by jimhinckleysamerica | Feb 27, 2009 | Uncategorized
If this is a bit tough to read click to enlarge. This is a page from the latest issue of Garage Gear, a British publication. It was forwarded to me by Maurrie Salenger, the marketing manager at Voyageur Press.
Imagine my surprise to see that listed as the number one prize in an upcoming giveaway was a copy of Route 66 Backroads! I am just getting over the concern that someone will catch me imitating a writer and then this happens.
Still, it does provide a glimmer of hope that the dream of becoming a writer when I grow up is drawing closer to being a reality. Perhaps I will even become a writer that eats every day!
On a serious note I felt that this should be shared with you, the folks who make Route 66 Backroads a success. Thank you very much for the support, the encouragement and the ideas.
The launch date for the website, route66info.com, is drawing closer. The home page is complete, the bio page is finished, the references page is almost finished and the first photo gallery is also nearing completion. I hope you enjoy the finished product and will feel free to contribute ideas and suggestions to help make it your number one source for information about Route 66 and the other historic highways of America. As regular readers may have guessed vintage cars and trucks will also be a big part of the website.
The long and short of is is this, the website will be an expanded version of this blog. This will allow for the blog to be a bit cleaner in context, a little more streamlined with less clutter.
One final note for today’s post. The date for the big book give away is drawing closer so sign up as a follower of the blog today, don’t delay.
by jimhinckleysamerica | Feb 25, 2009 | Uncategorized
My how time flies! The Route 66 Fun Run, scheduled for the first weekend in May, is fast approaching. It seems like only yesterday I took these photos at the Fun Run and here it is again.
This year I will wear two hats at this legendary Route 66 event. First, I will be signing books (Route 66 Backroads, Backroads of Arizona, and The Big Book of Car Culture) at the Power House visitor center. Second, I will be chronicling the event as much as possible with my camera.
I am quite excited about one project that is nearing completion, the creation of an interactive website that will include this blog. The idea behind route66infocenter.com was the desire to see an all inclusive website for information on Route 66, the Lincoln Highway and other historic highways.
In addition to news and organizational links there wil be book and restaurant reviews as well as feature articles and a photo gallery where prints may be purchased. For those who love to cruise the back roads there will be tech tips, book reviews on automotive related titles, and feature articles on automotive history.
As always I will keep you posted so stay tuned for further details.
by jimhinckleysamerica | Feb 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
The Old Trails Garage on Route 66 in Kingman, Arizona, has housed a number of automotive franchises including Packard, Jeep, and Cadillac-Lasalle.
The recent demolition of the Desert Drug, the Frontier Bar, and Frontier cafe exposed an original exterior wall of the Old Trails Garage that was built in 1910. Plans are underway to seal this wall and paint murals that will present the illusion you are looking into a vintage auto repair facility on the now sealed doors and windows.
The front of the Old Trails garage faces Andy devine Avenue, the post 1938 alignment of Route 66. In 1914, when Louis Chevrolet and Barney Oldfield stopped for repairs here during the Desert Classic Cactus Derby the garage was just a half block from the National Old Trails Highway. Plans are underway to refurbish and rehang the vintage Packard sales and service that hung over this door during the 1940s.
The Imperial Motel has cast its shadow onto Route 66 since the mid 1960s. In March the motel will be but a distant memory as a new Walgreen’s will be built on this site. The sign will be preserved as part of the forthcoming project to line the south side of Route 66 through the historic in Kingman with vintage signs.
This vintage Route 66 gas station is also scheduled for demolition as part of the Walgreen’s project. In the late 1950s this was a Texaco station.
This building is also scheduled for demolition. Over the years it has served a variety of purposes, most recently as a discount furniture store.
The Hot Rod Cafe was a short lived incarnation of the City Cafe, a route 66 and Kingman landmark for more than a half century. As with the Imperial Motel sign this one will be restored as the City Cafe advertisement.
by jimhinckleysamerica | Feb 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
Quiet. The type of quiet where you can hear the gentle trickle of a small stream on the far side of a canyon. The rare silence that allows you to hear the ticking of your pocket watch and the scratching of a rock squirrels nails.
Quiet. The deep kind that allows you to think, to sense the rhythm of the world around you. The refreshing kind where you can hear the beating of your friends heart as you share a rocky seat under skies of washed out grey.
When my wife and I were dating more than a quarter of a century ago I was to broke to pay attention. If steam boats were being sold for a dime a piece there was little I could do but run up and down the river yelling about how cheap they were.
So, our dates often consisted of long walks under western skies. We savored the quiet, each others company and the front seat to some of God’s finest handiwork.
As the years rolled by a family and all that that entails pushed our treasured walks to the back burner. We enjoyed sharing the wonders of the desert wilderness with our son but the simple pleasure of savoring the quiet in the company of my dearest friend became a fond memory of days gone by.
After my son left home to start his own family we slowly picked up where we left off. Now, every weekend, weather permitting, we saddle up and eagerly set out on a quest to find a place where we can find that solitude, that delightful, restorative quiet.
This weekend we drove north towards the old town of Stockton Hill, found a good spot to park Barney, and followed a rocky, twisted mining road high into the Cerbat Mountains. It was like old times.
It was almost as though the clock had been rolled back. My wife’s hair sparkled in the muted light of a sun masked by grey skies. Her laughter mingled with that of the small stream as it rolled across the rocks and into the canyon far below. With each ticking of the watch the cares and worries of the previous week became quickly fading memories.
In this part of the Cerbat Mountains faded memories abound as indicated by a broken head frame casting long shadows over a deep canyon, a weathered ore chute as gnarled as the tress that grow on the rocky slopes, the scar of a collapsed shaft or a washed out road on the colorful hillsides, or an occasional shack momentarily suspended in its slow motion collapse. Gold and silver, not quiet or scenic vistas, drew a hardy lot into this forbidding mountains as early as the 1860s.
Today these faded, broken remnants seem a part of the land itself. Weathered wood and rusty tin blend almost seamlessly with twisted scrub oak, slabs of stone tortured into contorted flows of color, and frame stunning vistas.
Each of our adventurers ends to quickly. Each journey of discovery fuels an eager hunger for the next and each expedition leaves us refreshed and ready to face another week of challenges.
by jimhinckleysamerica | Feb 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
The winds of change, good as well as bad, are blowing all across this land. In Kingman, the self proclaimed “Heart of Historic Route 66”, the winds are all good, the sails are rapidly filling, and soon this may be the premier Route 66 destination.
The historic City Cafe, a landmark on Route 66 for more than a half century, the former Texaco station next door, and the Imperial Motel are about to become a memory as a new Walgreen’s takes their place. In the past only faded photographs served to mark the passing of landmarks such as these. These, however, will be immortalized as their signs are refurbished and planted along Route 66.
Meetings with Mayor John Salem and the city council indicate that the dream to once again make Route 66 through Kingman into a neon canyon is about to become a reality. What an exciting prospect!
Another indication that the winds of change are about to transform Kingman and its historic district are found in the extensive plans being laid for a year of activities in the historic district as well as all along the Route 66 corridor. Street drags and art festivals, evening block parties and the Power House centennial celebration are but a few of the festivities being planned.
