by jimhinckleysamerica | Dec 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
Indications are the next few days will be a whirlwind of activity so posting may be on hold until Saturday. With that in mind I wanted to at least say Merry Christmas from Kingman, Arizona, “The heart of Historic Route 66.”
As a teaser for this weekends post there is a possibility the Hinckley hillbillies may be England bound next summer. Then there are the interesting Route 66 discoveries made with research for the next book and the promised 66 days of Route 66 with a new trivia post daily.
Take care, drive carefully, and have a very merry Christmas!
by jimhinckleysamerica | Dec 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
I miss Kingman, the place I moved to in the summer of 1966 that was a western verison of Mayberry where real cowboys mingled with travelers on Route 66, miners, and small town folks that took the time to stop and talk. I suppose more than a few of those folks chewing the fat there on the sidewalk in front of the Hotel Beale were lamenting the “good old days”, that time before the government grabbed a big chunk of the Neal’s ranch for a flexible gunnery school, the Kingman Army Airfield, and the towns population literally doubled in a matter of weeks as troops began arriving by train.
Perhaps its just human nature to look on the past with a touch of fondness. After all, with the exception of death the future is always an uncertainty. The past is where our youth is.
We, my dearest friend and I, enjoy visitng the past but we remember it far to well to want to live there again. I suppose that is why we embrace the latest addition to the Hinckley stables, the Jeepe, our moniker, not Chrysler’s.
It offers the best of both worlds, the rugged durability of my old trucks with the modern comfort of air conditioning and cruise control. It also meets our two primary needs, dependable and economical transportation for the long haul as well as the ability to take us to those quiet places and get us back again.
Kingman is a lot like our old Jeep. Here and there are traces of the past, that rugged little desert town we so enjoyed as kids. The tide of modernity – urban sprawl, box stores, and all that this entails – is lapping at the distant hills but it has yet to drown the essence of life in the desert southwest and it does provide a few of the conveniences that make this the best of times and the worst of times.
What amazes me most about Kingman is the quiet places that hide in plain site, magical places where time has stood still, where desert serenity envelopes, and it becomes impossible to tell the decade or even the century. After a particularly brutal work week, and with a winter storm fast approaching, my dearest friend and I decided to take the morning off with the goal being one of those special places.
These photos were taken under a heavy leaden winter sky. As the crow flies this trail head is less than five miles from our house. From the summit of the first hill we could see the courthouse and old Kingmanon Route 66 as well as the stunning buttes and mesas on the horizon.
From the summit of the second hill Kingman had vanished from site. Silence embraced us and timeless landscapes dominated the horizons.
New Yorkers have Central Park. The fine folks in San Francisco have Golden Gate Park. That is all fine and good but we have the desert with its stunning landscapes, its delightfully refreshing silence, and awe inspiring majesty.
It might not be 1966 and Route 66 is no longer the main street in Kingman but life is good.
by jimhinckleysamerica | Dec 21, 2009 | Uncategorized
A few days ago I noted that when time allowed a photo of Bob Waldmire’s contributions to the Route 66 roadside in Kingman would be posted. This mural was completed a couple of years ago for TNT Engineering, a local shop that specializes in VW repair.
The mural is painted on the west wall of the machine shop. This building was The Tavern for many years and the interior was used extensively in the movie Roadhouse 66.
by jimhinckleysamerica | Dec 20, 2009 | Uncategorized
Well, the week now past is one for the record books, at least mine. The week ahead is as always full of promise.
Lets see, I took a quasi week off as vacation. What this means is I opened and closed the office, used the computer at home to resolve problems as they arose and kept the cell phone at hand. It was not relaxing, in fact I found it more stressful than a regular week at the office.
Still, it was the best case solution.
I landed a project with a very short deadline that consisted of writing eight chapter introductions that profiled each state on Route 66 and its unique contributions to that legendary highway. Then I wrote several sections that profiled celebrity association with the highway. Each piece was 750 to 1,000 words.
I have long wanted to shine the spotlight on Kingman and this was a great opportunity. Few are aware that Louis L’Amour, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Clayton Morre, Clark Gable, Louis Chevrolet, and Barney Oldfield all have a direct link with Kingman.
The challenge was in encapsulating this rich history in such succint wording. The hardest part was finding what to include and what not to.
Still it was exciting in the sense of pushing to meet a deadline and discovering fascinating obscure history. As an added plus the research will help with writing Ghost Towns of Route 66, the project I plan to start writing on New Years day.
I have also been gathering interesting research material. Among my new “treasures” are a 1929 Rand McNally Atlas. A fascinating 1936 Conoco travel guide prepared for a customer, and some highway maps from the 1930s.
I found a number of leads and a great deal of information in these books, all of which are ehttp://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=1968adventurer&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0760329788&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrxcellent additions to anhttp://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=1968adventurer&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0970995164&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifry library.
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=1968adventurer&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0786415533&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=1968adventurer&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0826311482&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=1968adventurer&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=076032817X&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
The week ahead is always a mixed bag of blessing and deep sadness. This year both extremes are magnified.
Suffice to say I am looking forward to it. It is my sincere hope that you will be richly blessed this holiday season, that in the midst of crass commercialism you will find joy in the simple things, that you will enjoy the toys of technology that come your way, and that, most importantly, you have time to reflect on the life changing meaning behind this holiday we call Christmas.
by jimhinckleysamerica | Dec 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
To say the very least Bob Waldmire was a unique individual. He exemplified the man who marched to the tune of a different drummer as described by Henry David Thoreau.
This photo of the Hackberry General Store in Hackberry, Arizona, the one used on the bottom of the cover for my book, Backroads of Route 66, will always remind me of Bob. It was taken after his departure and the property morphed from his vision of a biodiversity center into a Route 66 time capsule under the guiding hand of John Pritchard.
It was here that I first met Bob. My first impression was that he was another lost soul, a child of the 1960s that never seemed to understand the world did not end with the music at Woodstock.
My first impression was a short one. Bob was a well read man, a thinker, one of those rare individuals that commanded respect simply because he lived, and enjoyed, the lifesyle espoused.
Most of my visits to his Hackberry retreat were relatively short but each was memorable. There were always lively discussions on everything from the merits of old trucks, he had recently moved his vintage Chevy to the property from Illinois and I drove a 1950 model at the time, to the death penalty. There were always offers of food or tea, and there was always the sense that I had known Bob all my life even though I barely knew him at all.
Perhaps the most memorable aspect of my relationship with Bob was the honest manifestations of his concern and interest in people. On each visit, even after he left Hackberry and stopped by the office on one of his cross country treks, he would inquire about my son and wife. On more than one occasion he would leave a gift; a magnet, a new post card, a poster, for my son or a trinket for my office that serves as a small museum.
This morning I was reflecting on all of this as I stared into the shadow box counter top and looked at the vintage pop up card board Cozy Dog souvenir he dropped off a couple of years ago. Then I remembered, with a twinge of sadness, how busy I was when he stopped by for the last time.
On a personal note my favorite memory of Bob is from the Route 66 Fun Run several years ago. I was covering the event for Cars & Parts maazine and was on the way back to Kingman from Oatman when I spied his van at Cool Springs.
For the next hour or so we shared lunch and conversation with the owner of the property and I observed the way Bob talked to all who stopped to say hello. The lesson learned, but not fully applied, from Bob that day was never rush life, take time to savor it and the people that give it flavor.
Bob, like the highway he so enjoyed, rose above the normal and mundane to become an icon. He will sorely be missed.
In the next day or so I will post photos of Bob’s legacy in Kingman, his murals.
