USA - Route 66 and Las Vegas

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Wednesday 7^thDecember

A very cold start with icicles hanging down from the roof outside our window! Didn’t quite make the sunrise at 7.15am (I was worried my hair might freeze and the hairdryer was broken!) but at 8.00am the Canyon still looked pretty spectacular! Had a quick drive (it was too icy and snowy to walk!) around the old village before heading out of the Park and onto Highway 64 and then Route 66.

In the 1900’s the Federal Government felt the need for a national highway system and Route 66, known as a ‘Super-Highway’ in 1926, connected small towns and gave Americans unprecedented travel from Chicago to LA – a distance of over 2300 miles. It was known as ‘The Mother Road’. In the great depression of the 1930’s, route 66 became a lifeline to a better future ‘out west’, but by the 1950’s when America was more prosperous, people drove along Route 66 for enjoyment and an industry of Motels and Diners sprung up in the small towns. In the 1980’s new, two- lane Interstate Highway 40 was built to replace Route 66 which was then considered to be too narrow and twisty for today’s modern traffic.

However, Arthur Black from Kingman and Angel Deldagillo (now 84yrs old) from Seligman, campaigned hard for IH40 to run through Kingman and for Route 66 to remain as a historic route to avoid the small towns becoming ghost towns. These days, most towns have cashed in on tourism and Route 66, or the bits that remain of it, and are full of diners, motels, antique automobiles and unique shops, just as it was back in their hay day!

We had passed through Flagstaff and across Route 66 on the way to the Grand Canyon, but our first real stop was Williams at 6770ft (no snow now!!) known as the Gateway to the Grand Canyon. It was named in 1880 after a famous trapper ‘Old Bill Williams’ and the mountain to the south of Williams has the same name. Stopped at the information centre and then walked along the historic street that was once part of the great highway, looking at the old cafes and memorabilia shops. Williams was the last town in America on Historic Route 66 to be bypassed by ISH40 on 13^th Oct 1984.

Drove on the IH40 along to Seligman – (we should have got off at Ash Fork, but missed the turning!) and stopped at Deldagillo’s Snow Cap restaurant for a burger – but it was shut in the winter!! Had a good wander around the old place which is absolutely crammed with memorabilia and then went into the little barbers shop (Billy Connelly visited this shop in his recent series – episode 4!!) and had a chat with the very friendly shop owner who offered us free coffee and restrooms! She explained that if it wasn’t for Angel Deldagillo and the tireless campaigning, Route 66 may have been lost.

Stopped at the Roadkill Cafe further along the road for a quick lunch before driving along Route 66 – a pretty straight boring road across a plateau, gradually coming down to about 4800ft at Peach Springs. We missed the Grand Canyon Caverns – we thought it was caves but I think it was just an old Motel on Route 66, with hindsight! On through Truxton and Valentine – neither very special before cutting through some peculiar rock formations and arriving at Hackberry General Store.

After talking to the shop owner, it seemed that the town of Hackberry was basically a ghost town upon the arrival of the train line in the 1930’s but the General Store had moved up to Route 66 and therefore survived. It was now a complete journey back to the 1950’s. The garage had several old cars including a red 1957 chevrolet chevette, renovated and rusty wrecks, as well as ones for sale ......nice Plymouth @ $1500 . Fascinating place!

Drove on across the valley and through Valle Vista to the town of Kingman, which is known as the heart of historic Route 66. Called in at the Powerhouse, at the far end of the town, and had a wander around the museum with the usual posters, history etc of Route 66. There was also an old Santa Fe big black engine, with the snow plough at the front. Anyway, we had a drive through the historic part of the town looking at the Mohave County Courthouse and the Bonelli House where the cowboys used to store their money to avoid spending it on a Friday night!

It was about 4.30pm by now so decided to stay here the night in one of the numerous Motels (Days) along Route 66, before driving up into the mountains and on to the old ghost town of Oatman tomorrow (still on Route 66).

Thursday 8^th December

Up fairly early and a rare treat of a free breakfast at the Motel before setting off to Oatman. Picked up the road running parallel to IH40 for a while before dog- legging along Route 66 and across a huge plain – Golden Valley. Lots of odd groups of shacks and houses and trailer parks – cheap living I suppose! Anyway, the road condition got slightly worse with a number of “washes” (flash flood run-offs) going across the road, creating a switch-back (caterpillar) effect – if you see what I mean! The road got even worse as we started climbing, and it was very reminiscent of an old Spanish mountain pass, with no barriers and a few sheer drops! Good views of the plateau and the rocky mountains though!

Eventually reached the top – Sitgreaves Pass at 3250ft before starting to drop down again, past a working gold mine, to Oatman at 2700ft. Oatman is named after a migrating pioneer family who were captured by the Apache Indians in 1851 who then massacred, the family including a brother who they left for dead and the two sisters they kept in capitivity, forcing them to forage for their own food etc. Mary died of abuse and starvation but in 1856, the Army located Olive Oatman and began negotiations to free her. She was ransomed for a horse, blankets and beads and was then re-united with her brother.

Oatman was founded in 1906 and by 1931 had produced over 1.8 million ounces of gold in the 50 mines and had 10,000 people living there. By 1942 the remaining mines were closed, the people moved away and the domesticated burros (donkeys) that had worked in the mines, and were released into the surrounding hillside. Their descendents still come into the town every day for food, but over the years they have become quite wild! Unfortunately there were no burros in the town today, but we had a lovely wander around the tourist street and bumped into a couple who we had seen yesterday at Hackberrys General Store! Popped into Oakman’s hotel for a coffee to find that every wall and pillar was covered in $1 notes signed by tourists! On asking, the owner said they was about $70,000 – $80,000 hanging there.!!

We decided to continue on Route 66 across the Mohave Desert and into California, past the Dead Mountains and after stopping for lunch at Dennys at the town of Needles. Took Highway 95 north of Needles, which was a very long straight road across the desert for about 60 miles or so...... Filled up at the town of Searchlight (Garage + Casino) until we turned left to go to the Hoover Dam via Boulder City!

A nice view of Lake Mead as we went through historic Boulder City and we then drove across the Mike Callaghan/Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (in error as we missed the turning to the Dam!) before turning back and following the road across the dam (Half the dam is in Nevada and half in Arizona and there is a time difference of 1hr!!) Parked at the Memorial Bridge to walk across and take some pictures of the Dam....the bridge is very new and only completed on October 2010.

Thirty mile drive back to Las Vegas, and we drove up the Strip looking for a reasonable priced hotel in the Centre, and ended up at the Imperial Palace. Parked the car up, booked in, took cases to the room, and then back out for food and a wander around. First impressions of Vegas – it’s exactly how one imagines it.....only worse/better!! Quite overwhelming!!

Friday 9^th December

A whole day of wandering and gambling sunny and warm Vegas!! We walked from the Stratosphere at the downtown end, to the Mandalay at the other and back again, taking in the overhead tram, looking in all the big hotels, having a wee gamble in a few of them, marvelled at the decor in others. We watched gondolas at the Venician, , walked past Eiffel Towers and Statue of Liberty ( New York New York), fountains that dance to the music (Ballagio), volcanoes and fire (Mirage), and a sky that turns from day to night in 20 minutes (Caesars Palace of course)! Everything is joined by escalators so you are not sure if you are in hotel or shopping mall. It’s all very surreal, very hedonistic and decadent! Apparently Vegas is only busy because the Cowboys are in town as the Rodeo finals are beamed on every TV in the hotels and the cowboys could gamble on the outcome of each rodeo!! Still not sure of I hate it or love it but it’s definitely worth visiting at least once in your life! Back to reality tomorrow and onto Route 66 again!

Saturday 10^th December

Had breakfast at the hotel before heading off into the desert on Highway 15. A two hour drive across the sandy scrubland and the rocky mountains before stopping at the iconic 1950’s diner Peggy Sues by Yerma! All the waitresses are dressed in ‘50’s uniforms and April our waitress was a real character from the period talking like Mai West. A lovely cafe with lots of memorabilia, a life size Elvis and a dinosaur garden at the back which had a duck-pond and the freakiest ducks ever!! Check out www.peggysuesdiner.com

It was only a short drive to the Ghost Town of Calico. This was an old silver mining town that had a population of 40 in 1881 which increased to 1200 in its heyday of 1887, with 22 saloons, and reduced to 15 people in 1981. There are currently 3 people living in Calico!

It has been restored and renovated to its original condition and is a pleasure to walk around the town, with its replica shops and cafes and historical plaques. Chris had a go at gold panning (again!!) and found some old fools gold with help from Sydney, a feisty local girl, and we also had a walk through 1000 ft of old silver mine!

Drove onto Barstow where we had a walk around the Route 66 museum and then decided we would stay here overnight. (California Inn)

Sunday 11^th December

Decided we had time to drive the last part of Route 66 between Barstow and Oro Grande before joining the ISH 15 to drive to Desert Hot Springs to visit my niece for the day. We were up and out by about 8.00am – not too much to see on Route 66 until we came across an eccentric bottle tree garden near Helendale!

Very bizarre! Walked inside to be greeted by Elmer – a grizzle bearded, friendly guy who loved to chat about his life and his family of who he was very proud of! He had many stories to tell and had enjoyed meeting Billy Connelly when he passed through his garden earlier this year! He seemed to pass his time making metal trees and then hanging old (or new!) bottles on them, taking his work very seriously!

The rest of the drive on the ISH wasn’t too interesting – just a busy highway back down into the valley (I think we are now about 1000ft above sea level) turning off on the 62 to Desert Hot Springs.Found Aly & Jeremys large bungalow with not too much trouble, and after a cup of tea and meeting the newest member of our extended family, we all went out to lunch at Dennys, where Zen entertained us all!!

Back to the house and then gave Jeremy a lift to the airport so he could get the rental car to drive to LA airport tomorrow, and after a scenic drive around Palm Springs decided to stay at the Comfort Inn. Had a wander around Palm Springs which was very nice, with the sky turning pink over the mountains and all the Xmas lights. Very exclusive and up market resort, but managed to find a really nice cocktail bar (Falls Bar) doing happy hour cocktails and food!

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Comments

[tracie bennett]

Well Elmer looks interesting! Las Vegas - think I would enjoy for a while - but could I drag Steve away! Nearly hometime for you now - \british winter kicked in today with torrential rain and strong winds! Still no snow - yet! Take care xx