Route 66

On March 12, we left the Grand Canyon and drove south on AZ-64 for 55 miles and turned west on I-40. The Interstate is not in the best of condition. In places there were signs saying "Rough Road"which reminded me of some of the highways in Saskatchewan. The 112 mile stretch from Williams past Seligman to our destination, Kingman, which has a Historic Route 66 running throughout this area.

We arrived at noon and were anxious to see “Route 66”, so we set up and had a lunch quickly. Then drove to the Kingman Historical District. Our first visit was 'Route 66 Museum'. We paid senior’s rate of $6.00, that was good for this museum as well as two other historical places, “The Mohave Museum” and “The Bonelli House”.

“Route 66 Museum” was housed in the old Power House. It told the story of “Route 66” origin, coming of migrants from the Eastern US, the decline of businesses and the development of the “Route 66” preservation as a tourist attraction in 1987. It was filled with memorabilia and storied so it took us a couple of hours to go through it. The afternoon was well spent.

The next day, Thursday it was sunny and hot with temperatures up to 34º C. A beautiful day to go for a walk, be a tourist, and go on a photo-shoot. In the morning we were back in the Kingman Historical District. The second place was 'The Mohave Museum'. This museum housed the history of the Mohave culture, early miners and ranchers of the late 1800s of Kingman and area.

There was a display dedicated to Andy Devine, the late actor who was born in Flagstaff and upon his death Kingman named a road his honour.

We left the truck parked at the Museum and walked to through the historical streets of Kingman. Our third place was the “Bonelli House”. Here is a history of the Bonelli family.

“The George and Effie Bonelli Family, of Swiss descendant, were in the ranching and four retail stores business in Kingman, AZ. In 1895, George, age 26, married to Effie , a daughter of W. Tarr, station master with the Santa Fe Railroad. Their first home, built in the late 1890s, burnt down in 1915. A new was built the same year with improved structure of stone walls, doors to the outside in every room, the most recent electrical and plumbing system. One of their eight children, Joseph, a bachelor, lived in it until 1973, leaving the original furniture and his parent's clothing to the City of Kingman Historical Society. www.mohavemuseum.org” 

Randal took many photos of the historical buildings as we walked along more streets. 

We stopped at “Mr. D's” for a traditional hamburger, fries and onion ring served with a home made cool root beer. “Mr D's” had a 1950's theme with many posters and memorabilia.

The meal was good for a couple of hungry tourists and it was one Route 66!

We popped into a tavern of old vintage where could have bought a beer. We settled for pictures instead.

We drove on old “Route 66” switch-back old single-lane narrow highway. This hair-pin-road and went through the Black Mountain Range and had some awesome views.

We passed an old gold mining area at the town of Goldroad. Today they are still mining for gold, but his time not with burros, picks, and waggons but with the latest technology.

Further on, as we approached “Oatman”, An Authentic Western Ghost Town and Mining Camp, we were very surprised to see it filled with tourists and shops. Many burros were strolling the street, accepting food from the people.

The place was busy with everyone enjoying the warm weather and atmosphere.

“Oatman was born in 1906 as a tent camp, flourished as a gold mining centre. Today is is one of the biggest tourist attractions on Route 66. Films like 'How The West Was Won', 'Edge of eternity', 'Universal Soldier', and 'FoxFire' were filmed there”

We walked through the streets also getting excited at being a tourist. Most of the souvenirs were from China or India. There was one place the sold locally-made art and jewelry, which was refreshing.

Heading back south on Route 66 towards Topock, the road wound through hills and desert. The road met the Colorado River as we turned onto I-40 east.

This was one of our longer days of touring having gone 135 km in a loop. It was almost five by the time we arrived back at the trailer. We were still full from our dinner so we just grazed from the frig until we called it a day.

So until next time remember to “Discover It and Live It”.