Day 2 & Day 3

Hello Cats and Kittens.....

Travelling with a two year old and a cat in the van is no walk in the park. Actually, Andrew is doig suprisingly well. He really entertains himself in the back seat, between the DVD player in the head rest and a basket of toys by his car seat, he seems pretty content. Sometimes its difficult when we want to site see and he's deep in sleep, but that's life in the town, folks.

Anyway, Day 2 was considerably more exciting than the first day because we were covering new territory. We left Barstow and got on Interstate 40, the infamous interstate that replaced Route 66 and bypassed all those wonderful little R66 towns back in the 70's and early 80's.

The most exciting part of the trip was stopping in Seligman, Arizona. It was exciting for me because of a gentleman that lives there named Angel Delgadillo.

I first learned of Mr. Delgadillo by watching the behind the scenes documentary of "Cars". He was interviwed because he was part of a small group of people who worked together to bring Historical Route 66 (what it's called now that the highway was officially decommissioned) and put it back on the map. I wanted to meet him because I was so impressed, as a history major, how great it was that he worked to pass down a major part of American history to the world. He was one man with a few others that said "You will not bypass me. You will not pave over my town only to put up a Barns and Noble or a Starbucks".

Anyway....

We got to his barber shop around 1pm and his son-in-law was there. He and I got to talking about the lure of the road and he told me Angel was off that day but would be happy to ride his bike over and meet me. RIDE HIS BIKE. He's 80-something years old!!!

Sure enough about 20 mins later, in walks Angel Delgadillo. Roy tended to Andrew while Angel and I talked. We talked about so many things. He's a very sharp and wise man. We talked about how people just don't slow down any more, that while litterally, the "superslab" (interstate) means people don't have to slow down anymore and stop off in funky little towns with Cafes that have waitresses named Flo and you can eat a piece of pie served by the person who made it, figuratively, we have also become a society in which the journey is no longer the most important part of the destination.


We talked some more about life, the universe and other things and he told me "You know, Lisa, your visit really made my day". HIS day? I felt blessed to meet such a great man.

I found a goofy little R66 souvineer that I wanted, but he would't take my money. I said, "Angel, this is how we keep Route 66 alive" and he gestured between him and me and whispered, "No, THIS is how we keep Route 66 alive". (Referring to our conversation).

Here's a picture of me, Andrew and Angel. (never mind Andrew's interesting hand placement, lol) This is in his barbershop. He has postcards and letters from people all over the world who have come to visit him.




















After that, we headed down the road. We were staying in Winslow, AZ that night. Getting through Flagstaff was a little tricky. There was alot of snow, tho none on the road, so that was good. It was a beautiful winter wonderland.

We didn't do too much in Winslow. In fact, it was about an hour after we got on the road that we realized we forgot to go stand "on the corner in Winslow, Arizona" like in the Eagles song. (they have a monument for it.) oh well.

Entering into New Mexico, there were beautiful red rock buttes and mountains everywhere. it was so easy to imagine tribes of indians living on the land, riding their painted ponies along the hills and mountains.

Here's a couple pics

We'll be ending up in Santa Rosa New Mexico for Day 3.

tune in next time kids.