Frontier Motel

I passed through Peach springs and Valentine to get to the cool neon warmth of The Frontier Cafe in Truxton Arizona.    Truxton is a pretty new route 66 town by most standards.     It came about as a hotel and cafe in 1951 when Donald Dilts built it to take advantage of the traffic that passed by this part of the highway.  The name of the town comes from the Beale Camel Expedition when Lieutennant Ned Beale stopped at the spring here in 1857 and named the town after one of his relatives.    After the Motel and Cafe was built, other businesses started to spring up.

I’ve seen the sign have better days, but not long ago a route 66 preservation fund of one sort or another raised some money to get it painted, and cleaned it up.    I tried to wait for the hanging signs to swing horizontally for a picture, but 45 degrees was better than 90 so thats all I could get from the wind Gods who were in force today.

I was hoping to get some breakfast here as well, but soon realized route 66 doesn’t wake up in this neck of the woods till noon.   It was getting windier, cumulous clouds were forming, and I knew I needed to get to Kingman so I could start to head north and have the 35 mile per hour winds to my back.    I was riding sideways by this point.

I have always passed Truxton and not spent alot of time here, which is a shame.   I’m usually done with waiting from visiting the grand Canyons and ready to make miles and haven’t stopped to appreciate this cool route 66 town.   I’d have loved to see it in its heyday.   I can imagine with a stream of steady 50’s, 60’s and 70’s traffic this place could sling hash and pour coffee not to mention keep its rooms full.   If it we’re ever open when I was there, I’d book a room and enjoy some time here because I’d imagine it would be a cool experience.