प्रकाशित: 02.08.2016
Today our day was all about the legendary Route 66, which will take us to the Grand Canyon tomorrow.
The first time refueling went well. The machine at the gas pump accepted my German credit card, which I couldn't believe/want and still went into the gas station where the gas station attendant called out to me that we just need to put the nozzle in the car. Uli immediately grabbed the diesel, but both I and shortly after the gas station attendant were able to convince him to leave the car completely. After breakfast, we drove on Route 66. For us, it started with the town of 'Amboy'. You can see the whole town in one of my photos. Then we had a long drive to the town of Oatman. We were greeted there by a few donkeys, many tourists, and a very special atmosphere. After a short photo stop, we continued on to Kingman and then to Hackberry. We just drove through Kingman. Hackberry seems to consist only of the General Store and the many old rusty car wrecks, so it's a paradise for wannabe photographers like us. This Hackberry General Store is very popular with tourists. Many people leave old license plates there, which hang on the store's ceiling, and there are many tourist trinkets to buy, but nothing for us. We were content to take photos in front of the store.
Now we drove the last hour to check into our motel in Seligman. We'll take photos here tomorrow morning before continuing on to the Grand Canyon. For dinner, we went to 'Westside Lilos Cafe'. A German woman opened the store in 1996 and so she is recommended in every travel guide and travel forum. My highlight was the salad with the chicken sandwich.
Overall, this day on the road was very interesting. You drive looong distances that are truly impressive and drag on and quickly become boring, only to then stop at these touristy old towns. It was a nice day but we didn't really feel that old Route 66 spirit, which may be because we never really engaged with it before.