Alot of History Here in Two Guns

With the exception of the wigwam motel in Holbrook, the thing that was most on my mind this entire trip was stopping to take pictures of Two Guns.   I’ve seen it before, but only from the freeway and the off ramp.   For years and years, there was a caretaker there with a buck knife and a shotgun that would speed up in his 4 wheeler if you got anywhere close to Two Guns ruins he’d show up and yell you off the property.   He was pretty well known for being efficient and serious about what he does.   Two guns has been bought and sold several times and my information tells me he was hired to protect the property from vandals.  As of 2008, I’d heard he was gone, so I’ve always wanted to come back here.

Street Glide at Two Guns Arizona - This ruin is the 2nd of Two Zoos in Twin Gun's History.

Two guns has an impressive history and to the casual, modern passer by, you’d never know it.     From the Indian wars between the Apache and the Navajo (it was then known as Canyon Diablo, or Devil’s Canyon, to the Early days of National Trails Highway (pre-Route 66) to Today.    Many people believe it is cursed, and for good reason.    Lots of battles here, and it held the distinction of being the roughest town in the west, let alone Arizona.    Murder, Prostitution, At least a punch in the face for looking at someone wrong.   Two Guns is the shit.  If you want the complete history of two guns, I’d highly suggest reading this link here.

Canyon Diablo Bridge is Crumbling

I had a chance to FINALLY cross the bridge that I’d seen for years, and even as I type this I regret not driving it down the dirt road further, because as I passed it all down 1-40 I realized there was much more I missed.   I was able to see the more modern abandoned gas station, and the slightly older KOA campground, as well as the other ruins.    There is also a very deep cave that factored into its rich history of a cowboy town.   Pat, are you reading this???  We need to go back to two guns and spend a day.

Picture of the First Zoo at Two Guns Arizona

Harry E. (Indian) Miller Ran Two Guns from 1925 to 1935

I hope no jackasses out there vandalize Two Guns, because it really needs to be preserved.    It’s cool that we can visit two guns now, But please if you visit it leave it as it is.  There’s not many people I hate worse than a Vandal.     This town burned down TWICE and survived history like no other, and is now just a side glance to people heading to Flagstaff and Albuquerque.    I think we all need to help keep it alive as long as possible.   Theres enough route 66 out there thats rotting, we don’t need this one to rot anymore than what nature throws at it.

Canyon Diablo Bridge

There is also a huge railroad trellis around two guns somewhere that crossed the canyon.   It’s clear I need to go back untill I know ALL the stories associated with this great historic spot in the road.    Two Guns.   read that link.   This may be one of my favorite Route 66 spots yet.    It’s full of history and full of questions to be answered.

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I knew I had things I wanted to see on this trip, particularly Two Guns and Twin Arrows, so after Joseph City I opened up and headed toward winslow.    I’ll admit my knowledge of route 66 winslow is pretty meager, and I found myself just passing it altogether to head toward Two Guns.   I totally forgot about meteor city, so I pulled over to see it.   Meteor City is the home of the worlds longest map of route 66, and thats the trading posts biggest claim to fame.

The original trading post was built in 1938 and was made out of stucco.   The current geo-dome was built in 1979.   I’m a bit resistant to moccassins and native american blankets, but the histories on the walls are alot more interesting.

Meteor City.

The orignal mural was painted by Bob Waldmire, if you know who he is.   He’s a famous wandering resident of route 66 and unofficially its favorite artist.    The original mural eventually weathered away, and in 2002 it was repainted.   Not alot to see here, and after 10 minutes I headed west to Two Guns.

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Here it is! A Route 66 Icon

Most of Interstate 40 covers up old route 66 pavements, but when the frontage road doesn’t exactly parallel the freeway, much of the time you can bet it’s old 66.    Joseph city is one of those alignments, and I was looking foward to seeing  Joseph City before it ended in Gravel and disappeared under the super slab of Interstate 40.

I had suspicions that joseph city was named after Joseph Smith, the founder of the mormon religion, and turns out I was right.   I didn’t see a whole lot there that was interesting, other than on the far edge of town on the old route:   Ella’s Frontier:

Ellas Frontier - Original Route 66 Trading Post

I’d never seen Ellas Frontier on any of my route 66 books, or at least I hadn’t noticed them.   I’d love to know the story of when it was opened and when it closed.   ANYTHING.    A few web sites state that Ellas frontier was the first trading post on route 66, but that seems pretty unlikely to me.   Who knows, I’ve been wrong before.   Either way, it was a pretty cool old building.   In the back next to the freeway it had what looked like cabins, and had an old Camping spot next door that looked somewhat newer, but still abandoned.     Ellas is the kind of place that I’ll want to go back and take a closer look on my next trip.   Theres definately stories in those walls.    Please, if you know anything about this place, please post or email me.

From Ellas I doubled back and got onto the freeway to head down to the next exit to see the Jack Rabbit Trading post.   I love the old signs and have been here once before.    The place was clean, the owner friendly and the prices were great.   Most people sell T-shirts for 20 bucks.   He sells his for 10, and has a ton.   He even sells Jack Rabbit Underwear.   Awesome.   It was good to see such an old road icon doing well.   I’d read that it was gone, but I saw no signs of anything other than a trading post that was doing well.

Jack Rabbit Trading Post was started in 1949 by Jim Taylor and his wife. He leased the business for most of the years he had it. Cindy’s granddad, Glenn Blansett, leased the store in 1961 and then bought it in 1967. He was just getting out of the senate so we were lucky for that because he helped to get the access ramps off I-40. In 1969, Cindy’s parents, Phil and Pat Blansett bought the Jack Rabbit from Cindy’s granddad. They had the store for 26 years. Until Tony and Cindy bought it from them in 1995.

I bought a half pint of tennesee whisky from him for 3 bucks for later and headed down the road.   It was noon.   I had half the state to cross yet.

Joseph City Gallery:

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Jack Rabbit Trading Post Gallery:

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The Beeline Highway

Finally.   I had 2 days to ride.   what seemed like the longest winter of my life is about over.   Over enough that I can load up my bike and sleep in the freezing cold if I need to, but at least I’m RIDING.

I couldn’t sleep all night.   I finally got going around 7AM to load up my bike and head out of chandler, leaving Robyn and the kids to play in the pool all day and go shopping while I pointed my bike toward Holbrook.    The weather was great, but got chilly as I climbed into Payson and the mountains of Heber, then finally down into Holbrook.    Holbrook is as far east as I’ve ever been on route 66, and I had to see what I think is an icon of the mother Road:  The wigwam Motel

Have you slept in a wigwam Lately?

Built in 1950 by Arizona motel owner Chester E. Lewis, the plans were based on the original of Frank A. Redford.

Lewis first became aware of the distinctive wigwam designs when he was passing through Cave City in 1938. He purchased the rights to Redford’s design, as well as the right to use the name “Wigwam Village” in a novel royalty agreement: coin operated radios would be installed in Lewis’ Wigwam Village, and every dime inserted for 30 minutes of play would be sent to Redford as payment.

Lewis operated the motel successfully until closing it in 1974 when Interstate 40 bypassed downtown Holbrook. Two years after his death in 1986, sons Clifton and Paul Lewis and daughter Elinor renovated the motel, finally reopening it in 1988.

Fifteen concrete and steel teepees are arranged as a square with one edge missing where the main office is located. They are numbered from 1 to 16 (there is no teepee 13). The diameter of the base of each teepee is 14 feet (4.3 m), with each unit 32 feet (9.8 m) in height. Behind the main room of each unit is a small bathroom with sink, toilet, and shower. Current rooms contain the original restored hickory furniture, two double beds, cable TV and a window mounted air conditioner; there are no telephones or Internet access. Vintage restored automobiles from the 1960′s and earlier are located throughout the parking area. Small green metal benches etched with the words “Wigwam Village #6″ are scattered throughout the complex as well.

The Lewis family continues to run and maintain Wigwam Village #6. Elinor often shows up at 4:00 pm to open the office, and if requested, will fill a small ice bucket (there is no ice machine in keeping with the authenticity of the restoration) for customers. Near the registration desk is a small room which contains many of Chester Lewis’ memorabilia (including a necklace of human teeth of unknown origin).

Nearby places of interest include Petrified Forest National Monument and Meteor Crater (Barringer Crater). Wigwam Village #6 was featured in the second episode of Oprah and Gayle’s Big Adventure on Oprah’s TV show. It is located on Historic Route 66, 811 West Hopi Drive, Holbrook, Arizona.

It was still early, and I’d intented on meeting the owners to pitch them a web site in trade for letting me stay at there for free (Holbrook is a perfect place to start a route 66 journey east from St. George), but they open late so I headed west.

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This story ends good.  It ends with me pulling the Street Glide back into my garage again, after not seeing it for 3 Months and change.

Early this week I had the opportunity to run down to phoenix when my Mom asked me to run an errand for her and pick up some weaving stuff, so it became my chance to get my bike back.   The weather was going to be perfect, other than what looked like a pretty cold and rainy sunday.     Robyn and the kids needed a bit of a vacation too, so all in all it came together pretty quick:  The plan was to drive to phoenix friday morning, then Robyn and the kids would stay a day and swim in the 90 degree weather, and I’d take 2 days to get my bike home.   I decided to head up to holbrook and take route 66 west and camp out in seligman.   The next day I’d head home.

I took a ton of pictures.   I’ll take it a section at a time of some of the route 66 places I’d never added before in sections one at a time:

A few pictures I took on the red Hill the other night on my way to a BACA meeting of the fat boy.

Heading through Veyo

I had big plans this weekend to ride with my brothers from BACA, but at the end of the day only 3 people showed up.  Me, and my 2 old friends Justin and Matt.    We’ve been friends for a long time, since high school 20 years ago.    We get together fairly often, and when justin called me and told me that he and matt were in for a friday ride to caliente and back the next morning, It was good news.   I was seriously about to go by myself as usual, but having 2 good friends go with was great.

We headed out friday around 3 or so, and made our way through gunlock, and north on 18.

Me on the Street Glide

Matt has a really good looking and well taken care of 94 Dyna Wide Glide, and Justin has an 08 Street Glide.   We rounded up past enterprise and showed them modena.   We kicked around checking out the old store and I managed to talk to the guy who lives next to it.   He said its been vandalized pretty heavily the last few years from people helping themselves to old radiators and sinks, and the roof started on fire a few years back.   Its old.  He said he’s got pictures from the 1880s that show the hotel/store but wasnt quite sure how old it is.   Its a cool old building.

we then bombed into Caliente, checked into the motel, and found the bar and drank beer to our hearts content.    Matty is on the wagon, so jug and I got drunk and we all played pool.   Jug is a dick.  Noone can beat the guy at pool.   I came close, but sunk the 8 ball and lost by one ball twice.    the man has skills.

Just past Modena

The next morning we loaded up, had breakfast and was home by 2.    Great ride.   One to do again.  Its close, and its  in nevada.   I gotta take robyn.

Totals:  230 Miles Round Trip – 2 States

You can feel it starting to turn in the mornings.   Its cooling down.  The normally perfect 8AM ride to work requires a jacket now.    So when I needed to head up to Salt Lake to take care of some family matters, and coupled with the fact that my bike is a third the cost of what itd take to drive my truck up, I jumped at the chance to spend the day riding to Salt Lake.    It may be the final time this year.

So I headed up highway 18 toward Cedar, and figured that I’d go up through Minersville and milford again, and see what I could find along my way.

One of the reasons  why I love my bike, is for 20 bucks and some beef jerky, I can get 150 miles away from my problems in life, and the funny thing is, not only is that a cheap vacation, but its also where I get most of my best answers to my problems.   Its the best of all worlds.

In cedar I called my brother, and he was game to finish up early if he could and meet me on the road somewhere.   Right on!   So I headed north, fueled up in Minersville, and headed up to Milford to get some pictures of a place ive passed a million times, but wanted to get some shots of:  the Milford Hotel.   Its been cleaned up a bit since I was there last, and is primed for resurrection possibly.  Cool old hotel.

I met pat just outside of eureka, I met up with Pat after riding through a 4 inch high grasshopper massacre, that for a while made me think my tire was flying apart.     My leathers were yellow, and my bike was covered with bugs, but only completely, and only the lower 6 inches of my bike.   I was like moses parting the red sea of locusts, which of course is a combination plague.   Moses couldnt have done it I dont think, but street glides can.   Its just how I believe.

we boogied out, hit 1-15 and headed for the cabin.   Of course, when I get together with pat after an evening ride, it can only mean one thing:  Single Malt Scotch.   We drank 18 year old scotch, which is something money cannot buy.   Its drinking with blood, with high alcohol content *IN* your blood.   Makes you sleep well.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2008

Woke up, made some calls, waited for my sack ass to accept a reasonable temperature, and headed south behind Utah lake, through Eureka and Delta, through the parowan Gap (where i’d never been) and south on 1-15.   Parted locusts again south of Eureka, and enjoyed the ride.    I also got bored, busted out my camera and filmed the road while I listened to ring of fire by johnny cash.   Through the wind, you can hear it.  It is a mighty road song.   Mightier than you.   I don’t even know you, but I am quite positive it is mightier than you.  Johnny cash bows to no man, even  you.

742 miles, 1 State, 3 days

Leaving Ely

Woke up around 8, and randy took my bike down to the auto parts store to get something to fix his cable. Nothing. So we ate breakfast across the street, and parted ways… Randy to head north to Wendover and then to Morgan, I headed west to Tonopah. I debated whether I should go. 500 miles in a day isnt a short jaunt, its a commitment that might mean not getting home that night if something happens, or I take too much time. I decided to go.

The ride out of Tonopah surprised me.

It was nice! long sweeping turns and nice and cool outside. My head wasnt in the ride tho. I was feeling guilty for not heading home, spending money (even though this trip was extremely cheap) and not coming home and getting ready for my work week. I struggled to get my head into my ride untill at the junction of hwy 6 and 318: Halstead’s Blackjack Inn. For one, I love ghost towns. I love seeing civilization in the middle of nowhere, where a person has taken a risk and put his shingle out to start a business and to piece together its history. I love it.

Halstead's BlackJack Inn

Second, there was an old trailer that im sure had a ton of history that someone had spraypainted on that put my mind in the right place:

"Home is something some of us never find"

That was the ticket. I headed out with a new point of view, and knew this was going to be a great ride.

Currant Nevada

Nevada always suprises me. It wasnt what I was expecting, theres more there than just sagebrush. I want to explore it all now. Life in nevada comes in surprising places, and in little pockets.

"Home Cooking - Come on In"

At the end of a really awesome 50 mile ride I found Currant Nevada. its still on the road signs, but there isnt much going on there. I was there for probably 20 or more minutes and never saw a soul, let alone a passing car. It was almost apocalyptic — the abandoned bar/motel/rv park/gas station was overgrown with weeds, but looks as though the people were vaporized mid spot. theres still bedding and pillows on the beds, clothes hanging in the closets in the hotel. In the restaurant, theres an unfinished bottle of wine on the table. The bar has a cowboy hat on it, and a stocked bar. Theres vines growing under the doors, and the calendar reads november of 1996. It was trippy, if anyone knows a story, or THE story behind this place, please email me or post here. I’d love to know it.

Food in the plates and a half empty bottle of wine on the tables...

_

Almost apocalyptic - Wierd

From then on out, it was 100 miles of Flat and long, with the only turns coming at the mountainous rises from the high desert floor.

Hope I make it

I’ve never ran my bike out of gas before. I know around 100 miles the needleleaves from being pegged full, and at 175 miles its pegged empty and pretty much out of gas. My ride was 170 miles between gas stations, and I was pretty confident when I left, untill I started wondering how much the extra weight and wind resistance on a full tour pak would make. I know at around 1/4 tank it drops visibly fast. You have about 10 or 15 miles max. I pulled into tonopah and i was nearly empty, and my gas gauge read 174.4 miles. Awesome.

Pulled into tonopah around 2:30 pm, checked out the place a bit, and stopped into a local watering hole for a brewski, and doubled back to head toward Rachel and home.

House in Warm Springs Nevada

Warm springs is another place i’d love to know the story of. I stopped there, stretched my legs and checked out the old bar/cafe and the house across the street. some of the grafitti inside told the story, and theres a warm spring that runs into a pool on the site that is fenced, but I’ve read about people still using it. The writings on the wall suggest that the house was inhabited as late as 1988, but whether or not thats true is another story. The house is starting to fall in on itself a bit. In the back were evidence of an RV park.

Warm Springs Bar and Cafe

Warm spring is at the junction of 6, and the Extraterrestrial highway I headed south toward Rachel.

Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel

At rachel I stopped to check the Little A’Le’Inn out. This place is famous if you run in UFO Circles (which I dont, but find it interesting), and is the closest town to area 51. I think its awesome to see a place survive for 20 years out in the middle of nowhere, and hopefully will for 100 more.

I walked in, and the only other people in there were from Pittsburgh. I had my penguins shirt on, and we talked for a bit. Really nice guys, just checking out area 51. Its just amazing that 5 penguin/Steeler fans meet in the middle of nowhere. I had me a patty melt, a couple of Guinnesses (obviously a place with good taste), took some pictures and started heading for home. Ill come back to rachel. They let you pitch a tent for free there, and are extremely friendly folks.

The Black Mailbox

The guy at Little A’Le’Inn told me about the mailbox for area 51, 20 miles outside of town so I stopped and took pictures. The real story of the mailbox can be found here, but the box was interesting nonetheless. I guess alien afficianados gather around it at night looking for evidence, and holds the claim as the most famous mailbox in the world. I took some pictures and moved on.

20 miles of good road later, I was at the junction of Extraterrestrial highway and nevada state road 93. I felt closer to home now, but this was all new. If I go left, I go through caliente and the map says its a scenic drive, and Im home in probably 90 minutes. If i go right, its 3 hours. I went right. I figured left is a ride erik and I can do later possibly, and I didnt want to go home yet.

I got gas in ash springs, and was surpised to see so many people again. the pumps were all full of people and I had to wait, and the store was busy. Getting close to civilization again. Lots of trees and a couple of lakes. I opened it up and started heading south toward moapa.

Waiting out the Rain

I’d had the rain at my back all day, but heading south at moapa it caught up to me. It came down pretty good. Had to wait it out a bit in glendale. No big deal, the break was nice before the stretch home.

I made it home around 10pm. Id done 480 miles that day, and honestly, I could have done 500 more. The bike ran great and I 100% enjoyed riding in nevada. Like i said, it surpised me. I want to check it all out now. Nevada is no longer a state to just get through, its a place to explore. To be able to find places like I’d visited today that were so intact and not vandalized was amazing to me. I need to find out more about them and go back again.

Ride totals: 3 States, 485 miles in 12 hours

NOTE: I didnt realize but the date on my camera is wrong this trip.

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Woke up this morning, went and by the time I got the tent down, loaded the bike and made a phone call Randy showed up.   Its good to see him again.    We bullshitted for a minute then headed out by 10.

Leamington Utah General Store

The road was great.  on the way to delta, Randy showed me a spot where he and his grandpa used to go, an old general store in leamington.  Its closed now, but looked like a cool place.   Randys grandpa was one of a kind.  when we lived in Long beach in 89, got to know him a little bit and the stories of him and the things he said and did always make me smile.

burned through and ate in delta, then headed on the straight road to great basin national park.  It was a nice ride, not too hot, 5 or so degrees out of being just perfect.   We stopped at the nevada/utah border because we had some time to kill before the cave tours at lehman caves, grabbed something cold to drink and headed to the caves.

Apparantly we killed too much time, and just barely missed the tour.

Wheeler Peak Road

So we bought some of the last 2 tickets for the day and headed up to wheeler peak drive, to kill an hour before our 90 minute tour.   Wheeler peak drive was really nice, climbs 10,000 feet in about 10 miles or so, up into the pines.   From the view areas you can see clear across nevada.   A nice nevada surprise.    We considered bagging going into ely and camping up there.   I’d like to take the RV up and go back there with the kids.   Definately a beautiful place, and not too far away. We went to the top, and raced back down just in time to grab our tour of the caves, without a minute to spare.

Entrance to Lehman Caves

I’ve been in a few cave tours before, and I’d have to say this was the best.   Lehman Caves is a wet cave, so its still very active in growing and was nice and cool down there.   In addition to being the coolest looking cave I’ve ever seen, our tour guide was great.   You could tell right away she really loved people and loved what she was doing, and it showed in the first 5 minutes.   She made the stories and geology of the cave come alive for everyone, and the 90 minute tour was perfect.

The skies had clouded up even more and you could smell the rain that was about to happen.   We decided to head into Ely, it didnt look like it was going to be any drier than it was at that moment, so we loaded up and headed out.

Just as we hit the town limits the wind started raging.   We pulled into the KOA a

Randy, Fixing his throttle cable in the Motel Room

nd I ran inside to see if they had at least a cabin to crash in for cheap, since putting up a tent in a storm just didnt seem like fun.   They didnt.   we headed into town and got a room at the white pine,  a bit of a roach motel that Ive stayed in before with the family.   It was shmeggy, but it was better than a tent.

Heading up and down the passes Randy broke his return throttle cable.   Randy got his bike from a guy for $125 bucks, and I gotta say, it ran great.   For a 1980′s bike that had been neglected for so long, to come out of the trip with something as minor as a throttle cable was impressive.   Randy didnt mind, he’s a good field mechanic and came up with a few options to fix it in the morning.   We ran down to the casino, got a gristle steak, and then went back to the room and crashed.

My first options anymore are to ride by myself.   I dont mind it, and I don’t have to deal with anyones crap and can ride at whatever pace I want.   Randy is one exception to that.   Everytime we ride its always good, with zero hassles and the conversation is good.   Today was a perfect example of that.  We didnt ride too far, but all in all it was all good.

Rode 208 Miles today