Route 66: Part 2… Where the Dinosaurs Roam and What Dreams Are Made Of

/ Curt Mekemson
It’s in the interest of the merchants who live along Route 66 to entice people off the speeding freeways like I-40. History, scenery and nostalgia work, but a special twist doesn’t hurt. Donkeys provided an extra incentive in Oatman. Seligman had the Wild West tie in and the Road Kill Cafe. “Hey, I ate at the Road Kill Cafe” has bragging rights. The Grand Canyon Cavern has a cavern— and a couple of dinosaurs. I introduced you to the brontosaurus at the end of my last post. Here’s a hungry T-Rex. Dinosaurs are a mainstay Route 66 attraction. We’ll meet more along the way.
If you want to go for an extended spin on Historic Route 66, pick up the highway in Kingman and follow it to Seligman, or vice-versa. The road is 83 miles long if you return to I-40 at Seligman, or 92 miles if you continue on to Ash Fork. It’s the longest, uninterrupted stretch of the historic highway and an excellent example of what Route 66 would have looked like in the 50s and 60s. I bicycled this stretch on my trip around the country. Grand Canyon Cavern is about half way. I camped there, as did Peggy and I when we retraced my bike route.
We found this tourist map in the motel memorabilia shop. We were there! While the Caverns are the main attraction and the dinosaurs capture people’s attention when they drive by, the site had also adopted the name Grand Canyon as another way to attract tourists— even though the South Rim is 120 miles away! The map is titled ‘America’s Main Street,’ which along with The Mother Road, is a common name for Route 66.
When Peggy and I were out hiking behind the Caverns, we found this ancient trailer that may indeed have been traveling up and down Route 66 in its glory days. It wasn’t going anywhere. The wheels had been removed. “Hey, Curt,” Peggy called out, “I’ve found us a cheap room.” We had to dodge cow pies getting there.
It can get lonely when you are riding your bike solo across America’s vast open spaces for hundreds of miles. A distant train was often my only companion in the West. That and cattle. I’d stop to watch the train. I’d moo at the cows. When I got lucky, one would moo back. I took this photo between the Grand Canyon Caverns and Seligman.
Burma Shave signs once dotted the highways of the West. They can still be found on occasion on Route 66. This one was featured in Kingman’s Route 66 Museum. Out on the highway, the sign would have been divided into five parts: The chick he wed— Let out a whoop— Felt his chin— And flew the coop— Burma Shave, each one farther down the road. I remember riding down a California highway with my family as a kid, waiting in anticipation for the next sign. It was a great, inexpensive way for Burma Shave to advertise and keep kids (and adults) entertained at the same time.
Peggy and I stayed at a campground in Ash Fork on our recent Southwest trip. It’s just above Seligman going east. The old sign greeted us. No fake news there. I suspect the ‘auto sales’ featured a used car lot. A “Great Deal” could be found. And probably, a used car salesman. Our campground advertised it fronted Route 66.
Ash Fork’s primary source of income in the early 1900s and continuing to today is flagstone.
Traveling up Route 66 provides an opportunity for enjoying some of the greatest scenery America has to offer. For example, the Grand Canyon. Travelers along the highway could have stopped at Williams, 20 miles up the road from Ash Fork, and taken a train up to the South Rim. You still can.
Flagstaff was another major stop along 66. We didn’t stay there on this trip, but we did visit the 2025 Overland Expo with our friends Tom and Lita. The expo featured everything for escaping into the wilderness in your favorite backroads vehicle from tents that could be attached to the top of a pickup to this monster. Peggy provides a perspective on its size. I had the feeling that one could go to war in it. Tom was there promoting his battery driven blender. After all, what wilderness oriented person driving into the backcountry wants to be stuck out in the woods without the ability to whip up a margarita? Makes sense to me. I’m sure that Tom would argue it’s even small and light enough for backpacking. “Okay, Tom, you carry the tequila, mix, ice and salt.”
This meteor crater, 37 miles east of Flagstaff off of I-40/Route 66, was another ‘must see’ stop for early Route 66 travelers. Zooming at 29,000 miles per hour, the 160 foot wide meteor hit the earth around 50,000 years ago. Being 3,900 ft (1,200 m) in diameter, 560 ft (170 m) deep, it’s a testament to the impact that large meteors can have. It would have awed Route 66 travelers. It certainly awed us. It’s considered the best preserved meteor crater in the world.
Before Neil Armstrong made his ‘giant leap for mankind’ on the moon, he was wandering around in the meteor crater, along with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, as part of his training program. This test module used by the astronauts in their training is on display at the crater.
Another 18 miles up the road brings us to Winslow and its Visitor Center. This old building once served as part of the Hubble trading empire that sold Navajo made products including rugs, pottery and jewelry. Located on the Santa Fe Rail line gave the traders access to both the east and the west coast for its products. A number of stores, several of them dating back to the 40s-50s, still sell hand made Native American products and Route 66 memorabilia along the highway today. Huge billboards announce their presence.
The Main Street of Winslow. Jackson Browne of the Eagles was stranded here in 1972 when his car broke down and was inspired to write the song Take It Easy with the words: Well I’m a-standin’ on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, With such a fine sight to see, It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed ford, Slowin’ down to take a look at me. The song became the first Top 40 hit of the Eagles and made Winslow famous. Today the town has a statue of Browne standing on a corner as one of it’s main attractions.
As promised earlier, here are more dinosaurs. It’s all about them (and rocks) in Holbrook, the next town up. Compared to the fences in Jurassic Park, this one looks rather feeble. I wonder how often the dinosaurs escape to wander the streets of Holbrook.
One of many billboards along Route 66/I-40. Fossils are found throughout the area. Wild Bill serves as an attraction to get people into the shop.
As rocks for sale go, petrified wood is the most common. There are tons of it. While it can’t be gathered at Petrified Forest National Park, there is plenty found on private lands surrounding the park.
As I pointed out in an earlier post, Petrified Forest National Park is quite proud of its position as being the only national park that Route 66 passes through and commemorates it with this old Studebaker.
While Grants, New Mexico was also along Route 66 and emphasized its connection, we were too busy exploring El Morro and El Mapais National Monuments to spend much time there. The KOA we stayed at was in the middle of a lava flow. This lava outcrop was in the middle of the campground.
The Enchanted Trails RV Park we stayed at in Albuquerque was right on Historic Route 66 and honored its heritage with a great display of old cars and trailers from the 50’s, 60’s and 70s.
The RVs ranged in size from the small we were expecting to quite large like this one.
Peggy got the keys from the office so we could check out the inside of the various trailers on display. Not wide but definitely long.
Colorful.
Our last connection with Route 66 was more happenstance than planned. We were on our way back to Virginia and pulled into Adrian, Texas in the Texas Panhandle. The Midpoint RV campground offered a minimal, inexpensive place to stay overnight. “Put $20 in the slot and find a vacant space,” the instructions read. A question we had was where we midpoint between?
Here we are at midpoint between two vacant spaces.
The scenery represented Texas well. A large grain elevator….
And a windmill.
Modern windmills, the type the Washington Administration is trying to discourage because they reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, filled the horizon, however.
It turns out that we were at the midpoint of Historic Route 66. LA was 1139 miles to the west and Chicago 1139 miles to the east.
We stopped to take a photo of our last Route 66 station. We hadn’t planned on Route 66 being a part of our trip but were ever so glad it was. Traveling Route 66 is one of the things that dreams are made of.
A mural we found in Kingman.

We have a final post we want to do on petroglyphs not featured yet, but we are heading out for New England this week so our next posts will be featuring fall colors and cozy towns.

36 thoughts on “Route 66: Part 2… Where the Dinosaurs Roam and What Dreams Are Made Of”

  1. I always wanted to ride down Route 66 and was happy to hear they are trying to bring it back!! Thanks a bunch you two for taking me along with you!!

    Reply

    • I’ve been over it enough that I don’t even need a map. Grin. But I can see how a person who is traveling over some of the more remote sections (like Oatman) would want GPS along!

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  6. That was fun, Curt. Thanks, as GP said, for bringing us along with you. It is neat that you accidentally stumbled upon Midway and were already there before you realized what it was. A serendipitous stop. ❤ I still hope to visit that meteor crater some day. I think it’s so amazing, and reminds us of our insignificance, in the face of the whole universe. 🙂

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  8. I’m happy you and Peggy invited us along, Curt! What a trip! Great photos and info! By the way, I’m reading The Bush Devil Ate Sam and I’m hooked. I’m working on other book reviews, and when I’m finished with yours, I’ll share a review too. Take care!

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  11. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to my husband, “Hey, we’re on Route 66!” That’s aside from living on Route 66 for ten years (though not the Rte 66). Some great pics, Curt. They’re so “American West.” I especially like the dinosaurs and all the old rusted stuff. Somehow it all fits.

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      • Looked it up, D. Good old Terramuggus, eh? 😁 I had family living to the north in Windsor, but that might have been a bit before Route 66 was created: 1650. When Peggy and I were just in Maine, we had a similar experience traveling down Highway 1, which I learned, is the longest highway on the East Coast. Before that, my whole concept of Highway 1 was California’s coastal highway, forever one of my favorite drives.

      • Binges are great! Especially if they feature something so great as waterfalls or lighthouses. TV shows not so much, although I get it, on occasion indulging myself. Grin.

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