Time to revisit Route 66

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the opening of Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica, we've decided to re-print various blogs concerning this wonderful extension of American ingenuity. It is a road that needs to be traveled to truly understand the term, Americana.

So, let's begin our journey down those 2448 miles of asphalt.

Laureen Beyer is getting ready for a road trip

In his 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck referred to Route 66 as the ‘Mother Road’ of America. It was the strip of asphalt that those fleeing the devastation of the Dust Bowl took from the Midwest to the Promised Land of California.

So what is it about Route 66 that beckons millions of people to drive along its nearly two thousand five-hundred-mile path from the beginning in Chicago to its end in Santa Monica each year?

It was time to find out, and one of the best places to start was Kingman, Arizona.

“Ready for a road trip?” I asked my lovely wife, Laureen.

“When am I not?”

We soon set out for the short seventy-three-mile drive between Kingman and Seligman, Arizona, to see what we could see.

Kingman is definitely a place to stop and experience. There is so much history to cherish in this small town, just one hundred and five miles southeast of Las Vegas.

It’s named after Lewis Kingman, a railroad engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. He was quite the engineer, designing over thirteen hundred miles of the Santa Fe Railroad system during his tenure. 

Actor Andy Devine was raised in Kingman, where he learned his love for the West. He appeared in over four hundred films during his lifetime, not including long stints in television western series which aired for decades.

Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart dedicated Arizona’s first commercial airport on Route 66 in Kingman in 1929.

Clark Gable and Carole Lombard were married there in 1939.

To say the least, Kingman is a historical place.

Laureen Beyer having fun in Kingman, Arizona

Driving along Route 66 is not like driving along an interstate. No, if speed is what someone is after, find another road.

Route 66 is meant to be a drive of knowledge. 

A drive learning about the backbone of America, where people ventured in search of a better life for themselves and their families.

A drive along America’s Mother Road is an opportunity to slow down and enjoy each mile along this iconic highway.

Millions of foreign travelers descend on this roadway each year to learn about the thing known as Americana.

Beatrice, a shop owner outside of Kingman, told us, “It is so exciting to see the tourists from all over the world stopping here. They are amazed at all the things they experience driving Route 66. It thrills me.”

As we drove north-east from Kingman, towns such as Hualapai, Walapai, and Valle Vista were soon in our rear-view mirror.

Roughly twenty-five miles north of Kingman is Antares Point. 

It is one of the showcases for the international artist, Gregg Arnold. This master sculptor has made this tiny bend in Route 66 a place for visitors to stop and enjoy numerous art pieces on display.

The small A-frame building housing the artwork is easy to spot along the road, but if the tourist fails to notice it, there is another object that cannot be missed or forgotten.

Standing in front of the artist’s studio is a fourteen-foot-tall green Tiki head, Arnold created in 2003 out of concrete. It is appropriately entitled: Giganticus Headicus. 

John R Beyer with Giganticus-Headicus

As we meandered about the place, at least twenty other vehicles loaded with tourists stopped, snapping photos of each other with the Tiki Head, before wandering into the studio. 

Giganticus Headicus is a big hit with those driving by Antares Point.

After leaving Antares Point, we soon passed through Peach Springs, Nelson, and Yampai before reaching the town of Seligman.

John R Beyer visiting Seligman, Arizona

Originally a railroad encampment known as Prescott Junction, the town was renamed Seligman, after Jesse Seligman, a railroad financier, in 1886.

It was a thriving locale along Route 66 until Interstate 40 was built on the outskirts of town in 1978. The town seemed to be on the verge of becoming a ghost town when the citizens banded together and demanded that the State of Arizona recognize Route 66 as a historic highway in 1987, and to ensure Seligman was accessible to those driving by on the freeway.

Thus, a few off-ramps were built, allowing travelers to exit the interstate and explore downtown Seligman.

Seligman soon became a major destination for tourists. An eclectic group of shops like the Rusty Bolt, bars like the O.K. Saloon, and restaurants like the Roadkill Café, line Route 66, beckoning the curious to stop and enjoy.

We wandered the town and soon realized why so many visited this little berg in Northwest Arizona.

It is just plain, good old-fashioned fun.

John can be reached at: beyersbyways@gmail.com

Seligman - the place to go

 

John enjoying Seligman on Route 66

According to Eric, an employee at The Rusty Bolt (his mother, Linda owns the shop), COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the small but usually vibrant town of Seligman, Arizona.

“Most of our tourists are from out of this country,” Eric stated. “I’d say seventy to seventy-five percent, actually.”

For this iconic place along Route 66 between Kingman and Flagstaff, that is a lot of shoppers to lose from a pandemic – actually, a loss like that could be fatal for any business.

The small store sells Route 66 memorabilia, leather goods and beautiful handmade jewelry.  

“Most of our customers come from France. They love hanging out in town and taking in the Old West flavor.”

Seligman, has old west written all over it

Be careful though, you could wind up in the pokey like Laureen

I’ve heard this from many of the folks I met along Route 66 over the past couple of years. Most tourists, when tourists are actually being tourists, and traveling along Route 66, are Europeans. Mainly French and German, with a smattering of everyone else from across the pond.

The day Laureen and I were visiting showed a stark contrast from our earlier visits to this high desert plains town.

In fact, we spent a bit of time there when I was doing research for my first novel, Hunted – yes, that’s an unabashed plug for a great book. 

A truly grizzly scene occurs in Seligman

When we were there, the place was rocking with tourist buses, rental cars, and lots and lots of motorcycles. Restaurants like the Roadkill Café and OK Saloon were jammed packed with people who wanted to spend a moment experiencing the allure of the Old West and the glamour of the bygone era of Old Route 66 in its heyday. Most of the motels, all with that distinctive 1960’s appearance, had blinking lights stating there was no vacancies to be had.

It was a rollicking and rolling town.

This last visit though, looked more like a ghost town. A ghost town with all the shops and restaurants open, and few, if any vehicles in the parking lots.

It was sad. 

We bought a couple of items from the Rusty Bolt, bid ‘Au revoir’ and ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ to Eric, and went out to walk the empty streets of Seligman.

Shops are open 

In the beginning, the large valley was home to the Havasupai tribe, who resided where present day Seligman is located. Lots of flat land, sparse trees, but teeming with wildlife that made it a perfect place to live. In fact, on our way to Seligman along Interstate 40 – yes, we do take these faster routes sometimes -- we saw dozens of elk, deer and other critters running here and there. 

Soon settlers were making their way into the Chino Valley in northern Arizona along a well-worn trail which was called Beale’s Wagon Road.  It was named after the 19th century explorer, Edward Fitzgerald Beale, whose job it was to find a trade route from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Los Angeles.

After a few decades, the railroads started laying tracks across Beale’s Wagon Road and presently a junction was created with the Santa Fe mainline and the Prescott and Arizona Railway Company. The name of the junction soon became known as the Prescott Junction since it was the major turning point south to the town of Prescott. In 1886, the junction was renamed Seligman.

Why Seligman? There was no hanky-panky with people putting their names in a hat and drawing one out, nope – Jesse Seligman was the person who helped finance the railroad line. He was out of New York, and had formed a rather large investment bank named, J. & W. Seligman & Company.

“Mr. Moneybags, what should we name the area you are financing to build a railroad?”

“Let me think, hmmm, how about after me? Yes, Seligman sounds like a perfectly good name for a junction. I don’t care for the name Prescott Junction, and I hear Petticoat Junction isn’t available due to a future television show.”

“What’s a television?”

The flatness of the area, allowed ranchers to bring their cattle to the railroad for shipping, and the railroad built huge switching yards to accommodate more trains. After a while, the area became so popular, as a terminal point for changing train crews, that cottages and more permanent buildings began to rise up from the high plains.

Well, actually people built the buildings – they didn’t rise up on their own. Just wanted to point that out, in case there was any confusion.

“Look ma, that there saloon just popped up like a weed from the ground.”

“Sounds like you been visiting that saloon too much, young man.”

In 1905, Fred Harvey, the hotel and restaurant entrepreneur, opened the Havasu House – it was the same concept of all the other Harvey Houses, but this one was named in honor of the Havasupai peoples living in the area. 

People hanging out at the Harvey House - dcourier.com

With passenger trains stopping in Seligman on a regular basis, as well as all the other train freight that rolled along the tracks, Seligman became a very popular place to visit. 

The town boomed.

Soon that black ribbon, known as Route 66, raced across northern Arizona, and the town became a popular respite for road weary travelers. Gas stations, tire repair shops, restaurants, motels, and all the other businesses which were needed for a thriving community were built to welcome those weary travelers.

Laureen posing in front of a car that drove Route 66 in the day

But, as with all these stories dealing with Route 66, things changed.

Here we go again – a pioneer trail beckons a railroad stop, that turns into a booming town, and with the construction of Route 66 really becomes a place to expand, and then Interstate 40 comes along. Whammo, the town dries up and blows away in the wind.

Not so for Seligman.

In 1978, when Interstate 40 opened, the citizens of Seligman felt the stranglehold of a faster route through Northern Arizona, and realized that time was of the essence if this historical town were to continue to exist.  

This town had the true western fighting spirit. 

It is reported, that when this pugilist attitude was reported internationally, the famous British secret agent, Austin Powers, was heard to exclaim, “Yeah, baby!”

Austin felt very groovy about Seligman fighting the government

The local residents stood together, and convinced the State of Arizona to dedicate their section of Route 66 a historic highway. 

According to azcentral.com, ‘In fact, Arizona touts the longest continuous stretch of uninterrupted two-lane asphalt grandeur: 158 miles stretching from just outside Ash Fork in the east to the Colorado River in the west.’

And Seligman sits pretty much in the middle of that stretch of Route 66. 

The plan and effort of the people worked and the businesses survived. Just being a short distance north of Interstate 40, people would visit the historical town in great numbers, all year long.

Seligman is a place to experience. It is kooky, eclectic, and strange - store fronts, as well as porches and roofs sport mannequins, antique vehicles are parked everywhere, the famous Black Cat Bar has been around since the early 1900’s and is still going strong. 

Just some of the eateries open

Almost close to everywhere

It is truly a place one can enjoy spending some time in.

Unique shops awaiting customers

Laureen enjoying a ride through town

Unfortunately, the Havasu House only made it to 1954 when it closed for good. It was demolished in 2008.

Such a waste of a historical place.

But, (and isn’t there always a but in these sort of stories), the town is open and inviting all visitors to come and experience the history of not only an old western destination, but one that proclaims the future is still looking pretty good for Seligman.

Of course, all serious precautions are taken for this cursed pandemic of COVID-19 through the town, but with that caution, a traveler will still have a great time learning about a part of Americana that still exists in the Southwest.

What else would be expected while traveling the ‘Mother Road’ of America?

Don't be left out - get your drive on

Cinematic Trailer from the Novel: Hunted

A few years ago,  John R. Beyer, of J and L, wrote and published a novel called Pursued. It received excellent reviews and limited success, and recently gained the attention of Black Opal Books. They were interested enough in the characters and story to encourage John to revisit Pursued and create Hunted. Those of you who are familiar with Pursued will find much to appreciate in Hunted. Those who are not at all familiar with any of his earlier work, can enjoy this new suspense thriller anew.

 

 

A Little Sip of Hunted

 

 

The Longer Version with a Scene from the Novel

 

 





Snyopsis:

A killer without remorse, burning with pride, and having the time of his life, Zachary Marshall is unstoppable - until Detective Jonas Peters unexpectedly arrives in the midst of one of Marshall's heinous crimes. After a bank robbbery goes from bad to worse and leaves three dead - including a little girl- Marshall finds himself the target of the most intensive manhunt Riverside, California, has ever witnessed.

Detective Peters becomes frustrated and half-crazed as the case falters due to lack of clues and evidence. Ordered to take a vacation from the department before he drives all the other detectives crazy with his constant tirades, he reluctantly agrees. But an innocent remark to the media changes the entire scenario - now the hunter becomes the hunted.

Detective Peters takes this homicide case especially hard, having seen his own young daughter murdered during a bungled convenience-store robbery years earlier. The pain of the darkness is too deep, and the spirits are waiting to remind him; they will not forgive him, and he cannot forgive himself. There will be no rest until Marshall is caught.

Hunted - Release date May 18th 2013 in bookstores everywhere.