After fleeing Quartzsite and sightseeing our way west
Tuesday of last week we ended up in Rialto, California to spend a couple of
nights at the Route 66 landmark Wigwam Motel constructed in 1949 as Wigwam
Village #7.A total of seven Wigwam
Villages were built across the country and only three survive today.Roadside vernacular architecture at its
finest.Of course these motels are the
basis for “The Cozy Cone Motel” in Pixar’s 2006 film “Cars”.
The Wigwam Motel in Rialto
An A-1 roadside attraction
This one is absolutely immaculate and a testament to the
care of its owner Kumar Patel the self-proclaimed “Tee Pee Nazi”.I don’t think Kumar knew quite what to make
of me when I showed up in my vintage motorhome with two Jack Russell Terriers
as crew.Over the next two days we had
several conversations and I ended up behind the front desk with Kumar telling
everyone he had just hired me.I got
quite a kick out of that.While there
are those of us that appreciate the history of the motel, many are either
ignorant or don’t care and just want a cheap room.No doubt this is where Kumar gets his “No Tee
Pee for you!” alter ego.
My Tee Pee #17
If you ever get a chance stay here for a night or two and
tell Kumar that Josh sent you!
A week ago Tuesday I made my timely escape from
Quartzsite.It was starting to seem like
an episode of “The Twilight Zone” and I was wondering if I would ever be able
to leave.I all fairness the
unscrupulous repair shop was not indicative of the local populace.Total strangers always greeted me or waved
from passing vehicles.The population
here in Quartzsite is a tad over 3,600 until the snowbirds migrate south in
November.Then the population swells to
nearly a million RV’ers camping out on BLM land for next to nothing. There is
also the world’s largest RV show held here every year.This is the desert and selling water and ice
is big business.
Roadside water vending machine
I guess they ran out of street names in Quartzsite
The senior citizen RV market
Words to live by
After crossing into California I stopped at the General
George S. Patton Museum in Chiriaco Summit at the sight of Camp Young the
army’s Desert Training Center in WW II.Given the extreme heat here it was dubbed as “The place God forgot” by
soldiers.An interesting little museum
dedicated to a fascinating soldier.
Patton and his dog "Willie"
Next a very brief stop at Joshua Tree National Park for
obvious reasons and then on to Indio for lunch at the Shields Date Garden.I had the Shields Burger and a date
shake.Very good food.Bought some Shields Date Garden souvenirs,
again for obvious reasons.
Nice name for a national park
What...No family discount?
Next stop was the Cabazon Dinosaurs and the now abandoned
Wagon Wheel Café.The Cabazon Dinosaurs
reminded me of Flintstones Bedrock City, another roadside attraction in a state
of decay and more than likely its days are numbered.
Nice dinosaur!!
"Large Marge" sent me!
Then on to Rialto’s Route 66 Wigwam Motel #7 for the night.
Saturday October 10, 2015 at approximately 7:00 PM headed
west on I-40 at milepost 43, about 20 miles east of Quartzsite, the trusty
Cortez EM-50 misfires a couple of times but then within a couple of miles
stalls out and won’t restart.Seems like
it’s not getting a spark.Called AAA for
a tow.AAA suggested looking for a shop
in Blythe, California which I started researching and found a likely prospect.
They dispatched a truck that was on scene in about an hour but had to call out
for a flatbed to tow the Cortez. When I mentioned the shop I had come up with
in Blythe the tow truck driver advised me not to go there.When I asked why he stated “Too much
crack!”He suggested a place in Quartzsite,
trusting his advice as a local I agreed.Arrived at the shop in Quartzsite just before midnight.
Sunday October 11, 2015 spent the entire day cleaning up the
motorhome and doing laundry since the shop was closed Sundays.
Monday October 12, 2015 7:45 AM the shop, which by its name
proclaimed to be the best, opened and they started working on the Cortez.Within about 90 minutes the Cortez was
repaired.The ignition coil within the
HEI distributor had failed.Cost
$119.I considered myself lucky that
they had the part on hand and was on my way.So confident that I even posted on Facebook that repairs were
complete.Spent the rest of the day
tooling around town and catching up on my blog.
As I was leaving town the Cortez began idling poorly,
stalling and dieseling.I managed to
limp it back to the shop just before 4:00 PM when they close.I was told they would get to it first thing
the next day.
One of my Facebook friends, Fred Timmons, had given me a
number of an acquaintance in Quartzsite.I gave Thom Hill a call that evening and shared my dilemma.When I told Thom which shop I was at he
gasped.This shop has quite a reputation
for being less than straightforward.Thom said he would come out with his friend Dennis and take a look at my
rig on Tuesday morning before the shop opened.
Tuesday October 13, 2015 6:45 AM. Thom’s comments got me thinking.I began looking at everything in the dog
house.What I discovered was spot on
with Thom’s comments.The power plug to
the distributor had been just placed on enough to make contact and get me
running again until it would vibrate loose breaking contact and leaving me
stranded requiring another visit to the shop.An old trick used by unscrupulous auto mechanics.I secured the plug and waited until morning
when Thom and Dennis showed up.They
agreed to follow me around town to make sure everything was AOK.If not they were going to get me to a buddy
of theirs for repairs.We took off just
as the shop opened much to the shady mechanic’s chagrin.They made sure that everything was running
good for me.They declined my offer to
buy them both breakfast.They even
followed me up the highway to the next exit just to make sure everything was
good.
My discovery-the scene of the crime
I continued on my way.I made a stop in Blythe at Mead Automotive and RV Repair.I could see by the number of RV’s of various
makes and vintages here that this is where I should have gone.I spoke with the owner about the incident and
he told me that the tow company wouldn’t do business with his firm because he
would not give them kickbacks.I told
him that both the shop in Quartzsite and the tow company picked the wrong
person to try to take advantage of.He
was glad to hear that someone was going to give them their just desserts.
The worst
I can’t help but wonder how many people and how many times
these firms have taken unfair advantage of those in difficult
circumstances.I have already filed a
fraud complaint with my credit card company.Upon my return their will be complaints filed with the AAA, the BBB, the
Quartzsite Police Department and the Arizona Attorney General.
I again want to express my gratitude to Fred Timmons, Thom
Hill and his friend Dennis for their assistance.I will return their good deeds by “Paying it
Forward”.
Friday night we headed towards the Tucson Mountains and
camped out at a crossroads near Saturday’s destination – The Old Tucson Studios
near the Saguaro National Park.The Old
Tucson Studios was built in 1939 to film the movie “Arizona”.Since then many films like “3:10 To Yuma”,
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean”, “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and television
shows including “Wagon Train”, “Death Valley Days”, "The High Chaparral”, “Bonanza”,
“Gunsmoke” and “Little House on the Prairie”to name but a few have used the studio as a filming location.In 1959 the studio opened its doors to the
public as a theme park as well.In 1995
an arson fire destroyed many of the original sets and the studio’s prop and
costume storage.The damage was repaired
and the studio continues to be used for film and television production.It is also pet friendly!
It's the desert.
You may recognize this from many films and television shows
Headed out to the Titan Missile Museum some 25 miles south
of Tucson first thing Friday morning.The museum is the only preserved Titan II silo and deactivated Titan II
ICBM of the 54 silos in service from 1963 until 1982 when they were phased out
by President Regan.This was the first
ICBM that was launch capable within one minute making it quite effective as a weapon system of deterrence.The silo complexes were located near Air Force bases in Tucson, Wichita
and Little Rock, Arkansas.
Entrance to Complex 571-7
The museum gives a nice hour long guided tour that includes
the silo and the launch control center.Afterwards
you’re free to explore the topside of the complex.The museum was also used as a filming
location for the 1988 made for television docudrama “Disaster at Silo 7” based
on the true events of a fuel leak and explosion at a Titan silo in
Arkansas.Also scenes for the 1996 Star
Trek: First Contact were filmed in the silo showing the preparations for the
first warp drive ship as the Enterprise D goes back in time to preserve
history.
This is the actual launch commanders key switch and it does take two keys turned simultaneously by two different officers.
This way to the silo
Time to target 30 minutes
9 megaton warhead
Watch out Mr. Putin, I have my own key
After the Titan Missile Museum we stopped at the Walmart
around the corner (No when this was an active complex there was nothing nearby,
but things change.) to get some dog treats.Headed back into the city to do some sightseeing and at dusk took some
photos of neon signs along their “Miracle Mile” section of town.
Arrived in Tucson at our next day’s destination just before
midnight.Found a nice spot to park
behind a light industrial site near the airport.Got up
early the Thursday morning and had breakfast at the Waffle House on the other
side of the building we had overnighted at.Heading down to our day’s destination – The Pima Air and Space
Museum.My Museum of Flight (Seattle)
membership got me in for free.But the
museum had to wait. For seven dollars I bought a ticket for a bus tour of the
nearby 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG)
located on the grounds of the adjacent Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.AMARG is a storage facility (boneyard) for
all aircraft held by all the braches of the armed forces, NASA and many other
federal agencies.There are currently
4,400 aircraft stored here consisting of some eighty different types.These aircraft cost the American taxpayers
over 35 billion dollars when new.The
site is currently at 60% capacity.Some
of these planes are mothballed and can be put back into service if the need
arises.Others are held a source of
parts for similar craft in service and some are in the process of being
scrapped.Most impressive is the rows of
larger aircraft, C-5 transports, B-52 bombers, KC-135 tankers, C-141
transports, C-130 transports, and P-3 Orion sub chasers.Of course there are scores and scores of
fighters (F-16, F-15 and F-4) and helicopters as well.The bus tour lasted about an hour and then
returned us to the museum.
Row upon row of Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers
Boeing B-52 bombers mothballed at AMARG as back up to those currently in service
First entered service in 1955 and are projected to remain in active service through the 2040's
F-117 Stealth Fighter
The Pima Air and Space Museum is the third largest such
museum in the world.It has always been
on my list of museums to visit.The site
has about half a dozen buildings housing aircraft as well as a mammoth outdoor
display area.There are some 300
aircraft on display here.The museum is
also pet friendly, Piper and Quincy made several friends among the museum
volunteers.
Convair B-36 Peacekeeper bomber
Convair B-58 Hustler bomber
Super Guppy transport
Boeing B-52 mothership for the X-15 space plane program
NASA KC-135A dubbed the "Vomit Comet" used to simulate zero-g for astronaut training
We spent the entire day at the museum and then headed to the
Pima County Fairgrounds RV Park where we overnighted.
After leaving the Grand Canyon late Wednesday morning we
headed south back to Williams and went to Bearizona, a drive through wild
animal park.Driving a nearly forty year
old motorhome with two Jack Russell Terriers onboard through an enclosed area
with bears, wolves, bison, big horn sheep and wolves roaming around is not for
the faint hearted.No doubt there should
be some kind of medal awarded or maybe a reserved place in some sort of an
institution. After surviving our close encounter of the wild kind we drove through
Williams again and headed west to Seligman.
Welcome to Bearizona
Quincy says "Let's stop for lunch!
Da Bear!
I’m happy to report that Seligman is enduring as a stopping along Route
66.I walked through town again as I had
on my visit in 2006.One of the shop
owners asked where I was from.When I
replied “Seattle” he informed me that I was the first American to stop in that
day.He told me that the town owes its
survival to the dollars spent by foreign tourists.How sad that we as a nation ignore our own
heritage.Visited the Angel Delgadillo’s
barber shop/souvenir stand store and bought various Route 66 trinkets. Angel
Delgado is The Father of the Mother Road because of his tireless efforts in
promoting Route 66.
I went across the
street and had an “Oink Burger” at the Snow Cap Drive In that was established
by Angel’s brother Juan Delgadillo and is now owned and run by his children
since his passing in 2004.The Cortez
generated much interested by the shop keepers and tourists alike.Headed back east just before sundown to our
next destination-Tucson.
