Riding Historic Route 66

Us baby boomers grew up in an era of US highways showcased in shows like "Route 66". As a kid, Stu and his family actually drove that famed highway, stopping for things like two-headed cats and four-legged snakes.

(added by Stu) During my family trip in '63 we saw many Burma Shave signs beside the road. My brother and read (shouted) every single Burma Shave sign we saw. There are a few "new" recreated ones on the road between Williams and Seligman. Interestingly enough, there were never any posted in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, not enough traffic to make it worthwhile. Brought back a lot of memories. We took that trip in the summer of '63.

After our arrival at the Railside RV Ranch in Williams, AZ, Stu unloaded the bikes and we headed off to Seligman, AZ. Route 66 goes right through downtown Williams but just outside of town we found it closed due to road flooding. That forced us onto I-40 to just east of Ash Fork where we hopped off the interstate and got back on Route 66...for one exit. LOL! In Ash Fork we were once again forced back onto the highway. Fortunately the next exit took us once more on to Route 66.

Not much to see....lots of land, wide open land. I lost count of how many cattle guards we crossed. The entire ride was about 45 miles...perfect riding weather and next to no traffic. What more could we ask for? Hmmm, maybe a quirky town....





Seligman delivers on the quirky. Not a large town, but it caters to tourists. We headed to the west side of town and stopped for lunch at the Roadkill Cafe (how could we resist.) We shared a great buffalo burger and fries and picked up a license plate for our growing collection (we're working on getting old plates from all the states....this one was new but we liked it since it featured the restaurant name, their slogan (You kill it, We grill it) and Route 66.





As we were leaving the restaurant I noticed a table full of folks in period dress. I asked if I could take their photo and chatted with them for a minute. They had been in Ash Fork at an event sponsored by the historical society. They were from Prescott and heading back home after eating. Interesting folks!





We then headed back into town where we parked and walked through all the open stores. We found two new (okay, OLD) license plates. Turns out most of the gift shops sold old license plates but in many cases they aren't all that old. We are looking for older than 1980 and the older the better. We also picked up a diner style coffee mug imprinted with the Route 66 State Highway logo.





Great little shops, high on the quirky scale, tons of old cars...decorated, rusted, painted, wrecked and bedecked. You'll see it all. The movie "Cars" has had a definite impact....many of the old vehicles have "eyes" in the windshield.





Our last stop was at Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-in (which really isn't a drive-in, at least not now). We opted for an ice cream cone which we enjoyed while sitting in the "garden" area behind the store.




All too soon it was time to head home....back to Williams on whatever section of Route 66 we could manage to ride. All in all a GREAT day!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu