We woke up at the Goodwill parking lot in Kingman. Lisette was able to sleep the whole night, although Michael didn’t get the best sleep as there seemed to be someone pushing a shopping trolley near us late at night, and a lady was screaming randomly outside. It was also still very, very windy–and cold! It was a mere 2 degrees Celsius (35 degrees Fahrenheit), but with the wind chill it felt like it was -1 degrees Celsius (30 degrees Fahrenheit)!
The Goodwill we parked next to was also near a couple of pet stores so we got Sheila some fish oil, then we drove down Route 66. Established in 1926, Route 66 spans 2,448 miles from Chicago to California, and parts of historic Route 66 run through Arizona.
Our first main stop was a Route 66 sign in Kingman where we tried to not lose our hats or get blown away while we took the photo. We then checked out the Visitor Center where we learned more about towns including Kingman and Seligman and their roles in the historic Route–as well as the work done to promote these towns, particularly by a man named Angel. Kingman is known as the “Heart of Historic Route 66” because it is at the center of the longest remaining stretch of the road, and has many museums, attractions and historical landmarks.
Hackberry General Store
One of the highlights along the historic stretch of road is the Hackberry General Store, which felt like we had stepped back in time–there were old gas pumps, an abandoned music hall, lots of rusty cars from the 1950s and 60s, and signs from companies that have long since updated their logos. It was quirky and cool to see. There’s also a souvenir shop where you can purchase vintage memorabilia.
Grand Canyon Caverns
We arrived next at the Grand Canyon Caverns, which are among the largest dry caverns in the country, that lie 21 stories underground. Fun fact: dry caverns make up only 3% of caverns in the world, and because of the lack of water it’s rare to see stalagmites and stalactites. The caverns here began forming about 300 million years ago, and contain the mummified remains of animals that died in them. Unfortunately, however, when we arrived there it was eerily quiet, because the caverns were not yet open for the season (and currently still say they’re closed until further notice). The only things we could see were sculptures of dinosaurs outside, and a vintage museum of sorts alongside the small grocery store–the museum had old cassette players, sewing machines, boots, and other knick knacks.
Seligman
Next up was the town of Seligman, where we saw more bygone era shops, Route 66 signs and relics from the past. There was an old diner that we wanted to go into that sold malt milkshakes, but unfortunately it closed in November and wasn’t going to reopen until the spring, so we were early for the season. It’s a quiet town, with some homes dotted along the road as well. But maybe it was so quiet because it’s still very cold and windy!
Williams
Our final stop was a town called Williams (still cold), which is also known as the gateway to Grand Canyon National Park. After driving around for a while to find a place to rest for the night, we parked on the curb beside a Safeway store. There aren’t many places to stop here–there’s one RV park (but we didn’t need one for the evening), but otherwise that’s pretty much it. It felt like we maybe were unwelcome to park around the neighborhood. You know when you’re somewhere and you just get that vibe? We certainly felt it from folks driving around us to go into the Safeway–for example, a man driving into the store took his time to pause and stare us down, before continuing on his way. Lisette admittedly isn’t sure why this is the case–we keep to ourselves, it’s for one night, and we leave with no trace. But it seems that this is the vibe, which other campers have similarly mentioned online.
Lisette made a delicious dinner of salmon cakes with couscous and sauteed broccoli–another great way to use up some of the ingredients that we’d brought from our move! While our bellies were content and full, we had a tough sleep because we were near the train tracks and the trains blew their horns LOUDLY at night and through to the early hours of the morning.
Route Map
