Sunday, November 18, 2012

Route 66

Departing Needles this morning we drove east to Kingman, Az, them turned left onto a section of the old US Route 66 highway. Remnants of the old highway still exist along sections as this one we traveled between Kingman and Seligman where we rejoined the interstate. Here are a few shots from my iPhone.
Old Sign just outside of Kingman
Balmy weather gave way to crisp cool air as we climb in elevation up to over 5,000 ft.
Old quonset hut greenhouse.  Hmm. What are they growing?
Along the highway are many older and campy places quite unique in character.
Hackberry General Store.  A real historical site
We found one place, Hackberry Store, which collects old gas pumps and cars and signs. We met the owner's son and grandson inside.
Entrance to Hackberry Store
Inside were all kinds of memorabilia.
Wow
We drove through the Hualapi reservation following the railroad line of the old Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe.
Old trucks abound
The Grand Canyon caverns is a private venture. The caverns were discovered back in 1921 and the land bought by a man named Peck.
This greated us at the entrance
Old man Peck thought he had discovered a mine with gold, silver and diamonds so he bought the land only to discover it wasn't.
And this one at the Gift shop.
No Dinasours down in caverns though.
So, he developed the place and them sold it to a other people. Who really commercialized it. They put in a 22 story elevator down to the entrance.
The cavern boasts the quietest motel room in the world.
Rated amongst the 10 best places to sleep in the world..right...
They do a nightly ghost tour in the caverns.
And Enough food storage that was put in place during the Cuban missile crisis to feed 2000 people for several weeks.
Somebody takes this stuff seriously to pack away all this water and MRE's
Apparently they have recently updated their inventory in light of recent world events and concerns.
More food storage.

And why is it called the Grand Canyon Caverns? Apparently they discovered the air I'm the caverns actuall comes from 40 miles away in the canyon. They did this by releasing red smoke bombs in the cavern. Takes 2 weeks for the red smoke to reach the canyon through the limestone. And there you have the tidbit of the day.

It was interesting. Now onto Winslow Arizona.

Location:Kingman,Az

1 comment:

Kristi said...

A quirky Americana at its best! Looks like fun!