Inkily Yours

Route 66 Eats & Treats

2010-08-01T14:02:00.001-05:00

Eating Along the Mother Road

Restaurants, Cafes, Diners, Dives & Drive Ins

Ephemera, loosely defined is bits of paper that were not intended to be saved.  I have lots of ephemera.  Intend to share so you will have lots of ephemera, too!  And you might find a good place to eat along the Mother Road.

This morning while sorting through yet another pile of papers that should have been filed in one way or another years ago, I found a few menus and business cards from places on Route 66 where we've stopped.  The scary part is that I know there is an even bigger stack of these somewhere in the building.   One thing at a time!  If I scan them and put them here, at least I'll know where a few of these are and perhaps those of you reading will enjoy them, too.

Earl's Family Restaurant

Since 1947

1400 East 66 Avenue - Gallup, New Mexico

Menu, business card & photo from our February 2009 Route 66 Adventure

This menu is a very short version that we grabbed when we had dinner at Earl's in February 2009. The real menu is of monstrous proportions and has traditional American and Mexican fare. Lots of it. Seriously, it's a huge menu, one of those places where it is hard to narrow down what you'd like to eat because you're faced with too many choices. Native Americans are allowed to show their crafts to people who are dining. If you're not into this & prefer uninterrupted dining, you can tell them when you're seated that you don't want anyone coming to your table to show you their wares, but it seems like this would take away at least half the fun of dining at Earl's. We had about 10 different people show us their jewelry while we ate. I didn't buy anything because nothing caught my eye and goodness knows, I have more than my fair share of beautiful Native American Indian jewelry. We had some nice chats with the roving vendors and it was easy enough to say "No Thanks" and they moved on to the next table of diners.

Earl's info posted August 1, 2010

El Cafecito

820 E Santa Fe Avenue  Grants, New Mexico

El Cafecito menu from February 2010 Route 66 Adventure

We've been to El Cafecito on Route 66 in Grants, New Mexico several times, the latest being in February 2010. El Cafecito is a family owned restaurant and we note that many of the customers are locals, that is always a good thing. Very friendly people, I feel right at home here. I love their enchiladas - try them when you go to El Cafecito. We've also tried the Fritta Frutta dessert, if only because it had such an odd name and we had never had one and I'm glad we did. But we come back here for the enchiladas which they even make for Frank without onions. The last time we ate here, there were big decadent chocolate frosted brownies sitting on the counter when we paid our check. Of course, being a chocoholic, a couple brownies went out the door with us. The brownies, if you're lucky enough to be there on the right day are to die for, I'll take those over the Fritta Frutta any day!

El Cafecito info posted August 1, 2010

Bun Boy

1890 West Main - Barstow, California

 Bun Boy Business Card from ca. 2008 or so Route 66 Adventure

We drove by the Bun Boy many times before we finally decided to stop and check it out. For one thing, from the outside it looks too much like a chain restaurant and we make every effort when we're on the road to try to visit the indie cafes and restaurants. OK, so now I can verify it is not a chain. Thee food was good., but still reminds me of the menu at Big Boy or Denny's - I think you get my drift. However, there are a couple of things that really stand out - the decor is pure 1950s with big padded booths. The waitresses which I'll refrain from calling by the modern word servers have the 1950s kitsch down, too. Waitresses, not servers. Oddly, there was a bar in the back part of the restaurant, wasn't expecting to see that. Big Boy and Denny's do not have adult beverages, score one for Bun Boy! Lots of locals who were obviously regulars since they didn't even need to tell the waitress what they were having for lunch. Bun Boy was packed to the edges of the bun with the lunch crowd and the two waitresses on duty handled it all in stride. I guess they've had a lot of time to get this all down since they were established in 1926.

Bun Boy info posted August 1, 2010

Lake Havasu Arizona to Grants New Mexico

2010-02-24T21:21:00.000-06:00

Lake Havasu City

Sadly, it is time to leave Lake Havasu with it's beautiful palm trees and warm temps and continue the journey eastward.

Williams Arizona

It was our intention to grab a bite to eat at Goldie's Route 66 Diner simply because we had never been there.  Alas, it was closed and with a for sale sign on the window to boot.  I asked Frank if he wanted to go into the Diner biz - he rolled he eyes at me which was not too surprising!

Back in the snow zone east of Williams

The remains of the Mountain Lion exhibit at Two Guns seem to stand up remarkably well to years of neglect.  I'll have to look back on some of our older pictures to see if that is really true or just my memory playing tricks on me!

School spirit in Holbrook

Root 66 RV Park

Funny sign

The green dino and wigwam reside at

 the Painted Desert Trading Post 

Fort Courage is still open, it's a combo trading post and post office.  The round Pancake House restaurant has been closed for a number of years.  Nope, Frank doesn't want to revive the Pancake House either!!

Indian City

If you missed Fort Courage for souvenirs, there's always Indian City right down the road.  No lack of souvenirs on Route 66

El Cafecito - Grants New Mexico

For some reason I missed getting any good Mexican food on the trip westbound, so the trip eastbound has been designated Enchilada Week.  We started in Lake Havasu at Chicos and tonight we dined at El Cafecito.  El Cafecito is a favorite of ours, excellent New Mexican style Mexican food.

For whatever reason, today seemed a long day on the road and yet we took very few photos.  I think we're just a little road weary.  It would be nice to stay put somewhere for two nights, but we have a deadline to be home on Friday.

Photos on this page were taken on February 16, 2010

Back on the Road Again!

2010-02-24T15:03:00.000-06:00

After four days in southern California and

the Los Angeles Pen Show behind us we're ready to get back on the road again!

Foothill Blvd is Route 66

We're back on our Big Hill Route 66 bypass road again heading away from the congestion. I love these US Route 66 roads shields painted directly on the road bed. 

The New Corral in Victorville

Wonder what happened to the Old Corral?

A Visit to the Victorville Route 66 Museum

The Victorville Route 66 Museum has been on our list of places to stop for several years now. The fact that they are on Twitter got us to thinking about it more and more. The timing was right so we stopped on in. We were not disappointed. This is a very well done Route 66 Museum. Well worth the stop for a trip down memory lane. Nice volunteers in the museum, too.

There's the Arrows again, a little smaller than the originals!

Adorable Tear Drop Camper!

There was a little sign next to this gravestone explaining that Brownie was a stray dog that always hung out at the Railroad Depot in Victorville.  Apparently Brownie was loved by all and would greet passengers and was a longtime Depot Dog.

Leaving Victorville.  The trains made me feel right at home.

We have grain elevators all across Iowa, but this is without a doubt the largest grain elevator I've ever seen.

This bridge on Route 66 north of Victorville is not all that unusual, but take a close look at the beautifully detailed railing.  It's stunning.  Hope they don't notice and replace it with concrete or something equally awful.

The bottle trees snuck up on us and we should have stopped for better pics.  Frank got a quick photo as we drove by.

Quirky bit of Route 66 road art.

If only gas were still 18 cents a gallon!  We did manage to stay under $3 gallon by not filling up in metro areas on this trip.

Obviously more rain than usual in this area.  You can see where the trucks have pushed the sand back off the road.

Taken out of the back window of the truck since we

 were dazing off again along this section. 

Beautiful Palms

The Do Drop Inn

A wannabe U Drop Inn?

Photos below were taken in Barstow on Route 66

 which is the main drag through town.

Nice signage and murals

Barstow Railroad Depot and La Desiderata 

We've been waiting to visit the restored Railroad Depot and attached Harvey House, La Desiderata for some time.  We actually did a quick drive by last year, but it was closed.  Turns out it was closed again today, only open on weekends, but we stopped for awhile to explore anyway.  The sun was out, a beautiful day and nice to get out and wander around a little bit.

The architecture of the Depot and the Harvey House is just amazing.  This is a huge complex of buildings.  Some have been restored, others are in the process of being renovated.  The fact that they were closed didn't keep Frank from putting camera to window and getting a few inside photos.  The chandeliers were amazing!  There are also a lot of old rail cars on display here.   

I can just imagine this old container car cruising down Route 66

Everyone always tells us that In-n-Out Burger has THE best burgers around and so we decided that it was time we checked them out.  The guy at the gas station told us how to find it in Barstow.  Turns out is was located at the outlet mall at the edge of town.  Bad idea to go there on a Monday holiday when hoards of people were out shopping, well at least they were trying to find a parking place to go shopping.  After several times around the parking lot, we found a spot big enough for the truck and went to stand in a long line for our In-n-Out burgers.  To their credit, the line moved quickly in spite of the place being packed to the gills.  The next challenge was finding a table and of course since it was nice out, I wanted an outside table like everyone else there.  Success at last, even if the table was in the shade.  However, I think Frank and I are too used to eating non-fast food.  The burgers were fine, but definitely of the fast food variety.  They didn't float my boat enough so that I'd say I want to go back right away.  I guess if there was an easy to get to In-n-Out and we were starving, we'd stop back again, but I wouldn't go out of the way to find one.  We can check that "to-do" off the list now!

Abandoned east of Barstow on Route 66

Long stretch of Route 66 in the Mojave

Roy's in Amboy, California is looking better and better each time we drive through.  The best part was going inside the cafe (not serving food yet) and browsing through the old photo albums they had laid out on the counter.  Wonderful old pictures of Amboy and Roy's in their heyday.

Last minute snapshot of the Shoe Tree east of Amboy.  It's turned into a tradition to toss your shoes up on the tree.  Sorry, I've read about it before, but have forgotten how this all got started.  I don't usually have shoes with me that I'm willing to sling over a tree!  I suppose I could carry out this tradition if I planned a little ahead and saved a pair of shoes for the Shoe Tree instead of throwing them out.  If I can remember until next year, I'll do that.  

The Roadrunner Restaurant

Long closed

Cute little cafe in need of some attention

We dropped off Route 66 to spend the night in Lake Havasu City.  Enjoy Frank's sunset shots from our hotel balcony!

Photos shown were taken on February 15, 2010

Day 5 - Kingman to the Pacific Ocean

2010-02-24T09:56:00.000-06:00

Route 66 - Kingman, Arizona

We settled in last night in Kingman, Arizona at our favorite Route 66 themed motel that we always stay at - the Best Western King's Inn.  Highly recommended by the way.  I think we've stayed there close to 20 times over the years.  Always pleasant.  The sun was out when we drove into town and it was warm, not a snowflake in sight.  Life is good.  I needed sunshine and warmth!

Start point - Route 66 Oatman Road aka The Gold Road

We have driven the winding road to Oatman numerous times, a very scenic section of Route 66.  But, we had never driven up the mountain from the east and today was the day.  Amidst talking and getting settled and fiddling with the radio, we started the day by missing our cut off to Route 66 and taking a 20 mile loop back around into Kingman again.  Dumb.  Kind of pretty though and new territory.   The second time around we we saw the sign right away and off we went toward Oatman.  

Cool Springs

Usually we are coming down the mountain past Cool Springs and it is nearing dusk.  We've stopped, but it's always been closed.  In fact when we started doing this little jaunt, it was not in good shape, has since been bought and renovated and well, Cool Springs is very cool!  Aside from all sorts of great Route 66 memorabilia inside, the owner's collection of autographed Rolling Stones album covers was displayed on one wall.  We weren't expecting to see that!  Nice!

The scenery is just stunning going up the mountain.  Just a couple comments since I think the series of photos above driving through the hairpins is self explanatory.  This was the first time we've ever seen any of the burros outside the town of Oatman.  The gold mine was obviously operating again because there were lots of cars parked in the lot.  Perhaps is was operating before but we just didn't notice?  It's obvious there has been snow/rain/some sort of precipitation because the desert was greener along here than we've seen in the past. Nice drive up the mountain.

This was the youngest of the baby burros we saw 

No clue who this man was, but he made this burro

 very happy with some carrots for breakfast. 

The white burros were beautiful and this baby

 had the absolute softest fur.  So sweet. 

Read this!  Tells about Oatman and the burros

I will be the first to admit I'm a sucker for the burros, they're just adorable.  This year there were very young baby burros, more than we've seen before and younger than we've seen before.  I could have stayed and watched them all day.  It's tradition to buy carrots and feed the burros, but not the babies.  The locals put stickers on the baby burros' foreheads:   Do not feed me carrots, I will choke.   

Aside from the burros, Oatman is a quaint little western styled tourist mecca.  Souvenirs aplenty.  That might be an understatement!  The shopkeepers all seem to be pretty nice people and are fun to talk to.  My only disappointment this year was that Mr. Yellowhammer's jewelry store was closed.  Probably a good thing in retrospect, because I don't need more jewelry! 

Headed west out of Oatman to go down the other side of the mountain, we saw a cluster of cars and sure enough, more burros out roaming around.  They stopped grazing long enough to raise their heads and check us out and then went back to grazing again.

Topcock, Arizona

Colorado River

Old Route 66 doesn't cross the Colorado River, so we enter California on I-40 and into the Mojave Desert we go.  Just a few miles after entering California you go through an agricultural inspection station.  Most of the times we've crossed into California the inspection station has been closed, but today it was open.  The inspectors are well trained and very welcoming and always ask the same questions.  The one that amuses me most is "where are you coming from?"  Does that mean where did we start our journey? (Iowa) Where did we start the day? (Kingman) Or where did we last stop? (Oatman)  I think the inspectors secretly roll their eyes at me because I always give them the full spiel!  And yes, we fully disclosed our apples in the truck.  No plants, no animals, no seeds!

Ludlow, California is in the middle of the Mojave.  No man's country.  It once thrived, but not much left now.  What is left seems to do just fine.  The cafe has excellent food.

We call this the Big Hill. Actually it's the Cajon Pass.  It's a crazy four lane steep downhill stretch of I-15 and takes you away from the peacefulness of the desert into the beginning of the craziness of southern California.  

We try to avoid the Big Hill on I-15 at all costs and cut off to Route 66 that takes you down into the valley and along a very pretty stretch of road.  It's just long enough that we aren't dealing with crazy traffic.  And it's our last stretch of Route 66 on this trip before we head toward Manhattan Beach and the Los Angeles Pen Show.

After getting settled into our hotel in Manhattan Beach, we drove down Sepulveda aka the Pacific Coast Hwy to Redondo Beach for fresh seafood at Capt. Kidd's and a walk along the boardwalk.  Beautiful night out. 

Route 66 - Grants, Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff & Seligman

2010-02-23T21:11:00.000-06:00

Grants Cafe

Grants, New Mexico is now small, but at one time was a booming mining town and had a huge produce processing plant.  I still like it a lot.  Much character here in Grants.

West Theatre with Avatar on the Marquee

 The Roarin' 20's 

Someone with a paint brush needs to lend a hand here

Badlands Burgers

Not old, actually pretty new and with a big claim to fame.  They were winners at the 2009 New Mexico State Fair for the best Green Chili Cheeseburger in New Mexico.  Not too shabby.  I can attest to the fact that it is very worthy of the award - delicious.  Frank (aka Mr. Picky) wasn't daring enough for the green chili version but had a regular old cheeseburger instead, it was also pronounced excellent.  Nice little family cafe that I suspect could really grow and go places with the excellent food.

Welcome to snowy Arizona!

I'm really not very fond of snow at all.  And when it's coming down on my annual escape to warmth in February, I'm even less fond of it.  Regardless, we trudge forward and have managed to stick to our itinerary as planned, except for arriving a little later than planned most everywhere. If that's the worst that can happen, then I'm OK with it.

 Route 66 - Holbrook, Arizona

Hilltop Cafe - Holbrook, Arizona

The Dairy Queen in Holbrook, but not just any 'ol DQ, this one has an arrow very similar to the ones you see at souvenir shops.  I like the local touch.

One of the three remaining Wigwam Motels is located in

 Holbrook, Arizona on Route 66.  They have vintage cars

 parked outside each room.

This unusal shaped building has been up for sale for

 at least a couple years.  I hope someone buys it soon. 

Route 66 - Winslow, Arizona

The famous Standin' on the Corner corner

All morning long, we had random CDs playing in the truck that Frank had mixed.  About a block from The Corner, guess what came on?  Yep, Standin' on The Corner by The Eagles.  Now how bizarre is that?  Must be Southwest mystic powers.

The Highway Diner in Winslow

The Brown Mug Cafe

The first time we drove bits and pieces of Route 66, we didn't know we were going to get hooked and continue exploring!  The Brown Mug is the first place we ever stopped for lunch on Arizona Route 66 so it holds a warm spot in my heart.  It's also the place where we learned that sopapillas do not always require honey as they do in the Midwest.  Much better without.

You MUST visit La Posada in Winslow!

La Posada started life as a Harvey House hotel and restauarant adjacent to the Santa Fe Railroad Depot.  It thrived for many years, then the Harvey Houses were closed in the late 1940s and many fell into decay. Most were destroyed over the years, but La Posada survived.  It is now privately owned and large portion of it has been renovated.  The owners are continuing to renovate the remainder of the building.  It's open for business as a hotel and restaurant.  We didn't eat or sleep here, but we did take an amazing stroll through the hotel and the grounds.  The owners have done an amazing job on a very large project.

This is much more attractive than our Fort Madison Post Office!

 Twin Arrows, Arizona

If you have followed along with us over the years, we always stop and take a few photos at Twin Arrows.  The arrows are quite famous and they were also deteriorating quickly to the point that last year one of the tops of the right hand arrow had fallen off.  However since then, I believe the Route 66 Arizona Assn (I may be wrong on that) got together and restored the arrows.  They are stunning now.  Thank you for taking the time to keep this landmark on Route 66 healthy!

On the flip side, the graffiti artists have been busy using the building as a palette.  Not nicely, I might add.  This place is in the middle of nowhere, but right off I-40 and Route 66 and while no one may be driving by on Route 66, you'd think someone driving down I-40 would notice people hanging out here.  Hope there's a way to end the graffiti soon.

We're on Route 66 heading from Winona into Flagstaff

Lunch at Miz Zip's today

Driving west outside of Flagstaff, Arizona

The Snowcap Drive In

We're in Seligman, one of my favorite funs towns on Route 66.

Angel and his wife Vilma have been instrumental in keeping Route 66 alive.  That's a bit of an understatement.  He's been the driving force for many years in Arizona and points beyond on preserving Route 66.  Thanks Angel!

Angel is a barber, but his heart seems to be in his vast Route 66 souvenir shop that attracts people from around the world. It's not a very big building, but I think that you could name any Route 66 souvenir your heart desired and you'd find it here.  There's a museum, too.  Be sure to stop here to visit.  Allow extra time so you don't miss anything!

Westward bound to Kingman, Arizona! 

All photos on this page taken on February 10, 2010

Route 66 Santa Rosa to Albuquerque

2010-02-23T17:38:00.000-06:00

The photos below were taken on February 9, 2010

Meant to include this photo on February 8 entry, but lost track of it in the camera for a few days!  At the Texas - New Mexico border, the New Mexicans were putting up a new welcome sign.  Not just any old welcome sign as you can see.  Beautiful stone supports on each side of the road.  Wait until you see the finished product as we continue our road trip!

One more pic from Santa Rosa - the Route 66 Restaurant.

 An oldie, but goodie.

The snow has tapered off and here at Cline's with high elevation of 7,000 some feet, just a dusting on the landscape.  Last year when we were at Cline's we had a white out.  This was better.

Onward to Albuquerque!

This is the east end of Old Route 66 in Albuquerque

Hiland Theatre

Driving west on Central Avenue aka Route 66 in Albuquerque.  This was a quick pic, but it's sort of interesting to study a

 little bit, lots of great old signage in this view. 

Has anyone ever eaten here?  Please do tell me about it!

Mystical little corner shop

Century Theatre Sign.  Love the architecture on this corner.

We watched this very modern, yet appropriate building on the corner being renovated for several years as we drove through downtown Albuquerque.   The corner terraces are fabulous.

I love this corner architecture, too.

Kimo Theatre

Very detailed facade, not so apparent in this drive by photo unfortunately!  That's what happens when you spend too much time in the antique malls pen hunting and have to hurry along.

Very well kept Firestone garage

The Silver Moon Lodge is not looking so good these days, but it still has a lot of Route 66 character.

Great neon sign at Garcia's Cafe.

Giddy-Up! 

Crossing the Rio Grande

Moooooo!  BIG Cow Alert!

Love the Western View Diner on west end of Albuquerque.

We were intending to do a little over-under-cross thingie and stay on Route 66 at the west end of Albuquerque, but it was construction city at that intersection with I-40.  First I turned too soon and found a dead end road.  Once turned around and supposedly back on track there was road equipment blocking my real turn to stay on the Mother Road.  So it was back on the interstate for a little while.

Rio Puerco Bridge

  Nicely restored, but closed to traffic.  The roadbed is original Route 66 on the left across the bridge.  The road on the right is not so old Route 66.

I-40 parallels at far left of bridge here.

One last photo for today as we start losing light.  Beautiful landscape here.  The rocky mesas are truly a work of art.

Los Angeles Pen Show 2010

2010-02-15T10:21:00.000-06:00

Fun for all at the LA Pen Show this past weekend. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to see us and thanks to all the folks behind the scenes that make this show very special. Some photos for you below that were taken on February 12, 13 and 14 at the Manhattan Beach Marriott.

Amarillo to Santa Rosa

2010-02-14T01:15:00.000-06:00

Even though the Cadillac Ranch is not on Route 66, it's so closely associated with it, well worth a look. This is the first time we've seen the cadillacs in snow. I need to rememer spray paint to add our names next time through.

Restored Magnolia Filling Station in Vega, Texas

That would be Tucumcari Mountain shrouded in snow

We love Tucumcari. Great neon motel signs. Do you remember the slogan Tucumcari Tonight? It was on billboards for miles in every direction. I remember. Some of the motels and their signs have seen better days. Some have been nicely restored. The Pony Solder sign looks pretty good, but the motel was recently demolished, so the sign stands near the road, but in an empty lot. Frank tried to catch as many motel signs on camera as we cruised down Route 66 through town. Where would you stay?

Between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, we got our annual cracked windshield. So far it's just a little crack, but they all start that way and usually by the time we finish the Route 66 adventure the crack has grown and we need a new windshield by the time we return home. The NM-DOT truck in the photo below was the culprit! It was tossing down red sand onto the road and red rock into the air. Needless to say we were in the wrong place at the wrong time! On the other hand, it's good to see the trucks out on the road trying to keep the ice and snow to a minimum.

The weather had taken a decided turn for the worse as we closed in on Santa Rosa, New Mexico. The electronic sign on I-40 indicated the road was closed at Santa Rosa. We slowly exited. Learned that there was back ice, slippery snow and a couple of tractor railers that tangled in east bound I-40, the road was closed in both directions until the accident was remove from the road. Since we didn't know how long we'd be in Santa Rosa, a good time to grab a cup of coffee and then visit the Santa Rosa car museum. We've been here in storms before and they usually pass through quickly. So off to the car museum!

The car and memorabilia photos are just a few of many Frank took. I want the Woody! But if someoe wanted to gift me with any of the vintage cars on display, I wouldn't turn them down. This is a fabulous museum, be sure to stop when in Santa Rosa.

Our day on the road isn't over yet! More pics from our snowy LA Pen Show adventure on Route 66 on February 9, 2010 coming soon.

Miami, Oklahoma to Amarillo, Texas

2010-02-11T08:43:00.000-06:00

Tulsa, Oklahoma

We sailed into Tulsa with just a few snow flurries and intentions of driving the pre-1932 alignment of Route 66. The flurries turned into bigger flurries, then even bigger snowflakes and finally juszt a few blocks into Tulsa, the full fledged blizzard began. We still navigted the early alignment, not a lot of traffic in downtown Tulsa. No problems driving in snow, but makes for not so good pictures. Frank took many regardless of the snow. The pic above was one of the better ones because we had the window rolled down to try and get a clear shot without all the specks.

Above pics in Tulsa. Random pics along Route 66.

Somewhere between Red Fork and Sapulpa

Still snowing, but not as hard in Sapulpa, Oklahoma where the above two pics were taken.

Old filling station in Bristow, Oklahoma

There sitting right in front of us as we were waiting at the stop sign was this cool old house. A blend of architecture styles that odly enough worked well. A little art deco, a little adobe-pueblo look and 6 over one windows which you wouldn't expect to see on an art deco or adobe home.

The famouse Rock Cafe and Skyiner Motel sign in Stroud, Oklahoma

Downtown Chandler, Oklahoma

Remains of an old stone filling station on Route 66 between Chandler and Arcadia

At the east edge of Arcadia is a ca. 1928 stretch of original Portland Concrete Route 66. About a mile of Mother Road that we had not driven before. This section of road is on the National Register of Historic Places. Well deserved.

We didn't stop at the Round Barn today, but I enourage everyone to stop in if you're driving Route 66 through Arcadia. Fabulous both inside and out. Frank tried to get a fresh pic for you, the snow interfered.

Pops in Aradia has soda pop - about 500 different kinds from around the world. Plus a streamlined soda foutain inside with modenized soda fountain type food. This was our first time eating here and we'd do it again. I had Butterscotch Root Beer with my grilled cheese. Last year we brought home a dozen different bottles of soda pop. We'd pick a different bottle for dinner and split it up for a taste testing - think wine tasting only soda pop tasting. On our trip back through if all goes as planned, we'll pick out some other sodas we haven't tried and do soda tastings again when we return home.

We're at the Cherokee Trading Post. The mural behind the painted buffalo was done of the side of what was once a motel. Motel has been closed for some time. Last year when we stopped, I thought the construction going on was probably due to renovating the motel, but this year we see they opted for the beautiful mural.

Yes, it was snowing in Texas, not to mention cold and windy on the high plains.

McLean, Texas. Rattlesnakes sign and some faux Burma Shave signs on Route 66 goig through town. McLean is also home of the Devil's Rope Museum and Route 66 Museum. Perhaps one of the Route 66 roadies out there can tell me if the Rattlesnakes sign is the same as once was on the roadside nea Lela? It looks the same and I don't recall seeing this in McLean before.

Frank snapped this snowy scene at a Texas rest area off I-40. I have never seen so much snow in Texas before. This could be a long trip if this keeps up!

We rolled into Amarillo for the night. Met up with friends George & Beth for dinner and a great little nightime tour of Amarillo. Thanks George & Beth!

All of the photos above were taken on February 8, 2010

Day One on the Road

2010-02-07T23:01:00.000-06:00

Little Flock Chapel & Rest Stop

Photo Taken February 7, 2010

The Little Flock Chapel & Rest Stop is just west of Centerville, Iowa on Hwy 2. It's cute, it's tiny, but still big enough to walk into the chapel. We've driven by for years, first time we stopped to take photos. That required a turn onto a very snowy gravel road and a turn around in an even snowier tiny parking area. Not many visitors this time of year.

Peculiar Missouri

We didn't stop, but the name of the town was just too peculiar not to take a photo of!

Photo Taken February 7, 2010

At Last! It feels good to be back on Route 66

Missouri Marked Route 66

Photo Taken February 7, 2010

Our first chance to hop off our route to get to Route 66 and onto Route 66 was at Brooklyn Heights, Missouri. We've driven this stretch west to east before and a number of years ago at that. Roads can take on a whole new look when driving the opposite direction. I think these blue and white Route 66 signs are new since we've been on this stretch, don\t remember them. Don't remember seeing blue ones elsewhere in the past in Missour, eitheri. Someone will surely clue me in on this. I like the blue, they're easy to see.

Peggy Sue's - Cartersville Missouri

Photo Taken February 7, 2010

Peggy Sue's was closed. Also up for sale. Anyone want a cute little diner on the Mother Road?

Bear in Skirt - Only on Route 66!

Photo Taken February 7, 2010

Route 66 Downtown Joplin

Photo Taken February 7, 2010

We're losing light, but here's a little glimpse of the downtown area of Joplin. Lots of nice old architecture. I'm growing attached to the blue signs because Navigator Frank was trying to listen to the Super Bowl on a crackly AM station and not doing much navigating.

Marsh Bridge near Baxter Springs, Kansas

Photo Taken February 7, 2010

If you've been hanging around Pendemonium, you saw this bridge in better light when we drove a rounnd about route down to the the Dallas Pen Show just so we could do the 13 mile of Kansas Route 66. We drove it again today, never gets old.

Waylan's Ku-Ku in Miami Oklahoma

Photo Taken February 7, 2010

Dinner at the Ku-Ku. Not only do they have great neon, but great food, too. I didn't have lunch today so I could have Route 66 food tonight! Steak fajita, deep fried pickles and limeade. Yeah, I know, quite the combination, but it was delicious. Since it's SuperBowl night, we had the place to almost to ourselves.

Coleman Theatre Miami Oklahoma

Photo Taken February 7, 2010

We stopped at several antique malls, shops and junky places on the drive today. Found great writing things at each stop. That was a nice change. Regardless of whether we find things or not, these stops are always fun, enjoy poking around in the old stuff even when we don't find fountain pens and related things. Today, we found Sheaffer Persian Rose Skrip. Not as exciting as the drug store batch of new Parker 51s from a few years ago, but not bad. Persian Rose is hard to find - think hen's teeth type hard to find. We're carefully transporting to the LA Pen Show one full 2 oz bottle and 2 partial bottles - all with their boxes. There's some blue, too. Maybe I'll try to make a special little area at our LA Pen Show exhibit to put out all of our finds.

Did I mention it's great to be on the road again?!?

Remember - Monday Midnight Madness goes out at midnight CT tonight. Watch your emailbox. We'll acknowledge your orders from the road.

P.S. Just ignore any typos. Really. Please. I write this late at night and darned if I can find the spellcheck button and even though I did a quick proofread, I know there are going to be typos.

Today is Packing Day

2010-02-05T09:35:00.001-06:00

The Blue Whale in Catoosa, Oklahoma

Photo taken February 9, 2009

Today, everything must get packed - all of our pens, inks and other writing things for the LA Pen Show along with clothes, shoes and the other necessities for a 2 week road trip. The strange part of all this is that today is Friday and we're not leaving until Sunday, but on Saturday we're off at 5AM to a Fort Madison High School Show Choir competition in Troy, Missouri - departure time 5AM, return time if we're lucky 2AM. Yes, this qualifies as an all day event! So the plan is to pack the car when we get back from Troy, grab some sleep and leave for our LA Pen Show Adventure 8AM Sunday morning. I'm a little weary just thinking about it, but it will all be forgotten once we hit the road.

For our Pendemonium customers peeking in today - a reminder that our retail shop is closed and our last batch or orders has been shipped this morning. Our online shop is of course open 24/7 and we will acknowledge all your orders from the road and answer emails. We'll resume shipping the week of February 22nd.

We have a long list of people to send postcards to from Route 66. We'd love to send one to you, too. Just email us with your name and snail mail address and sometime in the next couple of weeks we'll mail you an old fashioned picture postcard from a post office on Route 66.

That's all for now. It's back to packing, packing and yet more packing! I'm ready to get this show on the road!

Bumper Stickers

2010-01-29T14:21:00.000-06:00

On the left!

And on the right!

We don't go gung ho on bumper stickers, but every now and then I have a whim for one or two.  Had never given any thought at all about taking pictures of them until a couple weeks ago when I got rear-ended and the bumper acquired a big dent.  The realization hit that when the bumper was replaced, my bumper stickers would go away.  Frank took some photos to make me feel better.

Oddly enough, while we were in Santa Fe a few years back buying the Santa Fe bumper sticker shown above amongst other tempting things, our front bumper acquired a dent while parked.  Whoever backed into it, drove a yellow car and lacked enough common sense and courtesy to leave a note.  C'est la vie.  We may have a new back bumper, but the front one still has a souvenir dent from Santa Fe.  

When you travel Route 66 there are LOTS of bumper stickers for sale at all of the shops.  Perhaps I'll see one that tickles my fancy and start anew.   Or perhaps we'll just enjoy having a very shiny new bumper for awhile.  Does the fact that my Yellowstone National Park Bumper Sticker is gone now mean I can plan a trip there in the near future?  I could rationalize that!

Countdown to LA Pen Show Departure

2010-01-26T23:34:00.000-06:00

Tucumcari, New Mexico

Photo taken February 2003

Less than two weeks until we leave on our 2010 LA Pen Show Adventure.  I'm mentally ready!  Still have lots of things to do before we head west.  Need to make some hotel reservations.  Need to get all my ducks nicely lined up here at Pendemonium since even though we're hitting the road, business continues remotely for us.  There are SO many things we want to explore further on Route 66, but we can't decide what they will be and some of this is relevant to weather.  Not only is Fort Madison having a very white winter, but good chunks of Route 66 have had heavy snowfall the past few weeks as well.  Please, Mother Nature, we all need a good dose of warmth and sunshine.  Very serious about the sunshine!

While I'm lining up my ducks, a few reminders to our Pendemonium customers.    If you'll be at the Los Angeles Pen Show and would like us to bring anything to you at the show, now is the time to let us know!  Always happy to bring along packages and make personal deliveries at the show.  Email me with your wish list.

I gave in and agreed to present a seminar at the LA Pen Show  Use your fountain pen to jot this down in your planner - Think Ink seminar Saturday, February 13 at 3 PM.   Hope you can sneak away from the show floor for a little less than an hour to learn a little about all things inky.

Route 66 Postcard, anyone?

2010-01-18T22:40:00.001-06:00

Route 66 is Central Avenue in Albuquerque

Photo taken February 2008

Those of you who have been following along on our past Route 66 - LA Pen Show Adventures know that we like to send postcards from the road. This nicely ties together two of our loves - fountain pens and Route 66. We'd love to send a postcard to you!

All you need to do is email us at pendemonium@gmail.com and include your name and mailing address. At some point when we're on Route 66, we'll mail you a picture postcard. Easy as pie.

Just so you know, don't be surprised if the postcard you receive is not a Route 66 postcard. I'm currently continuing in my minimalism mode. That means I have waaay too many postcards from past road trips and other places we've visited that I was hoarding for some unknown reason. Now I'm sharing them.

Regarding the photo above which shows some of Albuquerque's great neon on Central Avenue/Route 66. To the best of my knowledge, there are at least three different Route 66 alignments in and around Albuquerque. Central Avenue is the most traveled. We've driven all of them, Central is the only one we haven't gotten lost on. Not sure yet which way we'll journey through Albuquerque on this year.

2010-01-14T14:38:00.000-06:00

Standin' On the Corner in Winslow Arizona - Route 66 - February 2008

While we're prepping and thinking about our upcoming 2010 LA Pen Show Adventure, we thought you might enjoy reading (or just looking at the photos!) of some of our past journeys.  You can also access all of the below, plus additional pen show pictures on our website in the Pen Show section.

LA Adventure
LA Adventure
LA Adventure
LA Adventure
LA Adventure
LA Adventure

Enjoy the ride!  Please fasten your seatbelt!

Pre-pre-planning & Musing on the LA Adventure

2010-01-12T22:58:00.000-06:00

I've spent a little time tonight perusing our previous LA Adventure routes and itineraries trying to decide if there's a certain part of Route 66 we might want to focus in on a little more than we have before.

We need to average about 380 miles a day to get to the LA Pen Show on time. I know for many of you that's next to nothing to drive in a day, but we tend to lolligag over breakfast & newspaper in the morning meaning it's never a super early start. Besides which if you start too early, all the cool places to visit aren't open yet! Antique malls and shops rarely open before 9 but you can count on 10 and that's where the old fountain pens are hiding (we hope!). Not to mention all the Route 66 sights and souvenir shops which require a stop.

Ideally, it would be great to plan the overnights so they are in places we haven't stayed before. At the very least, we'll try to visit some places we haven't been to in a few years and hopefully some places we haven't stopped at to explore at all. We've driven Route 66 from various points in Missouri to LA and back eight times now taking anywhere from 2-3 weeks each time. 2010 will be a 2-weeker.

I'm always excited about a little time to re-energize this time of year. Our departure date is less than a month away!

Oh! This font that I'm using is Courier. It's the closest look I could get to old fashioned looking typewriter writing and since this is an old fashioned type of road adventure, it needed an appropriate font to use to document it.

Back to the maps now.

Welcome - 2010 LA Pen Show Adventure

2010-01-11T23:27:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Pendemonium's 2010 LA Adventure
We hope you'll come along for the ride with us!

Each year we travel to the Los Angeles International Pen Show via the Mother Road - that's Route 66 for you non-road warrior types. No airplanes, no luggage hassles, no security checks, but there is an Agricultural Check Point when we cross from Arizona into California. Sometimes there are travel delays due to getting a little too far off the beaten path, but that is of our own doing.

We've been doing this travelogue for a bunch of years now. It's now in it's second decade - yikes! We thought we might take a break this year & actually sleep at night, but before we had a chance to announce this, there were inquiries asking if we'd be doing The LA Adventure again this year. Shock of shocks, there are people out there who actually wait for this each year! So, once again, here we are. And in all honesty, we have fun doing this. It gets harder and harder though to take pics of things we haven't taken pics of before! If you're a devoted follower of Pendemonium's LA Adventure, you'll probably see some things you've seen before, I'll try to keep the text fresh for you! If you're new to our travelogue, then I don't have to worry about keeping it fresh - phew!

Yes, we've moved the travelogue again. TravelPod that we used in 2009 wasn't very user-friendly for me. I hate overloading our website guru when we're away since she already has enough to do. And as most of you know, I am not a very savvy computer person, so it has to be simple for me to do. So this is the place to be - the wannabe blog that rarely gets updated is now the home of Pendemonium's 2010 LA Adventure.

Sam (that's me!) does the writing and loading of photos part. I'm also the one who screeches to a halt while driving to request pictures! Frank takes most of the photos. He puts up with road craziness. We try to do this when we've stopped driving for the day. Sometimes it's the next morning. Sometimes we miss a day. (Please note reference to sleep or lack thereof in paragraph two above) While the LA Pen Show is in progress we're not on a real road, just the LA freeway maze, so we try to put up some show pics. Pen shows get busy for us, sometimes we get behind. Sometimes internet connections in the middle of nowhere are less than desirable. We're telling you all of this because while we try to post a few pics each day, sometimes we miss. Don't worry if we vanish for a day or so, we'll tell you when it's all over and you can get back to life without the LA Pen Show Adventure!

Tentatively, we're planning to start our LA Adventure on February 7, 2010. That's still a few weeks away, so it might change. I'll let you know. If you're a Pendemonium junkie and we hope you are, updates about our LA Adventure will be forthcoming on the website in the usual places.

All for now, back to pens!

Sam

Fallen off the Blog Again!

2009-01-03T14:31:00.000-06:00

Yikes!

In spite of all good intentions, I have fallen off the blog again! Between updating the website, pulling together Inky Greetings and Midnight Madness each week, posting pens on and reading FPN, PT and Zoss and Twittering, the blog seems to be forgotten more than it is remembered. I will have to decide here soon if I'm going to continue the blog and if so, how I'm going to work that in with the rest of the cyberspace activities!

At the very least, allow me to take a moment to you a Happy New Year!

Sam

Before the Fort Madison Holiday Lighted Parade

2008-11-25T08:43:00.000-06:00

This Friday, November 28th is Fort Madison's annual lighted Holiday Parade and it is the largest lighted parade in Iowa. One of my very favorite events of the year, obviously many others enjoy it too, since it brings about 10,000 people to historic downtown Fort Madison.

I am always a tad fascinated by the pre-parade prep in and around town. The street cleaners were by this morning at about 5:30am. Right now, the tree service is in town, doing their annual tree pruning, they're doing a good job, the trees look nice. Rich, our chief parade organizer deserves lots of praise for pulling the parade together every year, it's a year long volunteer job. The downtown shops are decked out in all thier holiday finery. Parade floats are seen all over town for last minute light checks and repairs. Rich and crew will start lining them up on the parade route very early on Friday AM.

Pendemonium has a float and we put it in the parade two years ago. It is the old Sheaffer Pen Company float. Last year, we kept it out of the parade because it really needs some work. Argh, we didn't get the work done this summer and to add insult to the whole matter someone stole our generator for the float during an ice storm in town ... we were at the LA Pen Show. Quite aggravating, but hopefully it kept someone warm during the ice storm and power outage. So, no Pendemonium float this year and I know we have to work on this issue. I am putting the float for 2010 higher up on my priority list.

Here's a link to some photos Frank took in downtown Fort Madison during the 2006 holiday season. We hope you'll enjoy them. http://www.pendemonium.com/fmholidayseason06.htm

Getting Ready for Holiday Open House

2008-11-24T12:05:00.001-06:00

The week of Thanksgiving is always especially chaotic around Pendemonium. It's a good chaos, but can make me a little weary at points. Every year, the weekend after Thanksgiving, we hold our annual Holiday Open House at our retail shop in Fort Madison. That means the days prior require the traditional Thanksgiving cleaning, re-arranging and festive decorating. We spend a good part of Thanksgiving Day putting on the finishing touches, this has turned into a tradition in itself. Oh yes, we still do the turkey and all the trimmings, we mesh that all together with the shop activities and amazingly it works out pretty well - we haven't burned anything yet! It helps that we live just a flight of stairs up from the shop. So, today is day one of serious preparation, we've all been scurrying around trying to decide which pens will get displayed, how we're going to display them and making sure they are all working and writing properly. I think we'll have some nice surprises for everyone who stops by for our Holiday Open House this weekend.

Info Central?

2008-11-23T21:07:00.000-06:00

Seven some months later, here we are back again on the blog with our cyper-pen aka the keyboard and a bright white blank sheet of paper aka the monitor to compose a few thoughts on. Our wonderful Pendemonium webguru and I have had some blog talks in the past few months. Perhaps this little spot in cyberspace might be a good home for answers to all the questions we get about pens, inks, paper and could we please help identify Uncle Edson's fountain pen. My friend Dan refers to Pendemonium as Info Central, I try to convince him it is not. He insists. I end up trying to find the answers because if I don't he'll just ask again. It's OK, Dan is one of my favorite people.

Just today, I've had e-discussions going back and forth about a number of things. There's the woman who needs to know what kind of pen she has, but more importantly how to get the ink cartridge that is stuck in the barrel out so she can use the pen again. Little did I know it had been stuck in there for years! I did ID her pen, but I think she's still trying to get the cartridge out. We also had a nice gent inquire about his spinning pen cap which further led to discussion about the Sheaffer Pen Co's Service Center which happens to be in the same town we are in. When the good folks at Sheaffer get a little behind on email and phone messages, people seem to think I can help. I can only sympathize a little with folks on this since we are not Sheaffer and they have to answer their own questions! I do have my limits. We also had the man in Italy who broke his Parker 51 desk pen nib today, it once belonged to his grandfather and I'm racking my brain trying to remember who I should refer him to in Italy because family pens are important. I really do enjoying talking pens with people. I'll have to mull over a little further the blog-info central-helpful fountain pen hints scenario. I'm telling myself not to take so darned long to blog again, life seems to interfere with this blogging stuff. Thus far, no one knows I have this little blog except me and that is probably a good thing!

Let the Blog Begin!

2008-04-17T23:13:00.000-05:00

Inky Greetings to All!

Everyone, well perhaps not EVERYONE, but an awful lot of people ask where my blog is, so in a bow to techie-geeky-computer things of which I do not know enough about, here is my blog! Honestly, there is not enough time in the day to take care of everything I already am supposed to be doing, but perhaps this will be a good place to cyber-journal a little bit. Not the same without a fountain pen and where is the ink - please use your imagination and visualize flowing script in a lovely shade of ink on crisp writing paper! There .... that's better.