FORGOTTEN AMERICA: ROUTE 66, FROM HOLBROOK TO FLAGSTAFF

 

Tried as I did, I could not get lodging at the Wigwam Motel. However, I resolved to do the next best thing and visited the icon before departing from Holbrook. Opening in 1950, Holbrook’s motel became the sixth Wigwam Village to open when Chester E. Lewis entered a licensing agreement with Frank A. Redford for his original 1936 design consisting of a row of motel cabins shaped like teepees (incorrectly labeled wigwams).

In Lewis’s rendition (the first one west of the Mississippi), fifteen teepees are arranged in a square They offer all the standard motel amenities, including the original furniture. Classic American cars from the golden age of road travel line the parking lot in keeping with the spirit that brought the Wigwam Village to Arizona. Today, the sixth is one of three surviving Wigwam Villages along with the second in Cave City, Kentucky and the last one built in San Bernardino, California.

On my way out of Holbrook I spotted the new cowboy statue erected in 2023 to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the annual Hashknife Pony Express relay between Holbrook and Scottsdale. A beautiful memorial capturing the wild spirit of the legendary western mail-carriers, the statue is also an emblem of the fearless sense of adventure and duty that built the west.

By early noon I made it to Joseph City, home of another Route 66 milestone. Opening a year prior to Holbrook’s Wigwam Motel, the Jack Rabbit Trading Post encapsulates everything we have come to love about Route 66, its quirkiness, its inventiveness, its blend with the landscape and, finally, the hospitality and vision of the people who call it home.  

In much the same fashion as the South of the Border rest stop along I-95, Jack Rabbit Trading post is announced by billboards and other marking for miles before a greeting sign tells visitors, “Here It Is”.

In true Route 66 style, the Jack Rabbit Trading Post is a family story. In the early post-war years as the American love for road trips was awakening, Jim Taylor converted an old herpetarium belonging to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway into the Jack Rabbit Trading post, a shop in the desert where motorists could buy supplies and Route 66 memorabilia. The jack-rabbit, a familiar sight to the thousands who traversed the Mother Road, was a logical choice for a mascot. For good measure, Taylor placed a giant statue of the animal outside the store to attract families and picture-seekers.

For nearly twenty years Taylor gave the Trading Post its character, advertising it through billboards reaching as far away as California. In 1967 it was purchased by Glenn and Hattie Belle Blansett who did much to keep it alive as I-40 began bypassing the once-thriving route. Indeed, under the Blansetts the popular tourist stop grew and garnered more attention. Two years later, their son Phil and his wife Pat bought the store who in turn sold it to their daughter Cindy and her husband Tony Jaquez in 1995 who have managed the store since.                                                              

Today, the Jack Rabbit Trading Post operates much as it did in its early days, selling souvenirs and drinks. An entire room functions as a mini-museum and is dedicated to memorabilia, old photographs and a guestbook.

Memorabilia Room

The Jaquezes have expanded their restoration efforts beyond the family business, helping to renovate and preserve decaying landmarks along the area. Meeting them for the first time it is hard to guess how much the preservation of Route 66 is owed to them. Their humble earnest hospitality offers little clue to the work they are doing in keeping not only a family legacy but also a national heritage alive. People like Cindy and Tony Jaquez are the life-line on which Route 66 hangs.

I was now on my way to Winslow, the city made famous by the Eagles. Winslow returned the favor by erecting a statue of Glenn Frey and, well, standin’ it in a corner. Winslow is a charming city with a great restaurant scene and delightful murals. I regret not having a chance to explore more of it, but I had two more landmarks to hit before my day was over.

By afternoon I made it to the Barringer Crater, the best preserved meteor impact zones in the planet. A viewing of this 3,900 feet long, 560 feet deep remnant of a 150 feet wide asteroid that hit the earth some 50,000 years ago is costly, but worthwhile. The desert air has done wonders in preserving the impact zone, making for a unique larger-than-life experience. Spotting two prairie dogs scurrying away from the Jeep as I made my way out was a bonus.

                                                                    Barringer Crater

As evening approached, I made my way to Flagstaff to visit the first of the giants that would tower over American roadways in the glory days of the highway. Today, Louie the Lumberjack, as the first muffler man came to be called stands with his axe in front of Northern Arizona University’s Walkup Skydome, having become the campus mascot in the 1970s when the university acquired the fiberglass titan from his original home, the Lumberjack Café, where he had stood since 1963.

A lumberjack muffler man was a reminder that the landscape around me was changing. The desert was giving way to taller and denser vegetation. This was a lead-up to one of the most breath-taking sites that awaited me a few days away.