A Route 66 Odyssey

I had been wanting to try a Route 66 ride in Arizona for some time. I had managed a little bit of it a year earlier, and it whet my appetite for more. Logistics was the problem ..... I just really didn't want to ride the whole thing twice to get back to my car. So, I called a good friend of mine to see if she wanted to ride it with me. She did! So, we set a date, and met and based in Kingman, AZ, leapfrogged cars to each end and kept one in Kingman. That way, we only had to ride the route once, and took the waiting car back. Worked out OK....a bit of driving, but we took a different route and saw a little different scenery on the way. This ride is an older ride, completed in October, 2009, but with some great memories. October is a great time of year to ride northern Arizona, the temperatures are rather cool in the morning, but warm up nicely by late morning and afternoon. A light jacket would have felt good when we left Kingman that morning, but I hate to stuff it in my back pocket, sooooo I toughed it out.  The sign says it all......

 although we never made it all the way to Flagstaff, there'll be another trip, and that time we will make enough time for a long trip. Just didn't have any room on our road bikes for luggage, and work constraints made the time impossible for us to complete that long a trip, so, we took it in two legs. Leg one..... Kingman to Seligman, 85 miles, ...... leg two..... Kingman to the top of Sitgreaves Pass and return, around 40 miles.

Flat the first little part of the ride, but subtly uphill really all the way. Around 3000 feet at Kingman, but 5400 feet before Seligman. This was our first real taste of seeing how well either of us would perform at any kind of elevation. The first thing we noticed was the road surface..... a chip seal, very rough, and draggy. So...we white lined it almost all the way. After we left Hackberry, we had very little traffic to contend with. so it really wasn't bad riding the white line. People seemed very polite and gave us plenty of room. After leaving Hackberry, we found that there was indeed a few actual hills on our route.....

We finally made our way on up and over and discovered an old tourist trap from the 30's or so. There may have been a name for this place, but I can't recall it. Really a cool place with lots of old stuff from the 30's, 40's and 50's. I'm sure if the place could talk, it would have a million stories to tell. Instead, it allowed us to read our own from what we saw there.

After we left the "museum" as such, we once again started a steady uphill grade that continued on and off all the way to Peach Springs.

Just a little ways over this little hill we came across this old "cable" drilling rig. Not too many of these around, even for viewing. I doubt if there are any in operating condition.

A little past here was a pretty little ranch nestled in this little valley. We were both impressed at how green the desert was in October.

And a few tenacious desert plants.

Continuing on, we finally made it into the town of Peach Springs, a milestone in as this was past the point of no return. Fifty miles into the ride, it was closer to Seligman now than it was to go back to Kingman. Not too much there, but we took a short break, ate a snack, and rested up a bit.

Peach Springs is an Indian Tribal headquarters, and they did have a large governmental facility there as well. There was a little store to grab a snack before heading out. Leaving Peach Springs is a rather long and steep climb, but after topping out, there were great desert views of wide open spaces.

After a bunch of miles of this, we finally came upon Grand Canyon Caverns. Another tourist stop from days of old. After the Interstate bypassed this route, most of these little places died along the way. This one did, however, hang on. Boasting a campground, general store, mini-museum, and a whole lot of history, we stopped for a break here and did a little sight-seeing ourselves. One of the first things I noticed was this ancient switchboard .....

Not something you see every day anymore. We sat down outside on a bench with the old "Route 66" sign for a tourist picture....courtesy of self timer on my camera.

They even had their own antique fire truck....still in operating condition.

For those of you with more time than we had, they do have guided jeep tours of the caverns that are up the road a piece from the crossroads. Before leaving....and if I didn't mention it here, I'd never hear the end of it..... I managed to sneak in a HUGE ice cream cone...... it was GREAT!
Leaving there, and on our final leg to Seligman, I did indeed find a sight reminicent of the heyday of "Route 66". It's been a long time since I've seen Burma Shave signs, and Lydia had never seen one.... indeed, didn't even know about them, this was a whole new experience for her. Had to get the whole sequence.

I recall those signs all over the country, always with a different slogan, and used to enjoy reading them all when I was a kid. These, while not original, surely brought back wonderful memories, and I'm glad they restored them and put them out there. Always, all along the route, we were never far from our constant companion..... The Santa Fe..........

Finally, topping out, it was now downhill the next 8 miles into Seligman.....I knew we were going to make it. By now though, we were both getting a bit tired, and saddle weary.

And FINALLY....... we had to make sure and get the touristy pictures here, completing our epic one day journey up Rt 66.   Seligman....at last........

Venturing on downtown, we found the normal Rt 66 traffic to be almost unbearable while we stood in the middle of the busy highway trying to decide where to go next.......

Touring the old town on our bikes was indeed fun, and an enjoyable ending to our wonderful trip.

Of course, I couldn't help but ham it up a bit.....

And, so, another chapter brought to a close. We found my car, put the bikes on the carrier, and drove back to Kingman, where we enjoyed a dinner at the Golden Corral, one of my favorite eateries. The next installment on our "great Rt 66 Adventure" will come as a separate post as this one has already gone on too long.