POWER HOUSE AND ROADKILL CAFE

The Power House Visitors’ Center is headquarters for Arizona’s Route 66 Association and has a nice museum and gift shop. For this road trip, we have planned to give Arizona not only our moral support but also financial support by spending extra nights in the State, shopping at local stores and making purchases at visitors' gift shops.

Monday, June 28th, at 12:47 p.m., we finally reached two of Route 66 most famous towns, Seligman and Kingman. Once you see this tower, there would be no mistake that you are in Kingman, Arizona.

Above is the Hotel Beale sign, opened in 1899, still standing after more than 100 years.
Below is the Hill Top Motel (1954) still has its 1950s charm and the best view of the Hualapai Mountains.

Below is Route 66 Motel still has the great flashing arrow neon sign. It was known as the Pony Soldier Motel of Kingman.

Seligman was previously known as Prescott Junction, where the Prescott and Arizona Central Railroad met the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (now the BNSF). The town was renamed Seligman after a prominent New York banker, Jesse Seligman, came to town, financed the railroad construction and decided that Prescott Junction should be re-named since Mr. Seligman brought such prosperity to the town.

Roadkill 66 Café where roadkill is always fresh! Step inside and you would be transported back to an old west saloon with pictures, antiques and a large display of hunting trophies! The menu includes items such as Tire Tread Buff (Buffalo Burger),The chicken that Almost crossed the road (Fried Chicken), Road Side Remnants (Popcorn Shrimp) and Long Gone Fawn (6 oz. Steak).

Historic Route 66 Motel, above, formerly named the Navajo Motel, went thru a complete renovation in recent years.

Below is Westside Lilo’s Café features American and German cuisine. Who would have thought finding German cuisine in Seligman, Arizona?

Thanks to local barber Angel Delgadillo and other founders of the Arizona Historic Route 66 Association, who recognized that the heritage of Route 66 was vital to America’s history. Their hard work in keeping the Mother Road alive and “kicking”, so that Americans and people from around the world were able to experience the real charm of Main Streets of America.

Copper Cart is one of the vintage restaurants along the stretch of Route 66 running through downtown Seligman.

This building was an old gas station that was closed in 1985 and was turned into a museum and a gift shop, named "Return to the 50's Museum and Gift Shop", how appropriate!

TUESDAY TWO ON THURSDAY JULY 22ND

Here are a few interesting photos I thought would be fitting for this Thursday, July 22nd – let’s call this post “Two days late for Tuesday Two theme”!


The Twin Arrows (above) were made of utility poles and plywood are the only things left of what once was a trading post, gas station and a diner. The building is abandoned and deteriorating but the words of truth written on the wall (below) are loud and clear!

Both attractions are on I-40 - Twin Arrows is at Exit 219; the ruins of Two Guns is at Exit 233.

Two Guns once also was a trading post, café, motel and gas station. It was a roadside business and tourist trap. The place lived up to its name, filled with violent killing in 1926 and was known for the Apache massacred in 1878. The remains of the stone ruins might be worth a visit but be extra careful not to get too close to the property.

FRIDAY SKY - OKLAHOMA

These photos were taken during our "walk" down memory lane along Route 66 in Oklahoma. Part of the Old 66 was no longer drivable as captured below with the T-bird at the "end of the road". Bottom photo shows the giant 66-foot-tall soda bottle and a modern convenience store including full service grill, soda fountain & gas station. Lining along the wall of this steel-beam structure are a collection of more than 12,000 soda pop bottles with hundreds of different flavors. Would you like to guess what this place called? Answer - POPS, what else?

HUMOR OF THE WEEK - ALWAYS RIGHT

Saw this sign at Shea's Gas Station Museum in Springfield, Illinois. The old gas station is a must-stop, must-see attraction on Illinois Route 66. Seeing this sign, I also thought of the saying, "I married Mr. Right but I did not know his middle name was Always!"

EXCELLENT KICKS ON ILLINOIS ROUTE 66

There is a Vietnamese expression "Di Mot Ngay Dang, Hoc Mot San Khon" - With each journey in life, you gain a valuable lesson. (I believe Qaptain Qwerty would appreciate that I manage to incorporate a Vietnamese popular saying into this post about my American experience riding along on the historic Route 66.) I wish to praise the people who are responsible for the placement of all the historic Route 66 signs in Illinois. The signs are excellent, providing exact turn-by-turn directions and placed in the most well-planned system along the route. In fact, the signs with the arrows of turning right, left or proceed straight ahead, were so good that we stopped using the book EZ 66 Guide for Route 66 Travelers (2nd Edition) by Jerry McClanahan. (Mr. McClanahan, we don't wish to offend you. Your book is very helpful and I would highly recommend it. However, with direction signs like these in Illinois, we did not depend on your book as much as we would in Missouri.)

The signs are wonderful, assisting travelers to navigate thru towns and junctions with ease, also not only how to follow the historic route but also having the option of following the old route (1940-1977) or the new route after the realignment.

I also appreciate the sign (below) of the state road (South Illinois 157) above the historic Route 66 sign because we find these signs when putting together very helpful and assurance, especially when we need to make a quick jump back to the highway. In Missouri, most of the time we only saw the brown historic Route 66 signs and they are placed so far in between that we would drive for miles not really sure if we were traveling in the right route and time wasted when we had to turn around because a wrong turn was made at the intersections.

These signs are placed along the route in additional to the historic Route 66 signs, guiding travelers to major attractions in town, making it so easy to know how to get to downtown and to Route 66 Museum (photo above) or to historic gas station (photo below). It was almost as if we were provided a personal tour guide. In my humble opinion, compared to Missouri, Illinois got my vote for doing a much better job at promoting historic Route 66 with brochures that provide good details and well-written descriptions of the towns and major attractions, providing much friendlier and well-planned directions and definitely more inviting for future returning visits.

MT. OLIVE, ILLINOIS ROUTE 66

We were in Grand Haven, Michigan last weekend for the Coast Guard Festival. We heard about Dan Bylsma being in the parade and it would be the first time we took the T-bird to Grand Haven. During previous trips we took my car (2002 Mazda 626) as it was much more comfortable and I could help with driving (my husband got nervous when I drive his T-bird on the highway, especially when surrounded by 18-wheelers). Instead of our usual route taking I-44 East from St. Louis, then I-55 North, following I-70 East thru Illinois , connecting at I-265 North into Indiana, taking I-69 North and then I-94 East into Detroit (where my husband's brother and sisters live), we decided to get our kicks on Illinois Route 66 as part of the trip to Michigan. We started out the same way from I-44 East to I-55 North, then got off I-55 and stopping at Mt. Olive, Litchfield, Waggoner, after Springfield, we got back on the highway following I-80 East, then I-94 East and finally US-31 North, as we were tired and did not wish to get into Holland, Michigan too late. All the hotels in Grand Haven/Springlake areas were completed booked by the time we decided to make the trip. Holland was the nearby town (I used to work there), so we made our reservation there.

This monument was created to honor Mary Harris Jones, the famous labor activist, who fought for coal miners' rights. The miners who were killed in the 1898 Virden mining riot were denied burial in the established cemeteries. The local union purchased the land to provide burial plots and named the site Union Miner's Cemetery. The monument was dedicated on October 11, 1936 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Russell Soulsby and his father, Henry, started this Shell Station in 1926. Back then the road was still unpaved. Russell and his sister, Ola, took care of the business until 1991 and the only thing they sold in all the years was Shell gasoline. Soulsby's Service Station ranks as one of the oldest filling stations still standing on Route 66.

Russell Soulsby learned about electronics in the Navy during WWII and started a TV repair business in the 1950's, which allowed him to survive the opening of I-55.

On our way back from Michigan, we got off I-55 and back onto Route 66 starting from Joliet, making stops in Dwight, Odell, Towanda, Normal, Shirley, Atlanta, and switched back to I-55 after Lincoln to make a quick drive back home to St. Louis.