Holbrook, Arizona to Los Angeles, California    581 Miles (1494 Miles Total)     Sunny - 100F

 Seligman, Arizona

Another wigwam picture before heading west on Route 66...

Much to our surprise, a few blocks west of our apartment we encountered Kester's Volkswagenwerks. Drawn in by the limo and camper parked out front, we stopped to look at the impressive collection of aircooled VWs. The owner even had a red 1998 NB and was more than happy to show us some of his more prized VWs, including a VW-repowered Nash Metropolitan, a chopped bus, a 1959 with semaphores and many others that can be seen in the photos.

 ...nice two-tone...

Our next stop should have been the Meteor Crater near Winslow, but we didn't feel like paying $24 to peer over the edge of a mile-wide hole. The photo of a photo outside the gate gives you an idea what it is like.

...bargain helicopter tour and parked on the rim...

Continuing west we crossed the Arizona divide near Flagstaff and had lunch in a Cracker Barrel... they truly have them everywhere now. We didn't forget Winona... there was a big truck beside us when I tried to take a picture of the sign.

One of the longest stretches of non-I-40-frontage road Route 66 in Arizona runs between Ash Fork and Kingman. We took the old route and made the traditional stop at Seligman, the town tat is the subject of a famous 1953 Andreas Feininger photograph and home to the Delgadillo family who run a barber shop, souvenir shop and the Snow Cap. Constructed in 1953 (the edge of the Snow Cap can been see on the left side of the Feininger photograph), The Snow Cap has been serving up practical jokes and feeding hungry travelers for over 50 years. We were treated to Juan's yellow yarn shooting mustard bottle, wad of dirty napkins and dual cone ice cream before getting some refreshing chocolate ice cream. His motto: have as much fun as possible. We didn't try the world famous Dead Chicken but we're sure it's great. We found Juan's brother, Angel Delgadillo in the barber shop on the next block where we were treated to an acapella performance of the classic "Route 66" song prompted by another travelers camcorder.

Continuing west from Seligman on 66, we wound our way to Kingman and a stop for some 76 gas.

Crossing into California, the temperature rose dramatically and topped out at 109F just west of Needles, home of Snoopy's brother Spike. The drive from Needles to Barstow through the unremarkable desert scenery was long and hot with heavy long weekend traffic. Only a group of firefighters putting out a roadside brush fire broke up the monotony. Thankfully we made our was to Barstow, San Bernardino, and on to LA/Century City/Santa Monica.

 Welcome to Southern California and real palm trees!

posted May 31, 2004 by Tyler