roadhound

All I can say is Wow! What a great resource. Thanks LHA Map Committee. http://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/map/

Note to self: Bring arctic gear when spending New Years in Holbrook Arizona. Thanks for the tip!

Unfortunately for me there were no teepees available when I passed through but it is on the list for next time. http://www.rwphotos.com/blog/?p=904 Roadhound

I don't remember hearing the song playing while we were there but for the rest of the day, all the way to Kingman, the song wouldn't get out of my head. I read somewhere, can't recall the source at the moment (Tom Snyders Route 66 Guide?), that the line was a reference to the Winslow Store For Men which had billboards alongside the Jackrabbit Trading Post's all along Route 66. Guys would go to the Store for Men to get duded up before standing on the corner and waiting for a pretty girl to come by.

Yes, the corner. It was hard to get a photo without anybody else in it. The paparazzi was everywhere. Of course we got the obligatory photos of each family member standing next to the statue and then I stood around waiting for everyone to leave and get out of my picture. It took a lot of patience to get the wide shot with the shield on the pavement and it lasted but a moment. mga707, I must have missed your previous plugs for the Winslow Air Terminal as we missed it completely on this trip. I will need to go there on my next trip through. I have to confess to not doing my homework very well before going to Winslow. I knew about the corner but didn't learn about the La Posada or the Air Terminal until I got home. I wasn't expecting to drive through that part of Arizona on my return trip from Phoenix but on a whim we headed east on US 60 out of Phoenix towards Petrified Forest and Painted Desert before heading west towards California. There are obviously a few things we missed but on the plus side we have a reason to go back.

Another entry from my recent travels to Arizona. Take a couple of lines from a 70's hit song, put up a statue, and you've created a tourist destination. Ironically the statue looks a lot like Jackson Browne but the lyrics where penned by Glenn Frey. I have heard, but haven't yet confirmed, that Jackson Browne was once arrested for vagrancy in Winslow. If that's true then the town put up a statue to honor someone they once threw in jail. Anyway, here it is. http://www.rwphotos.com/blog/?p=836 Roadhound

Hi Dave, The observatory was our last stop of the day. We rushed from Two Guns to the Meteor Crater observatory as the sun was falling fast in the western sky. If you look closely at the photos you will see that the shadows are quite long. We had about 30 minutes of exploration time before the sun set and then we hung around for the "blue hour." If your're wondering what the blue hour is it is that time after sunset and before get its dark when you are still able to see but the part of the light spectrum that makes photos look warm is no longer present. The sensors on the digital cameras pick this up better than your eyes do and thus things look blue. We were going to hang around a while after the sunset and catch the moonrise but there were to many clouds in the eastern sky (plus we were both hungry & cold), so we instead went back to Flagstaff for some food and a bed for the night. If it had been later in the year I might have slept in the back of my truck but the temps were forecasted to be in the high 20's that night. Plus, I had to be in Phoenix by 9:30 the next morning which was probably more of a deciding factor. Meteor Crater Observatory during the blue hour Rick

Yet another blog entry with photos from my Arizona Route 66 exploration last April. It had been a long, productive day of exploration for me and my son. We started the day in Kingman with stops at Hyde Park, Seligman, Ash Fork, Parks, Flagstaff, Winona, Twin Arrows, Padre Canyon, Two Guns, Canyon Diablo, and even a drive through the Navajo Reservation in search of a waterfall we never did find. Our last stop of the day was at the ruins of the Meteor Crater Observatory. Photos & my report are HERE Roadhound

Thanks mga707, if my photos help inspire you to hit the road and explore then they have done their job. More to come. That area of Arizona, between Flagstaff & Petrified Forest, is an area that I need to spend more time in. We saw so much in the 2 days that we were there but yet missed so much. If it wasn't a 700 mile drive just to get there I would explore it more often. We attempted to find Grand Falls after stopping at the Padre Canyon Bridge and ended up driving many miles over Navajo roads without ever finding the falls, but it was a nice offroad drive across the desert. In regards to Old Trails not following the Santa Fe RR in that area it is probably because of the crossing it would have to make at Canyon Diablo and therefore they diverted south to cross at Two Guns where the distance from one side of the canyon to another was significantly less. Just my thought. Roadhound

A few miles north of Two Guns, four to be exact, sits what remains of a real wild west town. Even though Route 66 never went directly through Canyon Diablo it's lore is part of what makes that part of Arizona interesting. Blog entry is HERE

Thanks Denny. Hope you enjoyed it.

Next stop on our Route 66 adventure: Two Guns http://www.rwphotos.com/blog/?p=761 Roadhound

Thanks for that Dave. Tony LaVier was one heck of a pilot and that is a great story. I'm sure he had many great stories to tell. Was the airplane that he kept in the driveway the P-38? To keep this on topic (sort of), in 1946 he raced at the Cleveland National Air Races in a surplus P-38 that he bought for $1250. He bought that airplane in Kingman, Arizona, which we all know is on Route 66.

Thread creep involving aviation is OK with me. Where you aware that the last all piston powered dogfights took place in 1969 with Mustangs squaring off against Corsairs over the skies of Honduras and El Salvador? It was during the Soccer Wars. Some well known pilots flew on both sides with names such as Bob Love, Chuck Lyford, & Ben Hall. There were quite a few of those aircraft that eventually made their way into private hands and are still flying.

Dave, The Corsair is one of my all time favorites as well. There is probably not much that is original on that corsair other than the dataplate. On these warbirds the data plate is all that really counts to call it original even if 99.9% of the rest of the plane has been replaced. The thing I find interesting about the corsair is that they used fabric to cover the outer wings and tail surfaces instead of aliminum. I agree with you about seeing the authentic original but sooner or later the original rots away completely and your left with nothing. I took a peek inside the trading post and diner and it is pretty well trashed. There is some sunlight coming through the roof, water damage on the roof and on the floor, and a general mess throughout. The windows that are behind the plywood are all broken and it looks like the metal vultures have been there as well. It would be nice to see someone restore this site to its former glory.

Another installment from my Route 66 trip last month. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had refurbished the arrows at Twin Arrows. They looked much better than they did on my previous visit. http://www.rwphotos.com/blog/?p=714 Roadhound

Another blog entry from my recent trip to Arizona. http://www.rwphotos.com/blog/?p=672 It took a bit of effort to get there but well worth the trip. Roadhound

Air travel back then would have been an adventure. They were flying in unpressurezed cabins subject to the heat and cold of the outside environment with cruise speeds in the 90 mph range. They weren't much faster than today's highway speeds but still much faster than the roads of the day.

@mga707- I too have that fondness for aviation history which is why I had to stop and investigate when I passed through the area. During my pre-trip research I found that there were a couple of other airfields carved out of the desert that were used as emergency landing fields for civilian flights during the 30's. The most obvious is east of Goffs which can be seen from Goffs Road and although it has been overgrown with the sagebrush you can still make out a a large V carved into the desert. The other was further west near Amboy. @Dave - The advice was based on experience. Fortunately I always have a shovel and cribbing with me on my road trips and we were quickly able to dig out and get back on a more solid road.

My son and I did some exploration while driving through the Mojave desert a few weeks ago. I had found an airstrip near the town of Essex that was part of a larger Army camp and played a part in Patton's preparations for fighting in North Africa. A full report is posted on my blog at the link below. http://www.rwphotos.com/blog/?p=624 Roadhound

Hmmm, must be some sort of shared operation between California and Arizona. Yeah Dave, still alive and kicking. My son and I took a drive along Route 66 earlier this month and I should have some tidbits to share soon. It had been way to long since the last time I was able to get out on the road and do some exploring. Roadhound

Spied this while driving into Arizona earlier this month. I assume they are stripping and repainting the old girl. Anyone know different?

I have always been a fan of the Oregon Coast. 25+ years ago my wife and I honeymooned there and spent nights in Florence, Bandon, and Depoe Bay. Our family vacation 2 years ago was there as well. The kids loved driving the ATV's on the Sand Dunes South of Florence as well as burgers at the Bliss Diner.

These signs are all around on the Dugway fences. Something about no photography or other stuff? I really didn't pay much attention. .

Hey Keep! How ya been? I come out of my cave from time to time just to see what everyone else is up to. It has been awhile since my last road trip, and with nothing on the horizon all I can do for now is reminisce about past journeys. Denny's journey a few months ago and then Dale's photos brought back a flood of great memories and a yearning to get some mileage under my wheels. Sadly, any journey's of discovery will likely have to wait until next year. Hard to believe that it has been 4 years since that journey across the desert. Roadhound