There are many building made from stone out here. There's so little wood, it makes sense to use the building materials at hand. (I think modern society would do well to relearn this lesson.)
This is the old Mother Road Harley-Davidson Shop is in a big lot by itself. It looks like it was once a warehouse of some kind. See the bike at the lower left of the building? It's a cut-out, complete with biker body. You can pose behind it and take a picture, if you want. (No, we didn't.)
The new Shop is on Beverly Avenue.
This is the Brunswick Hotel (or Hotel Brunswick, according to David Wickline). It's made from lovely old stone. Note that it's three stories tall. From what I saw, that's very unusual out here.
The signs on the pediment say that it was established in 1909. Next year will mark it's centennial.
Nearly next door is the Hotel Beale. Somehow, we missed getting a picture of the great old sign on the roof. The only thing on the sign besides the name of the hotel is "Air Cooled." Obviously a very important consideration for travelers out here.
There's great detail on the building, too.
This is the little building between the two hotels.
It's also made of stone, and according to the sign, is the H. Lovin Building, built 1906. It's not very big. You gotta wonder what it was in the beginning.
So many of the corner buildings built during this era had doors that opened diagonally. There's good deco styling in this block.
This is Kingman's AT&SF Depot. It's built in the Spanish Mission Revival style, and has the distinction of being the first poured concrete building in Arizona.
There are quite a few buildings built during the art deco period in Kingman--
There are lots more shots like these, but you get the idea.
This is the Mohave County Court House. Great style.
The Jail section looks a bit older, don't you think.
I love this rock wall that runs by the parking lot.
Further toward the outskirts of town, we got a few great signs left from the "good ole days."
We were trying to make Winslow, AZ with enough light left to take pictures, so we only made a few more stops on Wednesday. There was one stretch of road we particularly wanted to find. It's at Exit 139.
This section of 66 was in use for nearly 40 years. See how red it looks? That's because the aggregate includes red volcanic cinders. The surface is very fragile, so we didn't drive on it--we just took pictures.
Here I am, wondering again what it would have felt like to be traveling this road across the wilderness, with no amenities in sight. I really want to do this trip again, when we have time to just drive as much of the remaining old roadway as possible.
We took Route 66 through Ash Fork, AZ, which follows Lewis Avenue.
There are some wonderful old motels here. This one has a slightly western look.
This one, built from stone--or rock, really-- even has stone pediment decorations.
A closer look reveals that this motor court had garages for your car. We saw a few of these on this trip, but there really aren't many remaining. I wonder how many of these place had private garages during the day...
Lots of the houses were built from the local rocks, too.
Some of the motels have their original signs, still.
A few have been restored. What we saw more often was that the motels had been turned into apartments. That's better than them sitting neglected, for sure.
This building was the main reason we wanted to stop in Ash Fork. DeSoto's Beauty & Barber Shop is in what was once a Texaco station. One of the characteristics common to many of these old stations is that one side was on a diagonal, like this one. Many were on small lots, and the angled building made it easier to get in and out from the street, I think.
The building has been restored beautifully. That's a real DeSoto automobile on the roof. And I don't know how well you can see it, but Elvis is driving.
And just a couple of more signs we shot:
Hmmmmm. I'll bet that sign used to say something different. Seriously, that's one thing we noticed. Quite a few of the old signs have had their neon removed, and have been repainted. You can still recognize period shapes, though.
We headed on down the highway, still trying to make Winslow before dark. We were tempted to stop in Williams, AZ, but we didn't have time. Next trip...
East of Flagstaff a little ways is an area called Davenport Lake. I say 'area' because usually it's dry as a bone. Only when it's been raining does water stand here. Apparently, it's been wet this season, because it was holding water when we went through both times.
That's one of the old alignments of Route 66 running right through the middle of Davenport Lake. Remember, please, that these pictures were taken running 70 miles an hour, so the foreground is a little blurry. Sorry.
See the trees? Those are Ponderosa Pines. These are the only real trees we saw in Arizona, and most of New Mexico, for that matter. Makes me understand why people might find Flagstaff an appealing place.
Exit 219 of I-40 holds another treasure.
This is the Twin Arrows Trading Post.
It's trademark twin arrows were constructed of plywood and telephone poles. The arrowheads have fallen off, and the feathers are missing from one arrow, now. They are rapidly falling into ruin. What a shame.
There's a 1950s vintage Valentine diner attached to the Trading Post. It had stools for 10, and, according to Images of 66, "used to offer off the wall named dishes such as 'jack rabbit ears' and 'buzzard eggs'." The Trading Post can supposedly be seen in the film Forest Gump.
Our path on I-40 took us within a few miles of Meteor Crater. We didn't have time to stop, but I did get the distance shot. Now you can say you've seen it.
And this is the ruins of the American Meteorite Museum, which was once the Meteor Crater Observatory. You could see Meteor Crater from the tower. Meteor Crater is privately owned, in case you didn't know.
There was some difficulty in getting the last picture.
I had to climb these rocks, and stand on top, with the wind blowing nearly hard enough to blow me off. They're bigger than they look.
And I did it even though this sign was posted. (Dean wants to know since when is a scorpion an insect?) I just wanted you to know I was being brave. (Grin.)
Dean did this so often, I couldn't resist getting his picture. He's measuring the wind speed. Yep, that EVER PRESENT wind.
Winslow is next, but that deserves a post of it's own. I'll try to get that one up tomorrow. See you then.
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