. Our way out of town was a slalom around the burros until we were finally able to make it to the open road once again.
From there we continued our long trek through the dessert. We made it across into California where the heat was sky high. We pulled in for lunch at the Wagon Wheel Restaurant and did our best to keep the car as cool as possible. In the restaurant, even the waitresses who live there year-round were even complaining about the heat. We had to laugh though because on the back of their shirts it said, “But it’s a dry heat!”
After gassing up the car and ourselves we headed out to the dessert. Mom was white knuckled in the scary mountains, but I have to admit this is where I was a little nervous. It was ridiculously hot getting up to 115 and never going below 105 for what seemed, hundreds of miles. There were a few times when you could tell the transmission was slipping a little and since there would be no sign of civilization for miles and miles, I was a little nervous we’d break down in the middle of the scorching dessert with nothing and no one around us.
And then… we had to take a 20 mile detour because the Route was closed and “impassable.” This detour though, took us down through the old lava fields. That was really interesting to see. Again, something I have never seen before other than on TV. Along this stretch was also the original location of the Bagdad Café. Mom and I did not know the movie and therefore didn’t know the reference to the café, so we just passed the landmark. I guess in addition to reading The Grapes of Wrath, I’ll also need to watch Bagdad Café.
The vast nothing-ness continued on pretty much until we hit San Bernardino. At which point the whole game changed. Here we started to hit the city traffic which combined with the fact that street names and highway interchanges have changed since our guidebook had been written meant things were much slower going. We had to make a couple of U-turns, but eventually made it to the hotel.
Once again, we are staying in a Wigwam Motel. This one was a little more modernized though. Although it had mostly the same generally set-up, the décor was more complete and comfortable (night stands, newer mattresses, etc.), the bathroom was laid out differently (more efficiently), there was a fridge in the room and they didn’t sacrifice one of the two tiny windows for the air conditioner. The outside was not decorated as well with the old classic cars though. If we could have mixed together the outside of the motel in Holbrook, AZ with the insides of the teepees in Rialto, CA it would be a perfect Rt. 66 experience.
We were completely exhausted, but after such long day we needed to get food. We ended up at this cute Mexican restaurant that had no air conditioning and was 90 degrees inside. We did not care since we just needed something that wasn’t a sandwich or country fried steak. It was probably the best taco salad I’ve had and the margarita really hit the spot.
Long day, good food, and a touch of alcohol. It did not take long to fall asleep.
Journey On 