Route 66

We have thought about following the old Route 66 its whole length… but things keep changing and we have only explored portions of it.

It still fascinates me.  Route 66 ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, long before we had interstates.  Over 2,000 miles, through eight states, this “Mother Road” was created in the late ’20s from existing “Motor Trails” and unnamed roads.  It consisted mostly of primitive dirt roads, with a few paved portions.  By 1938 all the dirt stretches had been paved, but it was still mostly a narrow twisty roadway.  Route 66 linked up with key railroad stations, and prompted the creation of “Motor Hotels”, campgrounds, service stations, souvenir shops and tourist traps.

Kingman was Arizona’s biggest stop on Route 66.  There are still lots of old structures that  evoke the history of the Mother Road.  Lately, there is little traffic, as everyone is hiding indoors from scary viruses!  We did a little tour of some of the town, while keeping very far away from everyone!

 

Even a grocery store had colorful murals…  (Only visited for needed food, and while sporting our cool masks)

 

This Catholic church was built in 1906.  A bit before the iconic route.

 

Plenty of interesting old homes and hotels.

 

This locomotive claims to be the last steam locomotive run by the Santa Fe railroad.  Built in 1929 for $100,064 (Can’t omit the $64!), She ran for 28 years and over 2,500,000 miles!

 

There are many establishments that capitalize on the Route 66 schtick.

 

Mr D’z seems to like interesting vehicles…

 

The Kingman visitor center was pretty lonely.

 

We drove out of town a ways on a bit of the original Route 66 roadway.

 

Some more color is appearing!

 

Everything Needs Washing

In our travels we have seen many washing facilities… Car washes, truck washes, RV washes…

 

But this is the first we’ve seen of these!

I’m sure washing your rattlesnake is a good idea; they seem to be pretty fierce critters when they are dirty!

 

Home Improvement Projects

Last week I posted a bit about adding more accurate tank sensors to our home.  I’ve finally finished that project! The new system has a display above the windshield on the curb side (As does the old system) and a secondary display in the “Wet bay” where you fill and empty tanks.  The panel inside also has a switch to turn the water pump on/off, and a cute little LED to show if it’s on or not.  We like to turn the pump off while driving, and sometimes have to walk all the way back to the kitchen to check or turn it off. (Such trouble!)  Now we can see from the passenger seat the status of the pump and adjust as necessary.  In case you are wondering, there are good reasons to turn off the pump while driving.  1) If we are low on water, it is possible that an air bubble get in the pump and it would keep running and we don’t need the extra wear.  2) I read about a couple who, while on a long drive, had a pipe break in the rear bathroom, and the pump just ran for hours filling the back half of the motorhome with water.  Hours later they noticed a tidal wave of trouble.  We don’t need that either.

Here on the left you can see the tanks and a bit of crazy wiring, with the new green sensors on the ends of the tanks… and on the right is the same compartment with the panelling and shelving put back in place.

 

Inside also has its share of wires… and here on the right is the finished panel.  The little panel third down on the right, with the red LED’s is the new one.  I will still leave the old system in place – it controls automatic filling of the fresh water tank, and tells the toilets when the black tank is full so they won’t let you flush what wouldn’t fit.  You get it…

 

And when we’re not admiring our new panel this door hides it from view.

 

Notice To Our Children

I saw this clever plate on the front of a very nice motorhome.  I need one like it because it is equally true for us!

 

Our Local Environment

Lest you be tempted to feel sorry for us stuck in Arizona, I have to add a few more pictures to dispel that notion.

 

This is not our motorhome, but it shows off the beautiful sky.

 

I finally got the drone out to capture our campsite from above.  This is the mountain we look at through our windshield.  It has had snow on top a few days, but not anymore!

 

There is a gravel quarry behind us, which you can’t see in unless you can fly.  Even though it’s cutting up the mountains, the colors revealed are pretty.

 

Looking straight down, you can see most all the sites for people traveling and staying short term are empty.  Those along the back are folks staying longer periods.  Extra credit if you can tell which rig is ours!

 

Starry Eyed

The other night was special astronomically… the Moon, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter were all in a line!  But the Moon is so much brighter than the planets, that it burned out terribly and looks like a full moon.

 

The Moon actually looked like this:

 

I really love looking at all the stars, and trying to capture them in a photo.

 

And I’ve always wanted to do this “Stars rotating around the North Star” photo, so here it is:

 

So that’s this week in Kingman…  Next week I have another project.  In fact, a rather shocking project.  Tune in next week to see if I manage it!