Home is where your heart is.....

Well, we made it. Landed safe and sound in Sin City, Las Vegas Nevada. Grab our bags, (one of which gets temporarily lost by the airline....) and we're off to the Rental Car Company to pick up our reserved convertible that they didn't have.

TRAVEL TIP NUMBER ONE - always go with a "name brand" rental company. It'll avoid alot of headaches

Well, after a wait of almost three hours (grr....) they finally get our convertible. We're off! Arizona bound! We head down Route 98 (was it 93?) towards Kingman Arizona. En route, we cross the Hoover Dam. Quite a sight. We decided not to take the tour and head on to 66. While I was crossing it, I couldn't help but think of the "Vegas Vacation" movie. ("take your dam photos...do you have any dam questions?") Ah well, guess you gotta see the movie.

Somewhere around 2, we roll into Kingman Arizona - right smack in the middle of the longest, uninterrupted remaining stretch of Route 66 anywhere. It is a beautiful place. Just as we roll into town, we see the Power Plant (or is it the Power Station?), home to the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. There's a cool little 1950s eatery inside, but just across the street is another 50s style diner, Mr. D's. This place has the absolute best root beer in the world! Grab a bottle or a six pack or a case to go. You will NOT be disappointed.

Cindy and I decide to try to make it to Seligman our first night, so we head on down the road. Kingman doesn't seem to have changed a whole lot along Route 66. I like that.

First stop we come to is the International Bio-regional Old Route 66 Visitor Center in Hackberry Arizona, owned and operated by Bob Waldmire. We stop in and meet Mr. Waldmire. We find that this place is truly International, as Mother Roaders from well over 40 countries have stopped in and visited throughout the five or so years the Center has been in operation

After an hour or so of good conversation, we pick up a few 66 goodies and head East. I am sorry to say Mr. Waldmire has sold the Visitor Center, and will soon be moving back to his home in Illinois. I can only hope that the new owners retain a sense of character to the Center that Mr. Waldmire brought to the place.  (1999 update - Bob has now sold the place and moved back to Illinois.  It is now owned by the Pritchards and still worthy of a stop) Cindy and I wish we could have stayed longer here, it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip.

To Be Continued...