Skip to main content

Cross Country Roadtrip - Day 4 Part 1 - Arizona 66 - 04/20/2010

The second half of Day 4 was exploring parts of Old US 66 in Arizona.  We stopped at old 66 towns like Winslow, Holbrook, Jackrabbit, and Joseph City.

The whole photo set (88 in total) is located here on flickr.

We'll start with the Interstate 40 part of the trip.  First within Navajo County, there are still plenty of button copy guide signs.

IMG_5624

Button copy guide sign - I-40 West Exit 255

This is where we turned around - Exit 245:

IMG_5586

The mountains and Flagstaff will have to wait another trip.

IMG_5588

It's all east from here:

IMG_5589

Now for the fun..Old US 66 - First stop - Winslow:

Standin' on the Corner....

"...such a fine sight to see.  It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford..."

The town of Winslow has very much embraced its place in Americana with a park commemorating US 66 and also the song that will make forever famous, The Eagles, "Take it Easy."

IMG_5594

There's also a replica US 66 shield.  Some will like, some won't:

IMG_5597

From Winslow, it was on to Jackrabbit.  It's Route 66 lure comes from signs advertising the Jack Rabbit Trading Post.

IMG_5618

There it is...and there's not much else there, either.

IMG_5620

There is an abandoned gas station and campground at the exit.  It must have been an old Texaco Station as the old pumps read Super Chief.

IMG_5613

IMG_5616

In Jackrabbit, the Mother Road heading westward returns to gravel and dirt before dying at the Interstate.

IMG_5611

Joseph City was next.  Though there wasn't much of photographic interest there.  It is a great example of how US 66 was four lanes through even the smallest of desert towns.

Holbrook is the last old 66 Arizona town we visited.  Not only is Holbrook home to some more classic neon signs for motels, restaurants, liquor stores, among others.

IMG_5560

It is also home to the Wigwam Motel.  Which you can still stay at today!

IMG_5564

The Wigwams were built in 1950 and have been in a unique lodging experience every since!  With the exception of between 1982-1988 when it was closed.

IMG_5566

From there it was pretty much I-40 back to Albuquerque.  We saw enough of Route 66, where you want to come back revisit the places you enjoyed and see more.  I know I certainly want to go back.

So what's next...Day 5 will most likely be broken up into two sets.  White Sands National Park and photos from the drive from Albuquerque to Midland, Texas.  US 82 through Lincoln National Forest is something you will want to see!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chowchilla Mountain Road to Yosemite National Park

Chowchilla Mountain Road of Mariposa County is one of the oldest roadways servicing Yosemite National Park.  As presently configured this fourteen-mile highway begins at California State Route 49 near Elliot Corner and terminates at the Wawona Road in Yosemite National Park.  Chowchilla Mountain Road was constructed as a franchise toll road over Battalion Pass circa 1869-1870.  The highway was built at behest of Galen Clark to connect the town of Mariposa to his property near the South Fork Merced River at what is now Wawona.   In late 1874 the highway along with Clark’s Station would be purchased by the Washburn Brothers.  The Washburn Brothers would continue to toll Chowchilla Mountain Road as part of their Yosemite Stage Route lines.  The highway would ultimately become a Mariposa County public highway in 1917.  Mariposa would later be more directly linked with Yosemite Valley in 1926 following the completion of the Yosemite All-Year Highwa...

Angus L. Macdonald Bridge

At 1.3 kilometers (or about 0.84 miles) in length, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is one of two bridges crossing over the Halifax Harbour between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with the other bridge being the A. Murray Mackay Bridge . Opened in 1955 and named after former Nova Scotia Premier and Canadian Minister of Defense for Naval Services Angus L. Macdonald, the Macdonald Bridge was the first bridge that crossed Halifax Harbour that was opened to traffic. The Macdonald Bridge was also the subject of the Big Lift, which was only the second time in history that the span of a suspension bridge were replaced while the bridge was open to traffic. Planning began in 2010 for the Big Lift, while construction took place between 2015 and 2017. Similar work occurred on the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia before the project took place on the Macdonald Bridge. At this time, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...