Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It – Fort Beale RV Park, Kingman, Arizona

June 3, 2020

20

Temperature 97 Degrees

Kingman Art Program

Kingman Veterans Park

We decided to stay home today but that doesn’t mean there is nothing to share with you.  I have a few items left over from our past travels that I would like to share with you now.

Know what this is?  I thought I did but oh was I wrong.  This is a chuckwalla lizard sculpture.  A what you say.  I did a little digging and discovered:  Chuckwallas are medium-sized lizards found primarily in arid regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is said that they make great pets. They are easy to care for, very hardy, and will seldom if ever try to bite. Their docile, friendly temperament makes them a pleasant reptile that is a joy to handle.  They are vegetarians and obtain water from the leaves and plants that they eat.

The statue itself is made of metal and Italian mosaic glass.

Muralist Kirk Seese, who Kingman has to thank for the new mural on the rear wall of the Beale Street Theater, spent 8 to 10 hours a day over the course of four days to complete the work that he called a depiction of love.

Remember this one?  I did a bit of investigating and discovered that:  Sometimes known as Jack rabbit sculpture, this is a beautiful urban art piece in Kingman Arizona, on Route 66, also called “Running Hare”. It’s a metal sculpture made by Donald Gialanella,

We move to another park in Kingman that we discovered.

I always deeply appreicate a community that values its veterans enough to keep their memory alive.

May your deeds and service never be forgotten or taken for granted.

A long lost relative?

In another park of the park there was this monument to the past.

Lt. Beale was the first and the last to use a camel train in the exploration of the southwest.

The wagon route as surveyed by Lt. Beale.

The Army established Fort Beale Springs for the protection of settlers and travelers who moved along the northern route.

That, as they sometimes say, is a wrap.

Our day on The Road of Retirement is drawing to a close.  The only project accomplished today was the de-linting of our washing machine.  The makers of the machine recommend a monthly cleaning procedure when the machine is used on a regular basis to keep lint from building up in the drain line of the machine.  That was it for today.

Before you go think on this.

Thanks for joining us today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It – Fort Beale RV Park, Kingman, Arizona

June 2, 2020

21

Temperature 96 Degrees

The Demonstrators Have Arrived

The Mural Trail

I guess it was only a matter of time.  The demonstrators have arrived at Locomotive Park.

Plenty of young adults.

And not so young.  All of one mind seeking justice and making sure that everyone knows that all lives matter.

Time now to travel the Mural Trail.  We discovered, unfortunately, that some of them are no more.  Many businesses have remodeled and painted over the originals.  Here, though, are the remaining ones that we discovered.

This one will forever be a favorite of mine.

One for Ford fans.  Remember when the Mustang first came out?  They were the hot ride.

The century-old Hotel Beale and its rooftop sign in downtown Kingman, Arizona, are one of the most-photographed landmarks in the city, but it has been closed for nearly 20 years and deteriorating because of an owner who refuses to sell it or refurbish it.  The storied old hotel that served as the boyhood home for character actor Andy Devine has a rather lengthy celebrity association. Buster Keaton stayed at the hotel while filming Go West in 1925. Charles Lindbergh was a frequent guest during the construction of the airfield to serve his pioneering T.A.T. Airline. Purportedly, Tap Duncan, Louis L’Amour, and Amelia Earhart were also guests.  What’s to become of it?  At this point in time, unfortunately, no one knows.  But the future for this remarkable icon of history does not look good.

This mural is on the top of the Kettlehut Antique Store.  This antique store located in the downtown merchants mall has 5 rooms full of just about everything:  dolls, books, and antique furniture to name just a few.

These murals are on the side of the Gruninger Building.  The W. A. Gruninger Building was designed and built by Gruninger & Son in 1921. Gruninger & Son built it as an investment property. The first floor was a store front for rent. The second floor had office space. The Gruningers had their own office there. Today the building is still used for a store and office space for the downtown area of Kingman.

A testimony to the ranch hands that made this area great.

In about 1916, the last year for stagecoach service out of Kingman, a Chalmers-Maxwell-Packard agency opened on the corner of Fourth and South Front Street.  It was Kingman’s first service station. As the traffic on Route 66 was increasing by leaps and bounds it became the largest and most complete auto service facility in Kingman for many years.

But was it ever a Packard garage?  Some say yes, some say no.  On the yes side the current owner of the garage, now in his 90’s, has an astounding memory and clearly recounts, names, dates, and locations for numerous businesses. He has been associated with the Old Trails Garage since age 8 and claims that a Packard dealership operated at this facility for a short period around 1949 or 1950. He also has a matchbook with the Packard logo and the address of the Old Trails Garage.

On the no side many have scoured back issues of newspapers for this area and while advertisements for the Old Trails Garage appear in almost every issue of past papers and they do provide clear indication that Studebaker, Mack, Willys, Buick, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Cadillac, Jeep, and LaSalle have all been sold at the Old Trails Garage complex. There is, however, nothing in the newspaper to link it with Packard.

So the mystery remains.

Locals tell us that this is the place for a burger and a brew.  Sadly, I don’t believe we’ll be able to check it out.

Good grief, what is a bath bomb?  Never mind I don’t believe I want to know.

This one also shows the whole route starting in Chicago, Illinois, then gong through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending in Santa Monica.

When we first visited this museum we thought there was only the mural

on the front wall.  How wrong we were. Come, see the rest.

We come now to the end of our mural tour.

We’ll end with one of the most photographed murals in Kingman.  The mural on the water tank (remember what the blue ribbon stands for?).  But did you know:

• The water tanks, once used to add water to railroad steam engines, are more than 100 years old.
• Rusty and leaking, the tanks were slated to be torn down in 1986.
• Longtime Kingman resident Betty McBrayer led a citizen effort to save the tanks as historical artifacts.
• McBrayer had a flair for the dramatic. After collecting more than 1,000 signatures urging the tanks’ preservation, she taped the signatures together into a long scroll and unrolled it across the floor of the city council’s chambers to the mayor’s desk.
• After the tanks were refurbished, today local residents pitch in with the upkeep — including its prominent Route 66 shield.

Thanks for coming along with us on The Mural Trail.  We hope you enjoyed the murals as much as we did.  We had a wonderful time tracking them down and photographing them, and learning even more of the history of this area.  We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again no matter where you go if you look real hard you’ll always find something to do and see.  This definitely was not a planned stop of ours this summer but it became one full of wonderful things to do.  We’re so grateful for that.  And would you believe – we’re not finished yet! So stay tuned.

Since we were out and about we decided to make a few stops for several things we needed.  We also decided to stop at Jersey Mike’s and pick up a couple of Big Kahuna’s and bring them home for lunch.

Once again we had another wonderful day on The Road of Retirement.  We are definitely enjoying ourselves to the fullest.  Life is anything but boring.  Day after day we continue to find new things to do and we continue to travel along, hand in hand, singing our song.  Thank you God for the beautiful life that you’ve given us to live.

In ending I believe this says it all.

Thanks for joining us today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It – Fort Beale RV Park, Kingman, Arizona

June 1, 2020

Temperature 94 Degrees

Setting Up The Scan Gauge

Mexican Train

The Mural Trail

Absolutely heartbreaking.  I believe in peaceful demonstrations but this is absolutely beyond belief. I grieve. I’m heartbroken. I hear the cries of those who are feeling disenfranchised, those who feel they have no voice, those who work to keep us safe. Our whole world has been turned upside down.  Let me encourage us to together pray that our new normal – whenever it comes – will be defined by cooperation, caring, love for our neighbor and peace.  Yes, God that we know that this is a major- miracle ask – but we hope for it.  Make something positive come from all that we’re enduring.  Please O God!!!!!

Today was another easy day for both of us.

I installed my new Scan Gauge on the dash and began setting it up.  The major reason I purchased it was to accurately monitor water and transmission temperature.  I also want to be able to monitor turbo boost, oil pressure, air intake temperature, and when and at what RPM I’m making maximum torque and horsepower.  Come June 23rd we’ll put it to its first test.

What would a day be like around here without a game of Mexican Train.  I will say the tide has definitely turned.  Last week I couldn’t lose.  This week I’m hard pressed to win just one round!

Now it is time to go back to the Mural Trail.

This is another establishment that is chock full of murals.  You’ll find them

on the Inn itself and on the attached

restaurant which is still closed for business.

As your turn into the parking lot this is the first mural you spot.  We all know who the three on the right are, correct? Back in the days when Vegas was dangerous and everybody smoked and drank, the Rat Pack – Frank, Sammy and Dean – ruled.

Turn to your left and you find The Route 66 Drive In Cartoon Theater.

Come on, we’ve got a lot more to see.

Once again, I find all of these murals so amazing.  I can only imagine the hours spent painting each one, and the hours required to keep each of them in pristine condition.  My hat is off to the artist or artists who painted them for our enjoyment.

Heading home a few more to share today.

With the start of WWII Route 66 was finally paved from one end to the other.  It then became a major thoroughfare for the movement of war materials.

Take a close look.  Notice the figures.

That’s it for the Mural Trail today.  We have more to share and more to find.  Tomorrow we’ll go back out hunting for the ones we missed over the weekend.

We had another great day on The Road of Retirement.  Temperatures are about were they should be for this time of year, both during the day and at night.  We continue to travel along hand in hand, singing our song,  No complaints for life is good for us.  Hope it is for you also.

Found on the driveway of our home church over the weekend.

Thanks for joining us today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!

.

Places We Have Called Home in 2020

Home Is Where We Park It – Fort Beale RV Park, Kingman, Arizona

May 31, 2020

Temperature 92 Degrees

Worship at The Colts Neck Reformed Church

The Mural Trail

Did you catch that historic moment this morning when our two newest astronauts came sailing through the air lock from the Dragon Capsule into the Space Station?  It was thrilling to witness such an historic moment.  Unfortunately, one of the two did not do too well.  The astronaut on the far right (I just can’t get their names straight) came in a little too fast and ended up cracking his forehead on a metal object in the Space Station.  Poor guy, for the longest time he spent his first minutes onboard holding a paper towel to his head to stem the flow of blood.  Hopefully, nothing else will jump up and bite him in the months ahead.

We began our Sunday morning with worship at our home church, The Colts Neck Reformed Church in Colts Neck, NJ

The call to worship was really neat.  They assigned parts to individuals scattered around this great country of ours.  They had participants from Oregon, North Carolina, Idaho, Virginia, Ohio, New York, California, Pennsylvania, Washington, Iowa, Michigan, and New Jersey.  Each in turn recited their part of the call to worship.

Special music was a harp solo.

Pastor Scott gave another great message on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life.  He reminded us that the Spirit is always there within each of us. He reminded us that the Holy Spirit is God presence with us everywhere and at all times.  He went on to remind us that the Holy Spirit is with us to empower, to guide, to inspire, to protect and to guide us through all the twists and turns, all the challenges and struggles of life.  A great message for the beginning of another new week.

Later on in the service I was thrilled to be able to offer the Pastoral Prayer.  I taped the segment earlier in the week and then sent it to the church to be included in this week’s service.

The worship service concluded with Pastor Scott encouraging us to heed the words of our Lord:  to love God with all that we are and likewise to love our neighbor as ourselves.  If you ask me these are words we all need to hear and practice especially in light of the violence that is occurring  in so many places in our country today.

Moving on.

When we were in Maine we heard about The Sculpture Trail and after finding one or two of the Sculptures on the trail we were hooked and off we went to find all the others.

Well, here in this area they have what we would call The Route 66 Mural Trail.  You know we could not pass this up.  Not on your life.  So yesterday we started to track them down.  Some of them we were able to find descriptions for and the artist responsible for them.  Others, unfortunately not.

Our first mural.  A map of Route 66 and the states that it goes through.

This was our next stop.

The El Trovatore motel is one of the few pre-World War II tourist courts left in Kingman. The business started in 1937 as a service station, with the tourist court added later in 1939, at which time it was $3 per night and was the first motel air-conditioned in the state.  In the past such notable icons as Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe as well as James Dean were all guests here.  Recently renovated it now offers a choice of different themed hotel rooms that one can choose from one.

 This is the recently restored historic 100 foot high neon tower sign and neon marqee which is lit nightly.

Here, though, is what it is best known for.

This is the route’s end in California.

This is also where the map starts.  It begins at the first room adjacent to the office, and continues

along and across the rooms in the front of the building going from state

to state

to state

to state

to state

to state

to the other terminus of the route, or the start of the route, however you look at it in Chicago.

But we’re not finished yet, not at all.  There are a lot – I mean a lot – more murals to see.

Remember her?  We’ll bump into her again on this mural trail.

Of course you know who he is.

You also know who this sexy lady is.  She will also show up again in another place on the trail.  And the cars, do you know what movie they were featured in?

Does he look familiar?

Yabba, Dabba, Doo!

Two friends who through their comedy taught the true meaning of friendship.

Remember these three?  In actuality six Stooges appeared over the act’s run (with only three active at any given time): Moe Howard (t/n Moses Horwitz) and Larry Fine (t/n Larry Feinberg) were mainstays throughout the ensemble’s nearly fifty-year run and the pivotal “third stooge” was played by (in order of appearance) Shemp Howard (t/n Samuel Horwitz), Curly Howard (t/n Jerome Horwitz), Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser and “Curly” Joe DeRita.

Painted on the units in the back we find the following murals.

I have to say the murals were absolutely fantastic.  I can only imagine the hours that went into painting them and the hours required to maintain them.  I’m so grateful to whoever the artist is for giving me the opportunity to view these beautiful murals.

Next mural on the trail we found at the Lutheran Church.

Around the corner from the church we discovered yet another mural.

The next, and final, mural for this evening we discovered here.

That’s it for this evening.  We have more murals to find and more to share with you so stay tuned.

Darkness has descended upon us and our day on The Road of Retirement has come to an end.  We stayed in today and enjoyed the coolness of Elvira.  Tomorrow, well we may or may not go out.  Probably not.  Especially since most attractions we want to see will not open until Tuesday.

I just had to include this.

We hope you enjoyed the murals as much as we did.  We’re also grateful for each and everyone of our readers and their comments.  See you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Elvira and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before.

See you on down the road!