Day 1
Sunday, February 12, 2006 |
Today was Day One of our 2006 LA Pen Show Adventure, and after waking up to snow, taking too long to load up the truck (Frank blames me & I blame him!!) and getting off quite a bit later than we planned, we had a lovely day on some Iowa and Missouri by-ways (no interstate today!)
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Packed with snow, we remembered the scraper! |
Our route today started by going west on Iowa State Hwy 2, a scenic byway that runs across extreme southern Iowa, just above the Missouri line. Nice rolling hills, but a little grey and still snowy, not good for photo taking .... these seem a little dark
Shimek Forest in Van Buren County
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Still too early for the antique shops to be open, so a quick stop in Bloomfield (remember this was where WA Sheaffer's original jewelry store was) for dinner. In Iowa, and probably other parts of the country, too, mid-day meal is often referred to as dinner, lunch is non-existent and dinner is supper!
Not far from Bloomfield, we headed due south on US Hwy 65 into Missouri. You always know when you are getting close to the state line because the billboards are plentiful for fireworks and about two inches into Missouri you're bombarded with roadside firework shops. Needless to say most fireworks are illegal in Iowa! |
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Finally, the antique shops and malls were waking up and we managed about five stops today, including three which we had never been to before. Good finds all afternoon long and you just never if you'll walk out with empty handed or not. Still definitely writing things to be found out there though, you just have to keep looking. Frank even spotted a Carter's bottle for my collection that I do not have. |
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The scenery changes to hillier hills and lot of rock cutaways as you drive further into Missouri, very pretty. Oh, and the snow finally went away and warmed up nicely. We've left US 65 now and back onto Missouri state highways again.
We try to eat in the chain restaurants as little as possible, not always an easy feat in this day and age. But we persevere and many times we find some hidden treasures, and one in awhile some pretty bad food, too. Today we had dinner at The South Fork (fork as in the river, not the utensil!), limited menu, actually, there was no menu! Three dinner selections and it was just like Sunday dinner at Grandma's house, wonderful! For dinner tonight (yes, dinner, not supper!), we found Domenico's, older building, lots of cars. Usually the cars in the lot are a good sign. The MONSTER size COW out front on wheels was a little frightening, but we're in a tourist town and there are a lot of restaurants, so I guess they have to do something to catch your attention. The thing that aught our attention (aside from the monster cow!) was the word, Italian! If you're ever in Lake Ozark, be sure to check it out - superb northern Italian cuisine. Now if they can only get rid of that cow out front!
Tomorrow - Route 66, we're less than 100 miles away from the Mother Road! Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, that you'll also have to put up with my fascination with Route 66!
Nice sunset just south of Jefferson City, the state capital.
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Day 2
Monday, February 13, 2006
Day Two of our trip to LA took us out of Missouri, through a corner of Kansas and into Oklahoma, we did about 50-50 mileage-wise on by-ways, primarily Route 66 and interstate highways. But a helluva lot more time on the by-ways!
Lake of the Ozarks |
There is a truck underneath that hay and I didn't think we'd ever get a chance to pass it! |
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Souvenir shops and billboards for the souvenir shops line the roads in the Ozarks and I suspect there is an unwritten rule, or maybe seen a written one that the word Ozark must be there in some form and the signs must all be red and yellow!
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One of our first stops today was at Cimmaron Antiques. Hadn't been here before, but will try to stop again one day. One of those great places with piles of stuff everywhere, even on the outside of the building. Plus, Cimmaron had the Indian Museum inside and a Coca-Cola shop...one stop shopping for tourists! The Parker Flighter set came from here and I'll have to find out more about it, never seen the BP refill or mech that is inside it. You never know what you'll find in those piles of stuff!
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Everywhere we travel, even thousands of miles away from Houston, we see this billboard. There's probably one in your neck of the woods! The last thing on earth you' expect to see on a billboard, yet with so many across the country, surely it works for the reverse docs in Houston?!? |
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Of the 8 states that Route 66 goes through, Kansas has the shortest stretch. Kudos to the Kansas Route 66 group, they do a wonderful job of maintaining their Route 66 and have excellent signage and good participation from businesses along the Route.
Onward to Oklahoma via the Mother Road. First stop Miami! That is pronounced Mi-am-uh (not like the big city in Florida)
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This is the first time we've stopped at Waylan's Ku-Ku Hamburgers, an older Route 66 restaurant in Miami. Fun! Good basic road food...burgers, coney dogs, shakes . Some more creative food though, too. A buffalo burger for Frank and a fajita for me. The ladies behind the counter were pleased we stopped and that we were traveling Route 66 (think of this as running into fellow pen people away from home, instant friends on the Mother Road, another nice community of people!). They gifted us with some snazzy little commemorative key chains from the Ku-Ku celebrating 20th and 30th anniversary Miami Cruises. Thanks ladies! | |
This is the Coleman Theatre in downtown Miami, a magnificent old theatre that has been fully restored and is in use again. And since we were out of the car for a bit, we wandered down the street. Antique store had a sign saying they'd be back soon (darn!), but the book store-coffee shop was open and there was time for a quick espresso. Nice selection of books, too. |
There is a big push on by Route 66 associations in the various states to save as much original signage along the route as possible. Lots of neon has been redone, lots of painting and lots of research to find out what some of the signs originally looked like. The Maverick sign is looking very nice! |
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We traveled most of the jaunt between Miami and Tulas via the turnpike, but exited to 11th Street in Tulsa which is Route 66 through downtown and a new stretch of road for us. Very well marked and easy to tell you were on the old road - mostly original architecture and signage, some in need of restoration, but at least it had not been torn down. What we really wanted to see was the 11th Street Bridge, an original Route 66 bridge. We did see the bridge ... kind of ... now surrounded by other big bridges and fast roadways. Frank snapped a few photos and caught a blur of the concrete sides. Too bad. Now we know and will have to work more time into a future trip for the bridge. |
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The good Route 66 signage ended on the western edge of Tulsa and we promptly got lost for about 20 miles in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Eventually we got our bearings and could correlate landmarks to the map and got back on the turnpike!
The Cherokee is a landmark on I-40 and we usually stop to peruse souvenirs, sometimes eat (not this time) and take a peek at the buffalo. In case you come this way, you'll find good food and friendly people, so do take time to stop, if for no other reason than to stretch your legs - that was our excuse!
Tonight, we walked across the street from our hotel to the BBQ Shed. No, it wasn't shed, just a small restaurant that had been there for over 30 year, so we figured they had to be doing something right! Frank has been on a BBQ kick lately and seems to be able to spot these places from 50 miles away, good thing I like BBQ, too and this was indeed good BBQ! However, the best BBQ we've had in the last year of trial tests has been The 17th Street BBQ in Marion, IL. Award winning Memphis BBQ in an unexpected place. Excellent - go there if ever in Marion, IL!
Tomorrow we travel toward Texas and I want to have lunch at the Big Texan in Amarillo, I think the timing might be right!
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Day 3
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Happy Valentines Day to everyone! We are on Day 3 now of our trip to LA, some of you would have already arrived by now, and I'm sure you've guessed that we stop, explore and on this jaunt of the trip, the goal is to get to LA on Thursday for the pen show.
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Windmills just west of Weatherford, OK. We're seeing more and more of these on our travels, good to see the alternative power sources being developed. |
Along this same stretch of road was this Phillips 66 sign perched on top of an old derrick. Quite a few oil fields in this area. |
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Oklahoma takes Route 66 very seriously and there are excellent museums in Clinton and Elk City. We didn't stop to visit today, since we have in the past, but perhaps on the return trip. Both are well worth long visits, so put them on your list of things to do! |
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We're used to strange things traveling down the road, like that bundle of hay earlier, but I think this is the first time we've ever seen helicopters and a plane being towed down the road! Frank says the plane looked experimental and that we would never go up in the air in something that small. |
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Those days of nasty, dirty rest areas on the interstates seem to be gone for the most part (thank goodness!). Now, you see awards proudly posted for being the cleanest in the county, state, etc. And usually there are a few other signs of interest like the one above in western Oklahoma. I like the teepee picnic table motif! This rest stop was also the sighting of our first cactus on the trip. |
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Time for a new state, Texas! Our destination is Shamrock, a small but bustling Route 66 town. |
Great architecture in Shamrock and many buildings restored to their original splendor. We stopped for photos of the above, and found three antique malls downtown with some of the most hospitable people, sort of like finding instant friends you didn't know you had! We didn't find a lot of writing things to rescue, but were pleased with what we did find!
We bee line to see the U-Drop Tower service station and cafe every time we come to Shamrock, have watched it being restored over the years and were somewhat disappointed a couple years ago when we learned that it would not be re-opened, but would be for private use. Today, when we pulled up front, there was a Chamber of Commerce sign in one window which meant someone surely must be inside. Yes! And a gift shop, to boot! The info we got a couple years ago was only semi-correct, the U Drop, because of a grant used for it's preservation cannot be used for "for profit" purposes for 10 years. I have this vision of one day eating in the cafe and hopefully that will happen when the terms of the grant pass. After browsing the gift shop and talking to the two wonderful women who were there, probably taking up far too much of their time pestering them with questions, one woman asked if we would like to see the cafe! She unlocked the door and turned us loose. What an unexpected treat. Getting to go inside the cafe was the high point of my day, and very likely the high point of the trip, something I've always wanted to see, very exciting. THANK YOU Shamrock Chamber ladies and thanks to those who put a lot of hard work into restoring this excellent example of art deco architecture. |
If you've been following, you'll remember I thought it would be nice to have lunch at the Big Texan in Amarillo. We've driven by many times, never stopped to eat because the timing was never quite right. So today was the day. We've learned that finding a nice place to eat Valentine's dinner is tricky at best, since lines are long or the restaurants are all booked and many a time we end up with fast food. So today, we decided to have Valentine's dinner for lunch at the Big Texan. The Big Texan is a good tourist place! Heavy on the cowboy motif, a loaded gift shop inside and limos with horns (not the beep-beep kind, the cow kind!) The steaks were delicious, but also in huge cowboy size portions. We opted for chocolate cake to share and it turned out to be about half of a cake, also quite decadent deep dark dense chocolate. We took most of the cake with us. Glad we were able to finally visit the Big Texan. |
We've been steadily climbing in elevation and mountains are now in the distance as we enter New Mexico. This is a beautiful state. I meant to mention earlier how it sunk in to us in Oklahoma just how horribly dry it really is in the west. We've seen the fires on TV, but until you step on the ground and feel it crunch underfoot, it's hard to put in perspective. We've seen quite a few areas from the road that are totally black from recent fires. Hope Mother Nature sees fit to shower the west soon, just no lightning, please! |
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Tucumcari is a neat town! Our favorite stop here is The TeePee, an old curio/souvenir shop that is inside a concrete teepee. Even though we stop at lots of these type of places, I really don't buy any souvenirs, but I do buy Route 66 books and The Teepee has a great selection. We also picked up a new Route 66 map newer than ours, so that might prevent one or two wrong turns. Route 66 is usually not on the new road maps, so you have to follow signs, use a bit of instinct and refer to old maps. |
Last stop of the day is Cline's Corner. Home of the RoadKill Cafe and a very large souvenir shop! |
In Moriarty, our resting place for the night, we went off in search of a bite to eat. Moriarty is small, but the Jenk's Cafe had welcoming lights and a full parking lot. Fun little place all decked out for Valentines Day. Finally safe to have enchiladas which I did! You have to remember that in our little corner of Iowa they put potatoes and peas in the enchiladas which I find absolutely disgusting. Potatoes and peas are fine, just not in my enchiladas!
Note the very cool old metal mailing tube with WASP imprint and 8 cent stamp. Good find! Not, I don't think it will be for sale.
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Day 4
Wednesday, February 15, 2006 |
Today, we continued west through New Mexico and into Arizona - stunning scenery. |
I don't know what this is! But we see it on the side of the road every time we drive I-40 through Albuquerque. A most interesting bright shiny silver spiny sculpture.
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The weather forecast this morning was for high winds between Flagstaff and Albuquerque. The forecast was accurate and the winds stayed with us beyond Flagstaff. Saw a couple of overturned semi-trucks and you could tell the truckers were having problems with the high winds trying to keep their trailers under control. We had our hands full just keeping our SUV where it was supposed to be on the road. |
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We didn't spend as much time on Route 66 as we have the previous few days, doing some select short stretches that are old favorites. It was not an ideal day to be out running around a whole lot! |
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The Rio Puerco Bridge west of Albuquerque, a Route 66 landmark. |
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This is the Jackrabbit, still wearing his holiday wreath! The Jackrabbit is one of the oldest souvenir shops on Route 66. It is a must stop for us to pick up back issues of the Route 66 magazine and check through their selection of books. Plus time to catch up with the woman who owns the shop and find out what happened to all the puppies they had on our last visit! |
The photos above are of Twin Arrows between Winslow and Flagstaff. Now in disrepair as you can see. I understand the property has been purchased for a new housing development. (thanks Mark!) The property extends far beyond the road front buildings you see and includes land adjacent to Padre Canyon. We've taken quite a few photos of Twin Arrows in the past, but thought we better take more on this trip, just in case the arrows disappear when construction starts. I was surprise at how much the arrows had deteriorated in the past year. For any of you who might have an interest in diners, the cafe shown above is an original Valentine Diner. |
Lovely view of the mountains just east of Flagstaff.
Tomorrow we'll head toward LA and get settled in for the Pen Show! |
Day 5
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Inky Greetings from Manhattan Beach, California, home of the LA International Pen Show!
Kingman, Arizona is a very involved Route 66 town. The route is well marked here, many businesses are involved and there is an excellent museum and gift shop at the Powerhouse (yes, it is in a very old, restored power house!). We spent a little time in town this morning visiting the gift shop which is operated by the Arizona Route 66 Assn. Found the book we needed with detailed driving directions to navigate our way from The Santa Monica Pier (end point of Route 66) through the LA suburbs along the original route - we're planning ahead to Monday departure! |
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The older bridge you see in the left of the photo above, is the original Route 66 bridge over the Colorado River, the dividing line between Arizona and California. You can no longer travel across the old bridge, it carries water pipes across the river, but you can drive down to it on the old route. |
The trains always look so tiny off in the distance. This is a Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the same line that passes through Fort Madison about 70 times daily. We always wonder if these same trains we see out west are the ones that pass through Fort Madison, I'm sure some must be the same. Unless you live in a railroad town, like we do, this will probably make no sense, but we are so used to the trains going through town all day long, about a block from the shop, that we notice the lack of them while on our travels! |
We were originally headed for The Summit Diner for lunch today, but it was a little further than our stomaches wanted to wait, so we stopped at Peggy Sue's Diner instead in Victorville. We've see this diner from the road before, but it was our first visit there. Excellent diner food and monster size portions. I hate leaving food behind having been raised by a mom who was all too good about telling me to clean my plate since there were starving children in India, your mom probably told you the same! |
Frank and I refer to this as the Indy raceway of the west! It's a 12 mile steep downhill stretch leaving the San Bernadino Mountains heading into the LA basin. Traffic was light, but fast (as always!) today! |
Most of the route toward Manhattan Beach, once we leave I-15 is shopping malls and car dealers on both sides of the freeways. Frank did manage to catch a moving photo of Forest Lawn Memorial Park. More than just a cemetery, Forest Lawn is a landmark, we saw a fascinating documentary on it not too awfully long ago. |
This photo is for Michelle! I don't remember if this was the 605, 105 or 405 freeway, because they all look pretty much the same with multi lanes of traffic. When we hit the freeways, all my old DC driving day instincts kick right into gear, funny how once you've driven in city traffic which I did for 25 years, you just never forget! It probably doesn't hurt to do this with Iowa tags, I suspect people think - "Ack! Tourist!" and give me a wide berth - LOL.
On Friday, we'll be at the pen show most of the day and we'll definitely be taking photos for you. Heather, who is the one who puts this travelogue together for you everyday, making the photos pretty and coding my ramblings for html, will be headed down to Fort Madison to lend a hand to Michelle over the weekend and take care of "regular" Pendemonium business at the shop. Michelle has been by herself all week juggling email, orders, the shop and phones. OK, the cats, Ziggy and Chessie, are there to keep her company, but aside from thinking they are the greeting committee for anyone who walks in the shop, they aren't a whole lot of help!
Just in case you're wondering ... I write my notes for this travelogue with a fountain pen each evening when we stop for the day. This week I've been pulling out my little pouch of tester pens we use at the shows and scribbling with them. Today's travelogue notes were written with a Sailor SuperScript and Legal Lapis ink.
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Friday at the LA Pen Show is technically called a "Trader Day", that means you rush in and try to find table space in the morning, think of it as staking your claim. LOL. Steady stream of pen people were there all day. Our photgrapher, Frank, has some sort of flu-type thing and was sent back to the room to heal and keep his germs to himself! So, the few show photos below came from me, and all taken from our table since it was hard to get away for long. I'll try to do better on Saturday!
Should you just happen to be reading this and did not know about the Los Angeles Pen Show .... stop on by! There is more informal trading all day Saturday and the main day of the show, Sunday, is the biggie and open to the public for a small admission fee. The place to be is the Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel!
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Day 6
Saturday, February 18, 2006
The Los Angeles Pen Show
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Thanks to Boris Rice, his lovely wife Julia and all of the other people
who pull together the LA Pen Show!
Here are a few more photos from LA on Saturday, the second day of the
pen show.
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Day 7
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Today is Sunday, February 19, 2006 and the main day of the Los Angeles Pen Show. We have a few more show photos for you below. I'm not sure what Boris' magic formula for this show is, but the crowds were lined up outside the door this morning waiting for the show to open to the public at 10AM. If you've never been to a show with a weekend - early admission registration before, think about it for the future, great way to meet lots of people when things are not quite as chaotic, more time for coherent conversations with exhibitors at the show.
It truly was super busy and I want to thank each of you who came by to see us not only for your purchases, but also for your patience. This was our 10th year at the LA Pen show and so many of you are old friends, I love seeing familiar faces and getting to catch up a little bit with everyone. I also note that we met a lot of new pen collectors this year, I'm glad you all took time to come to the show, it's quite an experience, isn't it? The new faces tell me our wonderful hobby is growing and I like to see that.
Thanks again to everyone for making this show very special for us!
On Monday, we'll go back into travel-mode! I have to make my annual stop at the Trader Joe's in Manhattan Beach, love going to Trader Joe's and since there is nothing quite like this store near Fort Madison, we visit a number them throughout the year on our pen show travels to stock up on some things we only seem to be able to find there - good coffees, teas, nuts and all sorts of fun eats!
After Trader Joe's we are headed to the Santa Monica Pier which is the semi-official start/end point (depending on if you're driving Route 66 east or west bound). of US Route 66. For us it's the start point to make our way out of the LA area on the original Mother Road. We have driven short sections of the road here, but never the whole route out of town, so it should be interesting as it winds out through residential neighborhoods, beneath the freeways and along some very old stretches that still today honor their Route 66 heritage. I fully expect that we will make some wrong turns and miss some turns and get lost few times!
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Day 8
Monday, February 20, 2006
Monday morning, the LA Pen Show is finished, always a little bittersweet. But we're back on the road again to start out the journey back to Fort Madison.
If you read our previous day's notes, you saw where I mentioned that we would most likely make a few wrong turns and that's how the morning began! Fortunately, we've been to Santa Monica before and after a brief and beautiful little jaunt up the Pacific Coast Highway, got ourselves turned around and back on track.
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There is nothing spectacular to see in the photo above, but it is the official end/beginning of Route 66 in Santa Monica. After a few little twists and turns, we follow Santa Monica Blvd for a number of miles.
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There are many original signs, along this urban stretch, great neon and many of these date back over a half century. Route 66 fell by the wayside earlier in the LA area because freeways were built here earlier than in other parts of the country. There has been a big effort the past 10 years to save as much of the Route 66 history as possible, and it's working! |
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Many, many buildings of distinction along the route, including these two churches, the more modern one is an LDS temple in LA, the other a lovely example of Spanish Mission design. |
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We're in Pasadena now, home of the famous Tournament of Roses Parade, and also home of some fantastic examples of Art Deco influence. I fell in love with the streamlined street lights. Harry, these art deco photos are for you! |
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Above photos were taken between Pasadena and Hollywood. The Beatles mural was just one of several on this building, of course Frank being a Beatles fan made sure to get this one! The distant buildings are downtown LA. The tunnel, the first of four (look closely, you can see others through this first one) were very ornate. |
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Still traveling though Pasadena area in the photos above
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We hadn't planned on seeing the Santa Anita Racetrack, but missed a turn and made a quick right into a parking lot to get back of track and it just happened to be the parking lot of Santa Anita! We were surprised this was just off a residential area. No time for the races today, so just a quick photo!
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A long stretch of Route 66 follows Foothill Blvd off and on heading east. This photo was taken near Monrovia with a great mountain view. It rained in LA off and on over the weekend, but snowed in the not so distant mountains. |
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The Aztec hotel is no longer a hotel, but still a most unusual building on Route 66! We went off the route here in Monrovia to visit Fred Krinke's Fountain Pen Shop, but alas it was closed on Mondays. So, we missed visiting with Fred, but found Monrovia to be a wonderful town, especially the restored old town area on Myrtle. Complete with a cute little trolley! The Krikorian Theatre has obviously been lovingly restored and the old filling station which is on Route 66 (Shamrock St) seems to hopefully being taken care of, but still needs some work to put it in the same league as the filling stations in Shamrock, Texas. We parked to get out and stretch and grab some lunch at a little pizzeria in old town, nice enough outside to use the sidewalk tables and do a little people watching.
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Duarte, Asuza and Upland have embraced the resurgence of Route 66 and there are many signs of restoration and many business display the Route 66 highway shield on their buildings or have incorporated Route 66 into their name. |
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There are several Madonna of the Road statues located along Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica. They are a tribute to the pioneer women who made the early treks westward via covered wagon. I like nostalgia, but think I'll stick with the comfort of my SUV! No covered wagons for me! |
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It's the other Orange Bowl!
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This Wigwam Motel is in Rialto, California and one of two Wigwam Motels on Route 66, the other is in Holbrook, Arizona. The Wigwam in Rialto has been recently purchased and and is now mostly restored. They're open for business!
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We're now in San Bernardino and out of the LA traffic and closely spaced towns along the route. The mountains are beautiful here and we loved this old Santa Fe railroad tower. Fewer twists and turns through suburbia trying to follow the original route, too. However, some of the interstates were built directly on top of the original road and sometimes the old road dead ends, so we find ourselves on stretches of freeway off and on and doing a lot of exit ramps between San Bernardino, Hesperia, Victorville and Barstow. |
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This stretch of road is near Cajon Pass. At one time Route 66 was 4 lanes through the mountains here. Only two lanes now, but parts of the other lanes are visible and not in good shape at all. Our guide book says that when they were closed, these lanes offered good spots for picnicking with views of the mountains and also good spots to watch the Santa Fe trains go by. Now days, I wouldn't recommend either, as they seem to be frequented by some rather derelict looking type people! As the book called it .. they're rather prone to illicit activities today. Sad.
In case you're wondering, we traveled about 160 miles today in about 8 hours. Route 66 is NOT the fast route out of Los Angeles! I'm so glad we were finally able to do this though. It was exciting to see so many different parts of the area from closeup instead of off in the distance from the interstate highways. An all around nice, un-rushed day.
If things go as planned, we're headed for Oatman, Arizona next, home of gold mines, wild burros and some of the tightest switchbacks we've ever driven!
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Day 9
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Our journey along the Mother Road starts today in Barstow, California, an old railroad town and also home of many Route 66 motels and cafes - some still open today, others starting to fade away.
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Old signs, neon, hotels, cafes and murals on the Route 66 strip through Barstow. We had a great Chinese dinner at The Palm Cafe. The El Rancho Hotel and Cafe, a very old landmark is now closed and looks to be up for sale. I hope it doesn't go too long without some attention, it doesn't take long for these buildings to start to deteriorate.
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Our next stretch of Route 66 took us about 70 miles on the old road through the Mojave Desert. The towns are tiny, if anything is left at all. Sadly, many of the businesses are closed. The Bagdad Cafe is open for business. Roy's Cafe and Motel, which was open the last time we came through is now closed, but appears to be undergoing some renovation - fresh paint was evident.
Needles is a thriving little town in the desert right on the California - Arizona line. It's where you stop to check gas in your car and how hungry you are because the next services eastbound on the interstate are 50 miles away. Not quite so far away if you're traveling Route 66. We filled up at the Wagon Wheel and then drove Route 66, also the main drag through town.
Just past Needles, we cross over the Colorado River into Arizona on I-40 (Route 66 bridge no longer crosses and there is info and photos from earlier in the trip above). We immediately catch the old road again and start our trip to Oatman through Topock and Golden Shores. Note the brief change of scenery along the Colorado River.
The road up to Oatman goes through some beautiful country. It's winding along this stretch, the turns are sharp, but not nearly as sharp as when we go back down the mountain on the other side of Oatman!
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The town of Oatman is a combination of wild west, tourist kitsche and the burros! The burros are wild, well sort of since they'll walk right up to you hoping for food (many of the shops sell carrots to feed them). Frank and I thought there were more burros in town than the last time we were here and they seemed a little pushier, in a gentle, but aggressive way. There were several baby burros in town railing along or trying to catch up with their mothers. I like the burros! The architecture is wild west frontier era with boardwalks. Oodles of shops, many of which have the same things over and over. My favorite shop is Yellowhammer's Jewelry - Mr. Yellowhammer is immediately your friend, he makes splendid jewelry right there in the shop, takes time to make small adjustments and is just an all around nice man He would fit well in the pen community! |
The trip out of Oatman to the bottom of the mountain is steep and full of hairpin turns and magnificent scenery! Cool Springs is at the end of the road and still in operation.
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It's a short drive to Kingman once you've made it down the mountain from Oatman. We're tired, I'm hungry and it's time to stop for the night! |
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Day 10
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
This is our tenth day on the road and we'll probably stay put for a couple days soon. As much as we like road trips, even we need to put down some temporary (more than one night!) roots every now and then!
Our first stop of the day today was Hackberry's Store, a Route 66 landmark in Hackberry, Arizona. Hackberry's has some of the typical souvenir stuff inside, but is far more, a museum in itself, a few antiques inside for sale, some used books and who know what else I missed! I want that Corvette - wow!
This is a lovely old stone building currently home to the Haulapai Forestry Dept. in Peach Springs.
Another very old landmark along this stretch of Route 66 is the Grand Canyon Caverns. Aside from the Caverns, there is a motel, campground, 2 restaurants and a gift shop. Not to mention the giant dinosaur! Check out the firetruck marked Grand Canyon Caverns. It was fun to visit, the first time for us, but we passed on the caverns tour. We'll save that for another trip.
Seligman is one of the towns that realized early on that if they didn't stir up on memories of Route 66 when the road was officially de-commissioned and traffic move to the interstate, the town would be in trouble. Thanks to the efforts of Angel Delgadillo, The Arizona Route 66 Assn was born and today Seligman survives. It was quite an honor to meet Angel today and visit his wonderful barbershop-museum-gift shop. Curious about Angel and his efforts to make Route 66 thrive? Check out his website: www.route66giftshop.com
There are many other shops and eateries in Seligman, and it's easy to spend the day there. We stopped for lunch at the Roadkill Cafe, I had salad to be of the safe side, but Frank had a burger and survived ;-) Seriously, the food was excellent, nothing even beginning to resemble roadkill, stop there and eat the next time you visit Seligman!
Between Seligman and Ash Fork, we saw this huge pile of logs - telephone pole sized logs, thousands of them. No signs of any type. Maybe it's the unofficial Arizona Log Depository? If anyone knows what this is, please do tell.
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There is not a whole lot left in Ash Fork, except for this huge Kaibab Slate Co. I have never seen so much slate in my life! |
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Route 66 in downtown Williams, Arizona
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This rather plain looking stretch of gravel road is an early alignment of Route 66 near Parks, Arizona, pre-1941. The Mother Road was realigned in many places, many times over the years. I think most that are still around are noted in various books, so they aren't too hard to find. However most of them are beyond repair and not driveable anymore. |
Flagstaff is a beautiful city surrounded by tall mountain peaks. The restaurant pictured above is not one we stopped at today, but have eaten there in the past. To be honest, I don't think the food was exceptional, but inside, suspended from the ceiling was a train running around the perimeter of the dining room and it was pretty darned cool!
This old iron truss bridge with wooden deck still stands near Winona.
This is Two Guns, Arizona, or what is left of it! Perched on the edge of Diablo Canyon, this was once a booming tourist town. We've driven by here on the interstate many times, but this is the first time we've gone a bit off road to get some better photos. You can see from the photos, Two Guns is not a pretty site and eroding away quickly. Note the small building with the Route 66 shield and the Two Guns on either side. While the paint isn't brand new, I'd guess someone re-did this not too long ago. We carefully backed out of here, the old road was littered with debris and changing tires is not something we look forward to!
Welcome to Meteor City, home of the world's longest map of Route 66! Not to mention a rather unusual building. Meteor City is open for business, but was closed when we stopped by today. It's about 2 miles east of Meteor Crater which we did not venture to today (about 10 miles south of the highway and getting late).
Of all the small towns on Route 66, Winslow, Arizona may be one of the most well known due the Eagles hit song "Take It Easy". Above is the Standin' on the Corner place. Going through some bad times the past year and a half, the building on the other side of the mural burned and the wall mural is being supported with braces and starting to crack. The chain link fence is most unattractive. Hopefully the Winslow government, chamber and other powers to be will get this sorted out soon. The Posada is an old Harvey House hotel that has been fully restored and is open for business.
We also drove past the Jackrabbit this evening since there are photos earlier in this travelogue - scroll up!
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Joseph City has a beautiful iron welcome sign, but not too much else has survived well in town. |
This is the Cholla power plant between Joseph City and Holbrook on the south side of Route 66. It's hard to put in perspective from the photo, but this place is HUGE! |
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You saw the other Wigwam Motel a few days ago in Rialto, California, this is the one in Holbrook and very well maintained. I would like to stay here sometime. Maybe when I'm retired and don't need Internet access! No phones in the wigwams, no less wireless or high speed! |
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A bit of nighttime neon in Holbrook. These old signs are most beautiful after the sun sets! We grabbed dinner tonight at The Butterfield Stage Company. The inside was definitely early frontier decor, our booth had old photos of Butch Cassidy and his gang and a number of other infamous banditos and cowboys. The food was fine, but not exciting. I think I mentioned earlier that Frank has been on a BBQ ribs kick the past year or so. He says he's decided the southern BBQ, up to about KC is much better than western BBQ, although maybe he just hasn't found that great western BBQ yet. We still have a few days to try!
The trip continues eastward tomorrow. We'll cross into New Mexico and see what Frank and his camera can find!!
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Day 11
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Our trip today started in Holbrook, Arizona and our destination was Albuquerque. Not too far down the road if you are traveling interstates, but there is are long stretches of Route 66 still driveable in New Mexico and we were also hoping today to drive a very early alignment that we've tried before and always gotten lost, this time we're armed with better directions.
Just east of Holbrook is the Petrified Forest and the Dinosaur Park. We passed these by as we usually do, I just don't have that burning desire to go to either of these attractions, even though I probably should, I might be surprised and enjoy looking at big petrified logs and giant dinosaurs!
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The Painted Desert is a trading post worth stopping at. There is some of the usual same-ol' souvenirs, but also an extensive selection of Native American jewelry made by Hopi, Zuni and Navajo artisans. There is a very obvious difference between the authentic Indian jewelry and the stuff being imported for cheap sales. The women in the shop today were wonderfully patient with me as I wanted match up some pieces and at one point after a trip to the back room to look for something for me came out with a fabulous necklace from the vault. Magnificent turquoise and silver that I wore for a few moments, but would never be able to afford. |
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We crossed over the interstate here and followed Route 66 to Sanders, Arizona. Here resides a tiny diner (it is for sale!) and and old steel truss bridge over the Rio Puerco, no longer in use.
After a few twists and turns to get back to the north side of I-40 and Route 66 again, we traveled this very old 5 mile stretch of dirt road that was Route 66 at one time. I always get a little nervous about these dirt roads, what the authors of some of the guide books think and what I consider passable, don't always mean the same thing. Regardless, we decided to give it a shot. Definitely a rough ride, but we've done worse. The prize was seeing Querino Canyon and the old bridge still in use. Remarkable scenery.
We crossed into New Mexico on Route 66 and the first thing you see is this group of trading posts and souvenir shops below the red rocks. They've been there forever and come complete with fake animals perched on the rocks above. It's a good stop to get out and stretch.
About 15 miles up the road is Gallup. Gallup is filled with pawn shops on the main drag of Route 66 through town. More pawn shops in close proximity than we've ever seen before. Usually traffic is stop and go and congested through town, but it moved along nicely today. We stopped for lunch at the west edge of town at the Plaza Cafe - it's been around for awhile as you can see from the photo above and they have great food and lots of railroad memorabilia inside. The El Rancho Hotel is an old landmark in town. Nice neon signs on the route and we loved the painted ponies which we didn't recall seeing before.
I think there might actually be a town called Continental Divide in addition to this being the actual Continental Divide. There are a few homes here, gas stations and a handful of gift shops.
Route 66 is 4 lanes through downtown Grants, New Mexico. The town looked to be surviving quite well, a mix of old and new. At the far east edge of town is the 4Bs restaurant, they have the best creamed tomato soup I've ever tasted and had we not already had lunch, this would have been the place!
This bridge wasn't noted in our directions, but we saw it as we passed by and turned back to grab a photo. Driving old roads gives me lots of practice at spotting places to make u-turns!
This is the Budville Trading Post in Budville, NM. Recently closed, it was an intergal part of Route 66 for many years. Bud's is up for sale now, too and looks to be in great shape.
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This really could be a dead man's curve if you weren't paying attention! The solitary and BIG rock formation appears down the road after the curve.
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We've tried to drive the early pre-1937 alignment of Route 66 in the past and have always gotten turned around. This alignment was a big loop that went up to Santa Fe and south of Albuquerque through Los Lunas. It's a straight and easy drive toward Los Lunas, but once there the road twists, turns, curves and signs seem to disappear. We've never ended up where we wanted to be until today! We did it, well at least the southern loop, the Santa Fe loop will come in a few days when we leave Albuquerque. Strange as it may seem to you, we were quite thrilled to do this section of the road at long last with only a couple wrong turns. We crossed the Rio Grande 5 or 6 times today, at least, I lost track after awhile. The scenery is fantastic here. Allow lots of time, it was about 2 hours from where we got on this section of Route 66 until we got to Central Avenue (current Route 66) and we were only 30 miles away at the cutoff.
A few photos of Route 66/Central Avenue through downtown Albuquerque. At this point, the old road had taken a toll on our eyes and we were ready to find a hotel for the night. The Route 66 Diner on Central Avenue is our traditional first night stop for dinner in Albuquerque. This is a relatively new diner, but many old photos and pieces of memorabilia inside. Excellent food, think contemporary diner food. We'll be in Albuquerque for two nights and the take the old loop up to Santa Fe. We always enjoy our stays here, lots of antique shops to hunt through for pens and an afternoon in Old Town on the square is a must. An eclectic mix of shops, churches, restaurants and historic buildings.
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Day 12
Friday, February 24, 2006
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We spent today wandering around beautiful Albuquerque - we visited many antique shops and strolled the streets of historic Old Town. Frank got some more Route 66/Central Avenue photos of neon, theatre marquees, and other odds and ends. We continue to be impressed by the efforts of whoever (Chamber, Economic Development, Tourism?) to revitalize the Route 66 corridor. Might be more accurate to say maintain the corridor! So many of the buildings have been restored and others are in progress. Great signage, an eclectic mix of businesses, all of this makes Albuquerque a very enjoyable stop for us. |
All of these theatre marquees are on Central Avenue
So glad my career is not as a window washer of tall buildings! The other photo is of First National Bank which looks to be nearing a total renovation and is just stunning. Signs out front indicated it would be loft residences. I'm a firm believer that downtown residential space in any city or town is vital to keeping downtown districts thriving. I'll look forward to seeing the finished bank on our next trip.
Frank and his roving camera caught this assortment of neon signs, most along Central Avenue. These were only a drop in the bucket!
Historic Old Town Albuquerque is a maze of narrow streets, adobe shops and plazas and a lot of friendly shopkeepers. The shops range from your typical tourist souvenir items, to specialty shops like the one with nothing but items with a cat theme (I have new cat socks now!), authentic Indian jewelry, restaurants and at least two wonderful coffee shops, oh and not to forget the chocolate shop! Something for everyone here. Including well placed benches to rest weary feet.
A few notes about the photos above - the Church Street Cafe is in the oldest documented home in Albuquerque built around 1706. The mosaic walkway which the photo doesn't even come close giving justice to surrounds the outside of the Albuquerque Museum. This was our third visit to Old Town and I had always avoided the street vendors lined up in front of the Hacienda Restaurant. I had this incorrect stereotype of street vendors hawking cheap stuff for too much money and just didn't feel like dealing with it. But not the case at all - we found handmade (and well made!) turquoise jewelry for very reasonable prices with some lovely people. Turned out that perusing the blankets of neatly laid out jewelry was a lot of fun.
Our searching through the antique malls and shops paid off! One of the most unusual things in the photo above is a double Swiv-o-Dex with a base I have never seen before. Also a fabulous hallmarked silver inkwell that came from one of our favorite shops here, Morningside Antiques - they also have one of the best selections of Mission furniture we have come across, good thing it's too big to fit in the truck!
Saturday morning, we are back on the road and will get back on the earlier alignment of Route 66 that we're still trying to complete. It will take us up to Santa Fe and then back down south toward Santa Rosa. Hopefully the timing will be right and we can spend a little time in Santa Fe and perhaps sneak in a visit to Neal Frank at Santa Fe Pens
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Day 13
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Today was is the day to leave Albuquerque and attempt the rest of the old pre-1937 alignment of Route 66 up to Santa Fe, a big loop that goes north of I-40 and back down toward Santa Rosa. This ended up being much easier than the Albuquerque end of the loop, getting out of the city went well and we got to see some parts of Albuquerque we hadn't been to before. The drive took us through Bernalillo, a pretty little town full of adobe structures. Passed a lot of bicyclists this morning, including one who had a little mini trailer for the dog to ride along! Saw it too late for a photo and I think Frank was semi-dozing anyway! We wound our way through and around mountains and all of a sudden there was Santa Fe.
The photos above are the old historic section of Santa Fe. Narrow streets, lots of adobe mission architecture and shops everywhere. This was our first visit to Santa Fe and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves We weren't quite sure what to expect having heard and read everything from it being quaint to too touristy to too artsy, turns out is a little mix of all, also larger than I had envisioned. We spent about 3 hours around the plaza and could have stayed much longer. So, I suspect we will be back to Santa Fe again now that we've had a chance to see it for ourselves. We asked one of the shopkeepers for advice on where to have lunch, there are a multitude of restaurants! She highly recommended the Blue Corn Cafe and mentioned their corn soup, so that is where we went. This was fabulous soup - corn and chipolte in a creamy broth, now I have to figure out how to make this concoction! It was an excellent recommendation and we would go back, check it out when you're in Santa Fe.
Neal Frank's Santa Fe Pens shop is just a few blocks from the square on Montezuma Street in Sanbusco Market Center. Neal has a great shop here with a mix of vintage and modern pens. Even though we had seen Neal in LA, good to be able to stop and chat for a bit with an old friend. Frank was pleased to find a Border's Books at the end of Sanbusco Market and happily went off in search of the new CD by Ray Davies.
We wound our way back over to old town to pick up Route 66 where we left off and make our way out of Santa Fe. We had a beautiful day for this leg of the trip, lots of blue sky, temps in the high 50s and all in all an easy drive on some very old roads that were at one time part of the original Route 66 through New Mexico. The one thing that struck us is how very much land is out here and how far apart it is between towns, sometimes more appropriately referred to as wide spots in the road! We keep hoping to see wild animals, the highway department puts up enough signs saying Watch For Elk, Caution-Watch for Animals, but so far we've only spotted a few antelope. Beautiful animals, but fairly plentiful out west. Oh, and I managed to avoid running down a wild bunny rabbit!
The next town and last town (with more than 10 homes!) for today we come to is Santa Rosa. If you're a diver, you may know Santa Rosa, home of the Blue Hole, 64 degree spring fed water all year long that is frequented by scuba divers. Nice stretch of Route 66 through here as well. We stopped for dinner at the Route 66 Cafe, an old landmark on the Mother Road that we've stopped at several times before. Happy to report they were busy and still had great enchiladas! I know how easy it can be to go to the chain restaurants, the ones with names we all recognize and feel comfortable with, but so far on this trip we've avoided them for the good food and kind hospitality of the smaller, privately owned cafes and diners. The big chains don't seem to have many problems staying in business, but if we don't support and patronize the Mom and Pop places, they may not be there the next time you pass by.
Stay tuned for more photos as we we continue our trip east on Route 66 through New Mexico!
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Day 14
Sunday, February 27, 2006
Our start point on Route 66 is Santa Rosa, New Mexico today.
We head east through town on the old road taking us through Cuervo. Cuervo, as you can see from the photo above, has not survived the years well, most buildings in this tiny town look about the same.
Newkirk is not faring any better than Cuervo, however they did have a couple of junkyard dogs that stopped and turned to look when they heard our truck. Just before we stopped to take the photo, there were 4 or 5 cute puppies running around, too, but they scooted away quickly And no, I'm not being mean calling them junkyard dogs, there was a junkyard right next door!
Many times old Route 66 winds below the interstate in very narrow tunnels like the ones above.
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OK, squint and look carefully at the photo on the right. See the roadrunner? We have traveled all around the southwest and this was the first time we have ever seen a roadrunner in the wild. There were several scurrying around the side of the road. We stopped and waited for several minutes for one to stay still long enough to capture on camera, and admittedly, still hard to see in the photo. Curious birds, indeed and very appropriately named. |
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Tucumcari is not a very large town, but it is a very well preserved town and deeply involved with Route 66. I suspect many people are familiar with it from their billboard slogan, seen for many years from the road for many miles in every direction leading to Tucumcari - "Tucumcari Tonite". In fact I remember it from my very first road trip through here in 1973. There are numerous old signs and new signs on this stretch of road through town. The great Route 66 sculpture is on the west end of town in front of the Tucumcari Conference Center. We also caught some murals on sides of buildings that we don't recall from previous trips, but it's possible they were there and we just were focused on something else.
This is the antique shop in town, we stopped here on the way out to LA, remember that great WASP mailing tube? The woman who is always at this shop year after year and I assume is the owner is a talker! She follows you around the shop chitter-chattering away and sometimes it just drives me nuts. She always manages to find at least one cruddy grossly overpriced pen she would like me to evaluate for her while we're there. Maybe this is all because it's February and there probably aren't a whole lot of customers. Moving along here, on one of our visits I asked what the sign above the shop means. Turns out these were letters that were on the building when she bought it and she scrambled them to read as they do now - total nonsense, but catches the eye as you drive by! Can you figure out what they said originally? I'll tell you tomorrow or maybe in a few days!
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Remember Stuckey's? If you're as old as I am, and ever took summer vacations, you'll remember Stuckey's! There are very few of them left now, but in their heyday they were at every interstate interchange. Many of the buildings still stand, some are now other businesses, some are empty and deteriorating. But there was one still standing and open for business on the extreme western edge of New Mexico. Of course we had to stop! Just like I remembered with a cafe on one end, food of all sorts in the middle and souvenirs on the other end, with a gas station out front. Sorry, Stuckey's isn't a very important part of our trip, but couldn't help reminiscing a little bit. |
New state! We're now back in the panhandle of Texas.
Adrian, Texas is the mid-point of Route 66. It's taken us 6 and a half days to get here from Los Angeles. I'm sure some of you could get here faster, but you've all figure out by now that we travel slowly when on the old road and take in the surroundings. We were hoping for lunch at the cafe here, darn, closed for the day! Aside from being the mid-point of Route 66, it is also our point where we're going to have to start driving on more interstate and less Route 66 in order to get back to Fort Madison on Tuesday as planned. We'll still drive parts of the Mother Road, mostly through towns til about Oklahoma City, but the we'll have to turn north. We'll continue our travelogue, it just won't have as much fun Route 66 stuff!
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West of Amarillo, you start seeing stockyards and the Cadillac Ranch! The Cadillac Ranch was commissioned by Stanley Marsh, a rather eccentric millionaire art patron. Worth a stop to see the Cadillacs!
I never in a million years would have thought we'd be taking photos of a rest area on the side of the interstate, but here are the photos. This is a new rest area and three cheers for Texas who really went all out! As soon as we walked in, I told Frank we had to go back to the truck and get the camera! A neon Route 66 sign greets you as you enter. There are interactive displays, a well one history board and even mosaic murals inside the restrooms. Plus reproduction Route 66 era signs everywhere. We give this rest area a big thumbs up for being far more than just a building on the side of the road, it's unlike any rest area we've ever seen.
We're back in Weatherford, Oklahoma a stretch of the main drag through town that somehow we got detoured around when we came in a couple weeks ago from the east. So much nicer coming in from the west. The photo is of the Best Western Mark Motor Hotel and the Mark Restaurant. The original Mark Motor Hotel, a Route 66 landmark, now under the Best Western banner. Now then, even though I lectured last night on patronizing the small cafes and diners so they don't go by the wayside, I will admit I am guilty of not patronizing the smaller motels along Route 66. We've had a few bad experiences, enough that we have convinced ourselves that we'll stay in the better known motel chains. We don't need luxury accommodations, but I do want Internet access of some kind, a clean room and things that work in the room - like light bulbs and a hot shower! Best Western is on our personal "approved motel" list , so we pulled on in. Very cordial greeting from the man on duty and a bit of chat about the history of the motel while we wee checking in. Goodness, he must have read our minds because we ended up in a lovely corner room with a conference table - plenty of room to work tonight (we've been pulling tax papers together - ugh, among other things on this trip). But, wait, this is not your typical Best Western! It meets all my requirements, plus some, it is charming! It might be a chain motel room, but it's a million times better because it has an old motel feel, but updated just right for modern convenience. The Mark Restaurant across the parking lot was excellent for dinner and it, too had that old look. Buffalo China diner plates (Harry, are you reading?), lots of original stainless steel behind the counter area and big comfy booths for eating our delicious dinner. We'll be there for breakfast again in the morning since it comes complimentary with the stay. Tip o' the hat to the owners who have done a fantastic job of keeping the original charm, while adding in modern conveniences for people like me! We will definitely come back and if you're ever in Weatherford for the night, this is THE place to stay!
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Day 15
Monday, February 27, 2006
We started our day today by staying in Weatherford just a little bit longer, a couple errands including a visit to to the post office downtown - great old post office by the way, the USPS has somehow missed shutting this beauty down and moving to a modern building as they've done with so many of them - hooray! Also a stop at the antique mall in town where we've always had good luck finding things, today was no exception. The strong winds are back today, not quite as bad as that one day on the trip west toward LA, but enough that the trucks are getting blown around a bit on the freeways. Temps though nearing 70 and bright sunny skies, no complaints about the wonderfully warm weather we've had on this trip.
We're away from the mountains totally now and on the range! Big, wide open spaces!
We've turned north now and stopped for a visit in Guthrie, Oklahoma, the original territorial capital of the state. Beautiful historic downtown with lots of shops. We wandered around a bit, did some pen hunting and stopped for lunch at The Stable. I start fretting about now as we head out of the southwest about getting good Mexican food, so I went for enchiladas and Frank tried ribs one more time - good food, but Frank still likes his southern BBQ better than western BBQ.
Next stop for us was Perry, another historic downtown. Loved the neon on this cafe. Only one antique place that we found in town, but we did snag a couple things and took a little time to talk with the man working there. Discussion revolving around the big, dark, black smoke clouds we had been seeing to the east as we drove toward Perry. You may recall we mentioned over a week ago how very dry Oklahoma and the southwest is. We hadn't seen any fires yet, but this was apparently one raging range fire and the high wind were doing nothing to help. It was still miles from town, but the people were understandably concerned. Watching the news later in the evening, sounds like they got this one under control.
Blackwell has lots of antique malls, we counted at least 5 or 6, but we only had time to visit one before 5pm closing time. We found many, many things here and made note that we have to try and get here earlier in the day on any future trips to be able to spend more time.
All of a sudden we're in Kansas and apologies for the blurry sign, I wasn't paying attention ... well, actually you caught me napping!
Our finds today from Guthrie, Perry and Blackwell, Oklahoma!
Tomorrow will be our last day on the road, we're on the last leg of the trip back to Fort Madison.
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Day 16
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Today was our last day on the road and our start point was Wichita,
Kansas. Fortunately, the winds have calmed down today, even better the
temps soared to 80 degrees during the afternoon, remember it is February
in the Midwest, this is unheard of! The scenery through this part of
Kansas is rolling hills, but towns are far between and I get bored, so
we seem to stop whenever we come across a town!
We saw a billboard along the highway for an antique mall in Eldorado,
Kansas and it was approaching 10AM, opening time for most antique
places, so we decided to check it out. Not a lot of directions on the
billboard, just a mention of the courthouse, so that tells us it is most
likely downtown. Hadn't been to Eldorado before, very pretty little
Victorian town, an oil town which was apparent by the smell of oil
everywhere. Three tours of downtown over about an 8 block area didn't
turn up the antique mall, but a stop at the Chamber of Commerce turned
up a map and address. Finally, there it was, stuck off on a residential
street in an old school. Doors locked, closed for inventory sign.
Argh! Back to the main drag, but as we're driving out of town, there
is one of those brown historic landmark signs about an oil well. What
the heck, let's go see this oil well since we're here. One sign leads
to another and another and we've gone beyond the gravel road to a dirt
road and seen many oil wells, but not much else. At last, there it is,
complete with a couple of signs to tell us what we're looking at! This
was the first test well drilled in 1915 in what became known as the
Eldorado Oil Field. They're still pumping today. Not the 1915 one, the
others!
The next stretch of road takes us through the Flint Hills along the
Kansas Turnpike, prettier here with layered rocks, but yet another long
stretch of road. We stopped in Ledo for a bite to eat at the local
cafe. Very good food, it was taco day. I think we were rather zoned
out trying to put some miles behind us at this point and didn't even
think to pick up the camera and take a few photos.
Ottawa is another quaint little town and thankfully their antique mall
was open! There is a working old fashioned soda fountain inside the
mall, very nifty.
Traveling through the Kansas City area.
We made a number of pen hunting stops before and after the KC area, but
didn't drive into Kansas City proper today. It was already later than
it should be for this point in time in order to get home at a decent
hour. Normally, we drive across Iowa Highway 2 to get back to Fort
Madison, but after looking at the map, thought that Hwy 136 across the
top of Missouri looked like it might be a better choice, especially
since it's dark now, the antique malls are closed so the only planned
stop would be for dinner somewhere. There are fewer towns, which meant
fewer slow downs, but we were getting a little concerned about where we
would find a town big enough to have a restaurant! Seriously, we're
looking at towns with populations of around 100 - 500 people and where
do these people go out to eat??? Unionville was a little bigger with
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