Day 2- Route 66/San Bernardino to Kingman, AZ

Day 2 on Route 66... a beautiful drive through some really interesting small towns. No offense Arizona, and Southern Cali, but I have to say... the people just aren't as friendly and smiley as they are up north. Some of these towns had the same type of feel as Montana and South Dakota, but people just didn't smile as much. I don't know why. It was a nice day today. I was smiling. :-)

The road was pretty uneventful until I hit Amboy...

I so wish I could have gone all the way up to the Amboy Crater, but I just didn't have the time. I didn't pre-book a hotel, so it was important that I reached Kingman before dark. I had a recommendation from my Route 66 travel guide that I ended up taking, but I wasn't sure at the time if it would pan out. Here is a photo of a lovely little resting place dedicated by someone's loved ones with the crater on the left:



I photographed this sign(see above) for the benefit of some good friends of mine with whom I went on spring break so many years ago. We went to 29 palms near Joshua Tree National Park to visit a friend. I recognized the area. I'm not sure if we traveled on Route 66 at all during that trip, but it's certainly a possibility.



Amboy was founded many years ago as you can see, but is now practically a ghost town. There are few houses, and most of the buildings are boarded up. There are definitely some cool photo spots though.



Roy's Motel and Cafe- the motel was closed up, though the restaurant may have been open. I didn't check. The building was pretty neat looking (see photo below). Though you can't see, there is a large couch (circa 1960 of course), the check-in desk, and a grand piano behind the glass.



Next, I photographed some of the other closed and boarded up town buildings... church, school, and another restaurant.







After Amboy, the road turned pretty windy which was fun. Johnny Cash came on with Folsom Prison, and the song just felt right, so I taped the moment. It may not be that interesting to watch, but at least you can see where I was, and maybe get an idea of how good it feels to be on a road like this listening to music.



Not sure the name of this next town... it was small but had several functioning service stations, and restaurants. I thought this was a cool mural.



And then Oatman... Oatman is just a strange place. Lots of historic buildings and VERY tourist-trappy. You can buy tee shirts, postcards, and even take old west photos. I didn't stop, but I do wish I got more pictures from the road. It was a cool looking place.




The photo above is a view from a high point of Route 66... the road was very windy, but absolutely lovely. Still, gotta be careful on this one. There were plenty of cliff-side drops on the narrow two-lane road.

I came upon a really interesting looking gift shop. I decided to check and see if they had any postcards. The man in the shop was pretty funny and kind of strange. He told me there was another lone female traveler who had come through that morning, and that it was actually pretty common. He then made a comment about having pretty women pass through, and told me a story about a 60-something who was there by herself, and asked to rub his head (he has a fuzzy buzz cut). He said ok so she did, and then she asked if he was single. I told the man that the story was strange but funny.

As I was checking out, he said I have nice eyes. Though I think maybe he hoped I too would want to touch his buzz cut, I didn't feel threatened by him, so I was friendly, paid for my postcards, wished him a good day, and left. I then thought to myself... "why can't they ever be young and cute?" ;-)





This next photo is still at that same odd little gift shop, but of the restrooms. I thought they were funny and quirky, and deserved a picture.



I arrived in Kingman before dark. I saw a neat looking old hotel called the Hotel Brunswick, so I googled the name to get some reviews and see what the prices looked like. Not good... prices were listed as high in the 100 dollar range, and ratings for cleanliness were low. They supposedly have ghosts (which may have been cool). I would have enjoyed staying at an old, interesting hotel, but I like clean,and need cheap. My travel guide recommended the clean and cheap Hilltop Motel with the slight disclaimer that it was made infamous by a stay from Timothy McVeigh right before the bombing. Okay, a little creepy, but I don't mind. It's a little piece of kitschy Route 66.



Sorry about the blinder in this next picture, but there was a horribly placed white light in front of the sign. Perhaps I should have tried it from the other side... I think it's funny that their motto is "best view in Kingman" since there really is no view of anything at the hotel. The hill top is barely a hill. The listings on the white sign are modern, but check out the tv below... "Rooms with Zenith Chromacolor TV". Ooooo. Actually, I just looked up from the desk, and there is a Zenith TV. Funny.



After I got settled in, I went out to eat at Mr. D's Route 66 Diner. Though my dinner wasn't pretty, or interesting enough to get a photo, it was pretty darn good to eat. I ordered the turkey melt with onion rings instead of fries. The onion rings were fried in a crunchy and delicious batter, and the turkey melt had lots of turkey, a pepper, a tomato and some cheese. Yummy combo. The iced tea was especially good with the kind of ice I love. I know it sounds strange to be partial to a type of ice, but I just love those little round bits of ice that they only have certain places... not cubes, just smaller round pieces.




This last photo is on the building of the Hotel Brunswick, but on the other side. I think it was another hotel at some point. I just liked the sign because it still says "Air Cooled".

So the plan for tomorrow... visitor's center here in Kingman, and then out on 66. I'm going to stay in Gallup some place tomorrow (I'm crossing my fingers for El Rancho, but it's a bit above my budget online... I'm crossing my fingers for a deal if they still have rooms open when I arrive).