SB Rendezvous

Day 1
Return to Jerome

Day 2
To Winslow

Day 3
No Winona

Day 4
Past Cool Springs

Day 5
Wigwam Arrival

Day 6
Tourin' with Scott

Day 7
Towin' with Bob

Day 8
Cruisin' with Helen

Day 9
Rendezvous Wrap

Day 10
Heading Home

September 18, 2005
The eGroup breakfast and Joshua Tree National Park with a date shake in between. I'm starting to work my way back home.

September 17, 2005
I drove up to Victorville to check out the museum and got to see a little of the Rim of the World Highway on the way back. Back at the Rendezvous, I rode on the back of a golf cart as it cruised with the big boys.

September 16, 2005
The Steinbeck Awards Luncheon and the case of the missing microbus. Major car cruising and I end the day in an award winner.

September 15, 2005
A van tour along Sixty-Six with none other than Scott Piotrowski as guide. Many sights seen and much information given. A Rendezvous kick-off reception ended the day.

September 14, 2005
A little backtracking to checkout Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway then back through Barstow and the museum at Casa Del Desierto. Folks had started showing up at the Wigwams yesterday and things were well underway when I pulled in.

September 13, 2005
An older (dead end) alignment from Kingman then down the other side of the canyon past the new Cool (and I do mean COOL!) Springs Camp and through Oatman. I passed someone on a bicycle working (and I do mean working) his way up the west side of Sitgreaves Pass.

September 12, 2005
A little gravel, a little walking, plus Seligman & Hackberry. We're having fun now!

September 11, 2005
A peek at Montezuma's Castle then on through Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff. Sixty-Six east bound to La Posada in Winslow. What a place! I got lucky and witnessed Winslow's reminder of the day at the town's Remembrance Garden.

September 10, 2005
This outing has started with an unremarkable flight to Phoenix and a much more remarkable drive to Jerome. A shortage of vacation time has kept Chris in Cincinnati so I'm on my own. My normal travel style is to just start driving each morning and hope there's a motel around when the day's end approaches. As a result, I've missed several motels that rightfully appear on many "must stop" lists. I'm doing this trip differently and have almost every night's resting place planned and booked. In addition to the Rialto Wigwams that started the planning, I'll be experiencing La Posada in Winslow and the Brunswick in Kingman. Tonight it's the Grand, a former hospital, in Jerome.

Prelude - centered around September 14, 2005
It seems almost by chance that I've attended the last two National Route 66 festivals in Springfield, IL, and Tulsa, OK. The 2005 festival is to take place in San Bernardino, CA, and I just knew that was too far from Ohio to even consider. Surely none of the last minute e-chatter that motivated me to attend those other festivals would apply this time. In 2003, it was the opportunity to drive across the Chain of Rocks bridge that got me rolling. In 2004, I think it was learning that Belgium resident Swa Frantzen was attending that sort of shamed me into going. If he could cross the Atlantic, I could cross the Mississippi. Well, it wasn't last minute chatter that changed my mind this time. It was months in advance chatter about a gathering at the reborn Wigwam Village #7 in Rialto.

The only time I have been to the Rialto wigwams was in 2003 just about a month before the current owners acquired it. At that time, the motel's appearance and reputation were not the sort that made you want to include it in your vacation plans. The Patels have worked hard to change that and the wigwams are now being included in quite a few vacations. Between 1935 and 1947, seven sets of the Frank Redford designed wigwams were built. They ranged from Kentucky to California. Only three of the seven remain and I've stayed at both of the others: #6 in Holbrook, AZ, and #2 in Cave City, KY. I naturally wanted to add the third one and when it became the planned site for a pre-festival gathering of the Route 66 Yahoo group, I couldn't resist.

So I've reserved my teepee SEVEN MONTHS in advance. Other details are not so firm but the trip tentatively involves Chris & I flying to Phoenix, getting a rental car, and picking up Historic 66 in Flagstaff.

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