Next I wrote my column, The Independent Thinker, for the September issue of Cars & Parts. With Chrysler on life support and GM near terminal my recent features have been written with a tinge of sadness as I meditate on how vibrant, how diverse, and how dominate the American auto industry once was.

Last month I profiled Charles Nash and was left pondering the apparent lack of leadership at all levels of the corporate structure in our nation today. This month I wrote on the curious case of the Biddle and again found myself pondering the diversity that was once the hallmark of the auto industry. This photo is of a 1917 model Biddle.

Then I read about the forthcoming Rolling Thunder event in Washington D.C. and its history. Specifically I was getting some ideas on how we here in Kingman could best serve those headed east for this event.

Suffice to say that as I read about the event and its origins there was a sense of pride and renewed hope for the future of this nation. Here is a link with some details of the events origins. http://www.rollingthundermotorcyclerally.com/history.html

Now, its on to new business. First, is restoring some semblance of organization to the office before beginning the next projects – final edit for Ghost Towns of the Southwest and getting started on Ghost Towns of Route 66.

Other projects on the immediate weekend to do list include putting a new thermostat in Barney the Wonder truck, installation of a ceiling fan, and planning a grand adventure for fall. In the mean time there is the anticipation of meeting Dries Bressel this week as he rides through on his way west, another meeting of the Kingman Route 66 Association to advance the historic sign project, and some website work.

Fueling it all is the excitement and anticipation of another summer on Route 66!

As this was to be a day of relaxation we began with a very loose game plan – cruise to Flagstaff, check out the wonderland that is Bookman’s, find a new eatery, and take in a secret little gem in the mountains south of Route 66 in Williams. For some on a day such as this the destination would be the focus. For us the drive is an integral component of the day and so we chose Route 66 rather than I40 for the first leg of the adventure.

The old highway was surprisingly busy for a Sunday morning but in a pleasant, more benign way than the interstate. There were cattle trucks, and tourists gawking at the scenery, local ranchers headed for church and vast herds of motorcycles, some flying flags of the drivers homeland. Seligman was a beehive of activity with throngs of tourists thicker than bees in an Alabama honey suckle bush.

After seeing little communities along the highway die a slow death after being bypassed by the interstate the bustle of activity was sort of refreshing. It left me wondering how long it would be before folks along other historic roads, such as the Lincoln Highway, catch on and begin capitalizing on the international fascination with the back roads of America.
At Seligman we temporarily abandoned our cocoon and joined the frenzied world of the interstate highway. Here too we were blessed as traffic was surprisingly light.

The Jeep performed flawlessly even on the steep grade from Ashfork to the Kaibab forest though it seems the ideal cruising speed is between 65 and 70 miles per hour where the tach indicates a hair over 2,000 rpms and the engine does not seem to be straining. Indicative of how steep this grade is here, to maintain those speeds the tack hovered at 3,000 rpms.
Our first stop was Bookman’s, an amazing treasure trove of books and magazines, in dozens of languages, spanning more than a century of publishing history as well as cd’s, records, video games and fresh coffee. Time comes to a stand still here for us and the challenge becomes deciding what will our allowance buy.

Again, we were richly blessed. My wife found a cd released several years ago that has proven impossible to locate. I picked up some new reading materials, Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose and Inside The Third Reich Memoirs by Albert Speer. The latter is a book I have been wanting to read for sometime in an effort to better understand the origins of the Nazi regime.
For lunch we chose the China Star on Route 66 from a list my wife had made. Nothing unique, nothing special, just the basic, good food we recalled from a previous visit several years ago.

As wonderful as the drive was, as delightful as it was to have a day with my best friend, the very best part, the greatest blessing of all, was that