After brunch with Nitasha Manning in Gallup, we traveled 25 miles east to reach the Arizona border. The first sixty miles has little sign of Route 66, as most of it has been lost beneath the four-lane interstate. However, some short segments revealed awesome sights, including Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert--the only national park that Route 66 passes through. About 225 million years ago the 93,000-acre forest was buried in volcanic ash and then slowly embalmed with silica--and eventually turned to stone.
The Painted Desert, the northern part of the national park, consists of sedimentary rocks that change color depending on the exposure to the sun, changing from red to orange to purple. The area is a paradise for rockhounders and the Painted Desert is one the richest fossil grounds in the country for dinosaur remains.
Route 66 originally swept across the plains of the Painted Desert, but that route is no longer available to take. Holbrook, founded in 1882, is the gateway for Petrified Forest National Park. Before Holbrook became a Route 66 boomtown, or later a dusty relic bypassed by I-40, it was a boisterous wild west town at the center of a vast cattle ranching empire that could have rivaled Tombstone.
Trading posts, old cafés and motels, including the Wigwam Motel, still line Route 66 in Holbrook.
Chester Lewis built the Wigwam Motel in 1950 after visiting Cave City, Kentucky, where architect Frank Redford built the original in 1938. The Wigwam rooms included radios that charged guests a dime to use them. Lewis paid that revenue to Redford in exchange for the rights to use the Wigwam concept. Lewis sold the Wigwam in the 1970s but his family bought it back in 1988 after his death. The only remaining Wigwam Motels are in Holbrook, Cave City and San Bernardino, California (where we stayed).
We stopped at the Geronimo Trading Post, located five miles west of Holbrook. Established around 1950, it has the distinction of being home to "The World's Largest Petrified Log," which weighs an estimated 89.000 lbs.
Between Holbrook and Winslow there is one accessible Mother Road segment between exits 277 and 269 of I-40, leading to the Jackrabbit Trading Post in Joseph City. This legendary and unique establishment opened in 1949 across from the railroad tracks that parallel Route 66. The Trading Post still features its iconic "Here It Is" billboard, a required Route 66 photo stop.
Christine, Donna, and Lorie at Jackrabbit Trading Post sign.
