Road Trip Studios: Family-Friendly Adventures on Route 66 and Beyond in the Great Southwest

  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 😏)

The Ash Fork Bainbridge Steel Dam (built in 1898), the first large steel dam in the world and only one of 3 built in the United States, lies less than a mile off a long forgotten Route 66 alignment near Ash Fork, Arizona.  A half mile to the east stands Ash Fork Stone Dam, built in 1911. Both were constructed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad to create a reservoir used to power steam locomotives. Both dams seem untouched by time, minus the corrugated sheet metal backing on the Steel Dam (designed to keep visitors out) which has, for the most part, deteriorated and fallen away. The dams are accessible on the .35 mi. "Stone to Steel Trail," dedicated in 2016, and marked by charming metal signs created by a welding class and pretty stone benches. The trailhead kiosk has several photographs along with information about the creation of the trail, which was obviously done with a great deal of care and enjoyment by volunteers. The dams are also accessible by rough dirt r

The Oatman Highway, Route 66, makes its lonesome trek from Kingman through the Mojave Desert. A gray ribbon shooting up through dusty sky toward the Black Mountains and low sun. Eroded hills and ramshackle structures whiz by as you roll along this narrow and rugged layer of asphalt. Rough edges meeting packed dirt with little margin between road and wilderness. This is a stark land where mineral laden hills gave way to rugged settlement amid sculpted erosion. Absent are the saguaros, prickly pear and greenery of the Sonora. The stretch is lonely, desolate and real. And you kind of love it.  As wind battered Black Mountains roll into sight, Cool Springs Station and Cabins comes into view. You pull up, stretch your legs and survey the surroundings.  Under a wind beaten tarp sit weathered gentleman taking in the incessant wind drafting down from the Black Mountains. The wildly flapping flags point to that ever winding and notorious route up Gold Hill Gr

Looking West from Cool Springs Station as Gold Hill Grade makes it's narrow climb towards Sitgreaves Pass on the Historic Route 66 National Backcountry Byway. Beginning at Kingman, "this 42-mile stretch of two-lane blacktop is one of the last and best-preserved segments of the original Route 66, one of America's first transcontinental highways. This portion of the highway once included one of the most fearsome obstacles for "flatland" travelers in the 1930's: the hairpin curves and steep grades of Sitgreaves Pass, which characterize Old Route 66 as it makes its way over the Black Mountains of western Arizona."  BLM Back Country Byway As you enter Sitgreaves Pass, on the way to Oatman, you will pass by Memorial Hill where dozens of crosses and unique tributes are carefully placed overlooking the mountain range to the south.  Oatman offers a unique rustic charm, rooted in the authenticity of its history as a mining town and the legend of Olive

Sometimes, or perhaps, always, great and far reaching human kindness starts on a smaller yet no less significant scale. In the case of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, it arguably might not exist but for it's Founder, Frank Shankwitz's experience growing up on Route 66 in Seligman, Arizona. By age 10, Shankwitz had spent years on the road, homeless, with his mother who had kidnapped him. The kindness and mentorship he received working as a dishwasher at Juan Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In set him on a path of philanthropy and success in the air force, as an Arizona Highway Patrol motorcycle officer and homicide detective. Shankwitz has described Delgadillo, who passed in 2004, as a stand in father figure. In several interviews he has shared how Delgadillo taught him the then novel idea of "turning negatives into positives." When Shankwitz's mother abandoned him in Seligman at age 12, Delgadillo arranged for him to live with a local woman (whom he descri