Hackberry General Store, Route 66

Hackberry General Store is an outpost on the longest continuous section of Route 66 in the nation. It crops up suddenly on the desolate stretch of desert hills and racing trains between Peach Springs and Kingman in Northern Arizona.

From Hackberry, you can take Route 66 on through Peach Springs and the Hualapai Reservation to Kingman, the Black Mountains and town of Oatman (with its wild mining donkeys), and eventually to the terminus of U.S. Route 66 at the Santa Monica Pier in California.

Hackberry is a rustic homage to the Hackberry service stations that served Route 66 travelers until Interstate 40 bypassed the town by 16 miles (without an exit) in 1978. Even at dusk, excited travelers snap photos of Hackberry's old-fashioned pumps, rustic signs, and historic vehicles. Some exuberant travelers take a moment to plant themselves in the middle of the highway to point their lenses westward toward their upcoming destinations (I settled for the shoulder 😏).

Iconic as it is, we stumbled upon Hackberry by accident while cruising westward from Seligman and coming upon charming Valentine Station, whose kind owner pointed out that we would be coming up, very quickly, on another rustic and scenic locale. Since then, I've enjoyed learning more about this stretch of highway and its history.

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