Route 66, Day 6 – Williams, Arizona to Kingman, Arizona

by Keith Morgan on Friday, November 7th, 2014

Route 66, Day 6

Kingman, Arizona – The Grand Canyon is not part of Route 66 but we strayed off the straight and occasionally curvy, narrow road today to take in this magnificent natural wonder.

The Nissan Altimate Rogue Trip participants pointed the vehicles in the direction of the gorge and canyons that carry the mighty Colorado River and its tributaries. We had barely two hours to explore but made the most of the public viewpoints; some of the photographic results appear – a larger gallery will appear later this month.

Early afternoon, saw us roaming the streets of Williams, which is the last major Route 66 community to be bypassed by the I-40 freeway. Frankly, it’s more of a parade of gift shops than it is a glimpse into the past.

Seligman, an hour or so further west, is much more interesting and a parade of nostalgia. The Rusty Bolt captured our attentiona and some of our dollars. Angel Delgadillo is a driving force for Route 66 preservation and promotion in Arizona. His family-owned barber shop has grown into a must-visit centre for gift buying and hearing about yesteryear of the route that since the early 1920s has carried vehicles from Chicago to Santa Monica.

Tomorrow, we complete our journey to Santa Monica. My final road blog will appear Saturday.

An expanded feature will appear in Black Press papers later this month and a full report and picture gallery online at the same time.

keith [dot] morgan [at] drivewaybc [dot] ca

Follow Keith on Twitter @ChangeGears

Learn more about his journey by searching #nissanroute66

Route 66, Day 5 – Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Williams, Arizona.

by Keith Morgan on Thursday, November 6th, 2014

Route 66: Day 5

Williams, Arizona – It looks like some alien landscape from a far off planet, but the Petrified Forest is very much of this ancient earth.

A visit to this remarkable U.S. National Park was a highlight of Day 5 of the Nissan Altimate Rogue Trip, which is retracing the old Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica. It’s situated about 40 kilometres east of Holbrook in a semi-desert region and is named for the massive deposits of petrified wood that began forming around 225 million years ago. The rock formations are most unusual and very colourful.

A rusting car marks a connection to one of the earlier lines of the decommissioned highway through the park, and the overheard power lines sit on the exact route.

Entering Arizona, our 2015 Nissan Altima tugged us to the side of the highway into a large tee-pee-like structure where we shopped for examples of local art.

Speaking of tee-pees, the inn bearing that name was the choice for an overnight stay by a Latvian couple, Guntars and Anda Vaishia. They too are exploring the route and couldn’t resist booking in for a night in a wood framed tee-pee!

Tomorrow, we head for the Grand Canyon and on to Kingman, Arizona. Check back for a further installment of this blog tomorrow and look out for an expanded feature in Black Press papers later this month and a full report and picture gallery online at the same time.

keith [dot] morgan [at] drivewaybc [dot] ca

Follow Keith on Twitter @ChangeGears

Learn more about his journey by searching #nissanroute66

Route 66, Day 4 – Amarillo, Texas, to Albuquerque, New Mexico

by Keith Morgan on Wednesday, November 5th, 2014

Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Everything they make in Texas is oversized, why they even grow Cadillacs.

First stop on day four of the Altimate Rogue Trip on Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica was the Cadillac ranch. There, ten classic examples of the prestige marque are planted in the red dirt. Three members of a local art group created the art installation in 1974. The cars represent the evolution of the car’s tailfins from 1949 until 1963 and their final ‘disappearance’ as a notable feature.

Interestingly, they are half-buried nose-first at an angle that corresponds to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Visitors spray paint graffiti on the cars and pose for photographs by their contribution to the art.

You can’t escape the animated Cars movie on this trip because this installation is mimicked in the popular kids’ move where they appear as a mountain range!

Today’s 500-plus-kilometre trek took us through the midpoint marker for the 1966 line of the route at Adrian. That alignment made the route around 3,670 kms but our group of Candian auto journalists will drive the 2015 Nissan Altimas and Rogues about 4,000 kms as we are mixing up the stretches from different historical alignments.

Drive partner Mark Richardson, from the Toronto Star, and I struck out on our own and took what was little more than a dirt track for almost 15k, which dated back to a route taken in the 1920s. It starts just after the New Mexico border and brought us out near to San Jon. The one-lane track opened up amazing vistas in this very Big Country.

The freeway buried most of the route in the last 100 or so kilometres to our bed for the night in Albuquerque. Thursday we motor to the Grand Canyon, Arizona, for a night under the stars. What has been dubbed Team UK will be spotting locations used by the TV series Breaking Bad.

Check back for a further installment of this blog tomorrow and look out for an expanded feature in Black Press papers later this month and a full report and picture gallery online at the same time.

Contact: keith [dot] morgan [at] drivewaybc [dot] ca

Follow Keith on Twitter @ChangeGears

Learn more about his journey by searching #nissanroute66

Route 66, Day 3 – Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Amarillo, Texas.

by Keith Morgan on Wednesday, November 5th, 2014

Amarillo, Texas.

When asked what that strange cloud was forming to our right on Route 66, our guide calmly told us over his walkie-talkie that it was typical of what are often the early stages of a tornado.

“Usually when I see that kind of formation, when I’m leading a bike group I quickly head off in the opposite direction,” Gary Fleshman coolly advised from the pilot car.

Drive partner Mark Richardson and I glanced nervously at each other and my foot pressed a little harder on the accelerator of the 2015 Nissan Rogue.

In the last two days, we had seen much evidence of the devastation these twisters wreak on the lives of people living along the old highway that passes through Kansas and Oklahoma on its way from Chicago to Santa Monica. This was only our third day on the Nissan Altimate Rogue trip and we were planning to complete the 4,000-plus kilometres by late Saturday so we decided not to hang around to see if it matured into a fully-fledged tornado (though we later learned it did not).

This stretch of the decommissioned national highway is perhaps the least interesting so stepping on the gas wasn’t going to deny us any memorable experience.  The drive up and down the hills that make up the longest single surviving stretch of the old highway – 60 kilometres – through the Calumet area was a back jarring experience. The surface is bumpy and noisy to say the least, hence our guide’s pet name for it – the chiropractic highway. He claims to need more than one visit to his local practitioner after each bike trip.

The strange cloud formation had long disappeared in our rear view mirrors by the time the Canuck-driven convoy of Rogues and Altima sedans crossed the South Canadian River half an hour later.

Clinton, Oklahoma, welcomed us to a super Route 66 museum. If offered much to look at in terms of relics from bygone years when the route was the best road west. I liked the old hippy VW campervan, which was the transportation of choice for the long hairs seeking peace and free love on the west coast in the 1960s. My search continues for the tackiest tourist souvenir. Mostly good taste was on display at the museum.

Onward to Texas. In Shamrock, we stumbled across Ramone’s House of Body Art, the body paint shop featured in the animated Cars movie, cunningly disguised as a café and museum.

Wednesday, we press on for Albuquerque, New Mexico. So, it’s goodnight from Texas!

Contact: keith [dot] morgan [at] drivewaybc [dot] ca

Follow Keith on Twitter @ChangeGears

Learn more about his journey by searching #nissanroute66