Happy summer! And welcome to the newsletter of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. I’m Roger Naylor, Arizona author and travel writer, and it’s my privilege to pen these quarterly newsletters that we hope will inform and entertain.
Fire and rain
For the second summer in a row, we are dealing with a special set of challenges. In 2020 it was the pandemic. This year it is a perilous wildfire season. Several blazes are burning across Arizona and that has led to closures of popular recreation areas and national forests. So if you’re traveling, please plan accordingly.
The summer has been agonizingly dry so I penned a little plea for moisture. If you are already drenched by the time you read this, you’ll know it worked. I’ll then quit my writer job and go to work as a bringer of rain.
Here’s my prayer to the Arizona sky…
Rain like you love me. Pour out your heart. Shower me with tenderness. Drown me with affection.
Rain like you hate me. Let loose your fury. Bare your wet fangs. Chase me indoors to hide from your pounding savagery.
Rain like we are lost from one another. Help us find our way back to a sense of harmony. Restore the balance that once existed. Bind us together with a veil of pure clear water.
Rumble at me from a great height. Blot out the light and the sun. Rip open the clouds and empty them. Weep for the land because it is so thirsty. Let your tears put out fires and fill arroyos and push rivers free from their banks. Bring the torrent. Unleash the cascade. Sign your masterpiece with a high arching rainbow. Perfume the desert.
Please just rain like it does each night in my dreams.
Kingman’s Awesome New Photo Opportunity
Anyone who ever participated in Fun Run knows one of the thrills is cruising right through the big Route 66 Drive Thru shield the Association sets up on the road each year. You stop in the middle of the emblem beneath the words “Historic Route 66,” and have a photo snapped of your classic car, sleek motorcycle, or battered old pickup truck. Doesn’t matter what you drive; this is a moment you want commemorated. It feels like you’re part of something truly special.
Soon you won’t have to wait for this once-a-year opportunity. A new permanent Route 66 Drive Thru Shield will be installed near the Powerhouse, home of the Kingman Visitor Center. Working with the Historic Route 66 Association, the Kingman folks commissioned Legacy signs to create the new all-weather Drive Thru. It is about to become the must-have photo for Route 66 enthusiasts everywhere. A dedication ceremony is planned for July 24th and will be celebrated with a car show and live music.
Once the Route 66 Drive Thru Shield is open, visitors will be able to stop by any time. Imagine the photographic scenarios. A golden dawn, a blazing sunset, a star-filled night sky—you set the mood. Just show up with your ride and a camera. Or forget the ride, and show up with your sweetheart and strike a pose. Or a gang of friends. Or your dog, cat or ferret. The possibilities are endless. Heck, I’m already planning my Christmas card. For more information on the dedication ceremony: 928-753-6106, gokingman.com/blog-drive-thru-dedication
Aztec Motel is Reborn
Long a Route 66 mainstay in Seligman, the Aztec Motel has been given a new lease on life. Anna Gonzalez and her husband had to wait out the pandemic before implementing their vision but are hard at work this year. Rooms have been refurbished using mostly antique furnishings for a comfortable retro feel. Mid-century meets early-‘70s psychedelic. This is the kind of place where you might bump into the Fonz on his way to the ice machine while the bell bottom-clad Brady Bunch unloads suitcases from their station wagon.
The new name is the Aztec Motel & Creative Space. It’s now an Airbnb, and that’s how individual rooms will be available, starting around the end of July. The Creative Space is the heart and soul of the property. A former guesthouse on the center of the grounds has been beautifully restored and will be a welcome spot for just about anybody. It will be fully equipped to handle meetings and conferences with all necessary equipment. Yet there’s also plenty of room for a yoga class, art class, book club, kid’s activities, you name it. This kind of inspiring venue for groups, gatherings, and artistic endeavors has been sorely lacking on the Route 66 corridor. The Creative Space should also be operational around the end of July. To inquire about availability, contact the Aztec Motel directly. 928-422-3055, www.theaztecmotel.com.
Let the Grant Money Flow
The second cycle of grants from the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona have been awarded. The Association partnered with the Arizona Community Foundation to award grants to non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and local, state, and tribal government agencies. A lot of money went flying out the door for some worthwhile causes and many of the projects are already underway. Here are the recipients:
Alice’s Place, Winslow ($16,000): Across the street from La Posada, this women’s shelter and thrift shop will receive some much needed building repairs and a fresh coat of historically appropriate paint.
Mohave County Historical Society, Kingman ($25,000): The Route 66 Museum in the historic Powerhouse Visitor Center celebrates its 20th anniversary with a well-deserved sprucing up, which will include repairs, signage replacement, and a new air conditioner.
City of Winslow ($21,500): One of the most photographed spots on all of the Mother Road will be getting an upgrade. The giant Route 66 emblem at Standing on the Corner Park will be replaced.
Standing on the Corner Foundation, Winslow ($18,000): More improvements are slated for that beloved corner in Winslow. All the bricks of the walkway sold over the years to raise funds have come from different companies creating a bit of a hodgepodge of colors and styles. The foundation will use the grant to make the bricks uniform in an eye-pleasing change.
Winslow Sweetland Community Garden (($10,000): One last Winslow grant is dedicated to the food-producing community garden that sits on Route 66 in town. Funds will be used to build a greenhouse and install solar power. One goal is to raise flowers from seed, which will be given to the city. The downtown planters on Route 66 will soon be bursting with these locally produced blooms.
Northern Arizona University Foundation, Flagstaff ($18,129): This money will be used to research and develop an interactive, educational exhibit using the online platform StoryMaps to help users delve even deeper into the history and culture of Route 66.
Aztec Motel & Creative Space, Seligman ($10,000): This is a cost-share match to provide the community with a professional space for small to mid-sized meetings and events. An outdoor patio will be added along with media materials for meeting participants. The space will be free for community groups, non-profits, and guests.
Veteran Services USA, Holbrook ($10,000): Another cost-share match provided through the Association, the organization will work to update the zoning code to give property owners flexibility in redevelopment to meet modern demand. The group hopes to save historic motels by repurposing them into veteran housing and other related services.
So don’t miss your opportunity. The next grant cycle will be March 1 – April 5, 2022. Interested non-profits, cities, tribal entities, and educational institutions can apply for $1,000 to $25,000 through the Arizona Community Foundation. The Association is also accepting cost-share matching grants through their website available to businesses, attractions, and Chambers of Commerce. Each application is required to preserve, promote, or protect Route 66 in Arizona.
Lights! Camera! Action!
Arizona is practically Hollywood’s backlot with countless movies being filmed in the state, everything from Oklahoma! to Return of the Jedi to Stagecoach to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Of course, Arizona’s stretch of the Mother Road has made numerous appearances on the silver screen. Here are just a few of the movies filmed on and around our very own portion of Route 66.
Easy Rider
Forrest Gump
National Lampoon’s Vacation
Starman
Comes a Horseman
Two-Lane Blacktop
Midnight Run
The Hallelujah Trail
Into the Wild
Thelma and Louise
The Gumball Rally
Mars Attacks!
Universal Soldier
How the West was Won
Guns of the Timberlands
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
And while it wasn’t actually filmed in Arizona, we all know where most of the inspiration for Pixar’s Cars came from.
Business Spotlight: Wigwam Motel
Since the Wigwam Motel opened in 1950 along Holbrook’s main drag, it’s impossible to guess how many kids have begged their parents from the back seat to pleasepleaseplease stop. But it would certainly be enough to populate a good-sized city. Children understand that when the chance comes along to sleep in a wigwam, you don’t let that slip through your fingers. Once it may have been a yearning for Old West style. Now a new generation of youngsters is drawn to the place that served as the inspiration for the Cozy Cone Motel in Pixar’s animated movie, “Cars.” See, I told you Arizona was the muse for that whole film!
The village of 28-foot tall concrete wigwams is a Route 66 icon, opened by Chester Lewis, and now run by his family. Fifteen gleaming white teepees with red stripes are spread out in an open rectangle, surrounding the office and a small but impressive museum of Lewis’s personal collection of artifacts and antiques. Units have a delicious retro feel. Angled walls form a comforting cone-like space, circular at the bottom and tapering upward. Old-school hickory furniture made in Bedford, Indiana, adds to the charm. Vintage cars parked in front of the units complete a timeless experience. Next time you want to feel like a kid again, you know exactly where to stop. 928-524-3048, www.sleepinawigwam.com.
More recognition
The National Travel Center, along with National Scenic Byways, has put together a nice little website spotlighting the wonders and diversity found in Arizona. They also created a detailed itinerary for a Route 66 journey across the Grand Canyon State.
You can check them both out here.
https://nationaltravelcenter.org/arizona/
https://nationaltravelcenter.org/arizona/historic-route-66-road-trip/
Route 66 Podcast
Whenever I have the time, I crank out an episode of my podcast Route 66 Road Trips with Roger Naylor. In a recent episode I chatted with my good friend, Kingman author and Route 66 expert Jim Hinckley. The podcast should be available wherever you find your podcasts. I hope you’ll get a chance to tune in. Here’s the episode with Jim Hinckley.
Hope to see you soon
Well, that’s it for now. Don’t let summer slip away. Get outdoors and on the road, particularly the Mother Road whenever you can. Look for the next newsletter to arrive in your inbox in October.
If you have items of interest you’d like to share in an upcoming newsletter, you can email them to me, Roger Naylor, at [email protected], or to Nikki Seegers, Director of Operations at Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona at [email protected].
Thanks for being part of the Route 66 family. Happy motoring!