Everything is in place and the weather is perfect so my assumption is that this weekend will be one for the record books, at least as far as fun and games on Route 66 in Kingman, Arizona goes. Squeezed into two days are the centennial celebration for the power house with a wide array of scheduled events and attraction, an art show in the park, car show, parade, and Oktoberfest festivities.
The Kingman Daily Miner has a fair summary of scheduled events but your best source is the Kingman tourism site. Another good source of information is the calendar of events at the bottom of the page on the Route 66 Info Center site.
I hope you can make as it looks as though this will be a great weekend. Even though I work tomorrow, photos and a summary will be posted here next week 
As the collection of reference material pertaining to ghost towns on Route 66 and older alignments of the highway grows the excitement builds in direct correlation to the urge to take to the road. Of particular interest at this time is the pre 1937 leg through Santa Fe in New Mexico.
In addition to seeing forgotten towns such as San Jose, Tecolote, Romeroville, and Dillia there are the lost sections of Route 66 made for those with an adventuresome spirit and a Jeep. Topping the later list would be La Bajada Hill, a section Jerry McClanhan notes in his EZ 66 Guide for Travelers is, “Too treacherous to drive sans an “experienced 4WD!” Is that a challenge or what?
Large portions of Route 66’s path between Albuquerque and Santa Fe predates the automobile by centuries. In fact there are portions, and settlements, along the route the predate the Declaration of Independence!
At this stage in life there are few fears left and most of those I have learned to hide rather well. However, public speaking has yet to be mastered, at least with any semblance that it is something I am comfortable with.
So, even though I understand the reasons for my acceptance to a request to be a featured speaker at the
Adventures in Travel Expo in January it is not something I am eagerly anticipating. Add to that my inability to accept the insanity at airports without rising anger, the fact that I am a desert rat by choice and this event is in January in Chicago, and the possibility my dearest friend will not be able to attend and you will see this is not an endeavor that sparks a great deal of excitement.
A sneak preview of the first chapter of
Ghost Towns of the Southwest given to Bob Bell of
True West magazine was met with a favorable nod of approval. That is truly encouraging as Bob is to old west history what I am to pre war American automotive history. If you are fascinated with the history of the western frontier I strongly suggest consideration of the magazine as well as
Bob’s daily blog.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
As the collection of reference material pertaining to ghost towns on Route 66 and older alignments of the highway grows the excitement builds in direct correlation to the urge to take to the road. Of particular interest at this time is the pre 1937 leg through Santa Fe in New Mexico. 
