Event Coverage Road Trip! D/FW - VLV via Route 66!

At the next opportunity to jump off the interstate and get back on Route 66, we followed the original allignment where we spotted the Owl Rock, one of the Route 66 icons, seen on many old linen postcards.



This Owl Rock graffitti explains it all!



Behind the Owl Rock, I spotted this old beer nest!



Because we're out in Indian territory, Stevan had to do his Sitting Bull!

 

Great photos....looks like a fun trip...

 

Thanks for sharing your road trip. Great pics of the old highway. Love your wagon

 

Later, we came upon Budville, N.M. There's a lot of history to this little place. Google it.



Further up the road, there was the site of an old Whiting Bros. station. This pair of signs have made great photo ops for years. They had decayed a good deal from when I first saw them fifteen years ago!



Ok, there's a story here. While shooting the Whiting Bros. signs, in whips a little Toyota or something and out bails these two young girls. They were excited by the sight of the wagon and asked to shoot some pictures of it. Turns out, one of them's dad owned a yard back up the road that we had spotted full of old tin. She mentioned that she had a '61 Chevy. Because she was a fun, excited kid, I allowed her to have her picture taken by her friend while sitting behind the wheel of my wagon. She flashed a gang sign for her friend's picture. I told her that she was the first person to flash a gang sign from my car!



Then we scooted on up the road!

 

Entering Grants, N.M. from the lava beds on the east end of town, we spotted this old White car hauler. Love the style of the cab!



Stevan and I are both into old theaters. While doing the Route through Grants, we came across this one . . . .



While just a little further west of the the West was this one . . . . .





Several mile west of Grants, was the Swap Meet 66. I'd been there once before when the old man was alive. Found an old bag of ZigZag rolling papers. For some reason, I felt that I had to have them!



I wonder what's to become of all this stuff now the the owner has died!





Our next stop was the Continental Divide. Was disappointed. There wasn't a split Lincoln to be found anywhere! (Get it? Continental Divide - splite Lincoln? Oh, never mind!) I wanted to take a leak just to see which way the water would run!



Our final stop of the day was the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, N.M. Got checked in, ate, took a few more pictures and looking forward to see what tomorrow brings!

 

I am really enjoying your thread. As you may know, I am a big fan of road trips and I had a blast logging our trip to the Round on the HAMB up a few weeks ago.

I realized on our trip that there was so much more to see but we had to average about 400 miles per day. We would drive out of most towns knowing we were missing a lot but had to make miles. I think a good trip would be one where you only had to average about 100 mile each day, then you could really see stuff.

I would love to meet you guys at Viva. Please stop by our booth (outside car show) on Saturday and introiduce yourselves.

Meanwhile I'll follow your trip each day.

 

Killer photos! I'll be watching. Maybe we'll see you at Viva!

 

Great coverage keep em coming. I'm headed to LARS in June from south Texas and can't wait.

 

GREAT COVERAGE....I love Rt 66

 

awesome pics and beautiful '60.

 

Beautiful ride. Thanks for the pics. Let's us know what "used" to be on that route.
Subscribed.

 

Through these hallowed halls . . . . . .
There have been many an A list movie stars walk through the lobby of the El Rancho Hotel. I walked around and took a few shots last night.









This was our room for the evening.



And how the hotel looks at night from the ol' Mother Road.





I haven't a clue who this A list wannabe might be!



Overall, staying at the El Rancho was a treat! We can't believe that we still have eight days left of our trip!

 

Cool looks like youre having a good trip so far.

 

Awesome wagon and awesome trip! Probably one of the coolest threads on the HAMB. You are living the dream man

 

Got up and had breakfast first thing this morning at the hotel and took one last look around the place before checking out. That's when I noticed this cool old cigarette machine, obviously left over from the heyday of the El Rancho Hotel.



And check out the prices of stamps on these old stamp machines!



These are just a few of the old Hollywood stars that have stayed here. The upstairs balcony walls are lined with pictures of previous Hollywood guest.



Soon we were packed up and bid the El Rancho Hotel goodbye.



Stevan had checked the web site for Cinema Treasures and discovered that there were two old movie theaters in Gallup on Coal St., so we decided to check them out before we left.
One was had already been renovated into a shoe store and had lost it's marqee during the process. It was pretty nondescript but the other one right up the street was still in use and looked great.



Before we left town, we spotted a Muffler Man.



Then it was on toward the Arizona state line.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this. These kind of threads are always fun to follow. Oh, and..... neat wagon!

 

Thanks for sharing! Great road trip!

 

After blowing in to Arizona, we made wind towards Holbrook. (My references to wind reflects the fact that we've been bucking a strong headwind for the last couple of days.) Once we got back on Route 66 in Holbrook, the first thing that we spotted was this cool looking old gas station.



If you have been following this thread from the begining, then you know that Stevan & I both are into old theaters. Close to downtown, we sotted the Roxy theater.



But, while sitting at the red light to turn towards the Roxy, I saw the facade of this building and mentioned that it looked like it used to be an old theater. After our photo shoot at the Roxy, we turned around and went back to check it out. It's now a resale shop. We went inside to inquire about the history of the building and discovered that it was in fact the original Roxy. (Man, do I have an eye for this or what?!)



The guy running the place was really cool. Pretty much gave us a history of the building, his life, and Holbrook. He'd mentioned that he used to work for a Whiting Bros. gas station and then drug out this old can to show us.



Seeing that we were a couple of gearheads, he didn't even bother to close his shop as he took us around the corner to where a guy kept his collection of cars and automobilia. The guy who owned the cars wasn't around, causing me to have to shoot through the front plate glass.













Then we went back over to his shop for another b.s. session. Here Stevan was telling him about the Cinema Treasures website.



I loved the original art deco door hardware!

 

While visiting at his shop, I inquired about where the Blevins house was. Back in the late eighteen hundreds, the local sherrif got into a shootout with a whole family of outlaws at the place. Google the Blevins House in Holbrook for more info.



In front of the place, I saw this plaque. Cool history in this town!



Of course, being as it's so close to the Petrified Forest, there are references to dinosaurs everywhere.

 

Of course, you can't do Holbrook without taking in the Wigwam Motel.





It was closed when we visited, so couldn't see inside the units but we still had fun checking out all the old iron parked in front of each teepee.









This old Parkard had an original Westegard grill! lol







Had some bad cancer also!



Posting this shot only because I liked it.



This old truck offered a lot of photo ops!









I liked this shot also.

 

Our next stop along Route 66 was Joseph City. Most people, when cruising through Joseph City get back on I-40 on the west end of town, but if you keep on driving west on the old route before it deadends, you can see the remains of Ella's old trading post.




I'm sure many a fire from this fireplace kept ol' Ella warm on those long Arizona nights.



Being the camera whore that Stevan is, this time I opted to be in front of the camera!

 

Great adventure!

 

Out next stop on our Route 66 adventure was the iconic Jackrabbit Trading Post.



Where Stevan . . . . . . .



and I dared each other to pose on the Jackrabbit.



I felt the need to snap a few pictures inside the place while we looked for something to add to our Route 66 collection.

 

Thanks for the great pictures and stories! This is just getting us more fired up for VLV, and when we get there, I wanna shake your hand! Keep 'em coming, and have a safe trip!

 

Cool post!! See you guys in a few days!!

 

You should be a Photo journalist ! scrubba

 

such a bitchin thread. thanks guys for sharing.

 

What a great adventure! Can't wait to see more, and beautiful wagon too!

 

Whew! I am so-o-o-o-o-o far behind on catchin' this thread up with our trip. Here we've done put day four behind us and I haven't finished posting day three! I'll get you all caught up with day three and then will go on to bed while I download today's pictures. (It takes a lot longer using my laptop.)

When I left you yesterday, we had left the Jackrabbit Trading Post. From there, we headed west to the next stop on our Route 66 adventure to Winslow, AZ. One of the must see stops in Winslow is the La Posada Hotel. While it once served train travelers who got off the train at the depot next door, when Route 66 came into town and was laid right past it's door, then there was a need to serve those traveling by car. When I-40 bypassed the town, the hotel went into neglect. Now, having been restored to it original grandeur, it's something to behold.



Right across the La Posada, there sits a Valentine Diner just waiting to be restored. While a lady & her daughter had plans of doing just that, it sits again with a For Sale posted in it's window.





After dreaming of owning this diner and what we could do with it, Stevan & I then headed downtown for the ultimate "Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona" experience.



I was able to park the wagon right behind the "girl in a flatbed Ford". Never saw her though.



Haven't a clue what Stevan is up to here.



Check out the size of this guitar!



This was too cool to pass up!



This is all that remains of the Tonto Drive In theater in Winslow.

 

From Winslow, we got the wagon pointed west again and got as far as Meteor City where we had to check out this map of Route 66.





Having bought a Navajo flute in Gallup, when Stevan saw this teepee, he again went into his chief Sitting Bull mind set. I think it leans more towards chief Sitting B.S.!