We’re getting hitch itch and are looking forward to getting back on the road in a week or two. Since we’re sitting still right now, I’ve been looking over past issues of the Gypsy Journal and thinking about some of our favorite routes from past travels. Here are my ten favorite RV routes.

Natchez Trace Parkway – They called it the Devil’s Backbone back in the days when Indians, outlaws, and renegades prowled this historic route, preying on unwary travelers But today, the Natchez Trace Parkway is pure heaven for RVers! Picture 450 miles of good two lane road that meanders through  hardwood forests and past charming small towns, with a speed limit of 50 miles per hour, and no commercial traffic allowed, with frequent pullouts large enough for any size RV, and you can see why we love this historic highway that winds from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. If you haven’t put this trip on your travel itinerary, do it now. You’ll be glad you did!

US Highway 101 – Further south in California, this scenic route loses much of its charm, but from Eureka, California to the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, US 101 will take you through some of the most beautiful scenery you’ll find anywhere in the country. Take your time, because you’ll be treated to dramatic ocean views, charming small towns, lighthouses, fishing villages, and if you’re really lucky, even whales passing by just offshore!

LoLo Pass Trail – If I had to choose my very favorite route in America, in terms of scenery, it would be US Highway 12 between Missoula, Montana and Lewiston, Idaho, which locals call the Lolo Pass Trail. The excellent two lane highway follows the route explorers Lewis and Clark took on their epic trek west, with towering mountains on one side and the beautiful Clearwater River on the other.  Keep your camera handy for an opportunity to photograph deer, elk, moose, and whitewater rafters. 

US Highway 2 – If you love unspoiled forests, friendly small towns, scenic views of deep water, and a slower travel pace, you should take some time to travel US Highway 2 across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. For most of the 140 miles between Escanaba on the west, and St. Ignace on the east, you’ll be passing within spitting distance of beautiful Lake Michigan. It’s a good highway, and you can make good time if you want to, but with scenery like this, why would you hurry?

Great River Road – The Great River Road is one of America’s national treasures, and a route every RVer should take at least once. From the headwaters of the Mississippi River in northern Minnesota,  this series of local, state, and federal roads follows the course of the river south through ten states, to where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico, introducing you to beautiful views, wonderful small towns, river barges, and history every mile of the way.

Route 66 – Much of this historic route has been swallowed up or paved over by interstate highways, but there are still many sections of the Mother Road to be explored between its origin in Chicago, Illinois and its terminus in Santa Monica, California. You could spend an entire season tracing the many alignments of this nostalgic highway by RV and with your dinghy, and still not see it all.

Overseas Highway – The Overseas Highway, the southernmost leg of US Highway 1, carries you from Miami, Florida to Key West, affording views of the sparkling blue water of the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. Along the way, you’ll pass funky tourist towns, a dolphin sanctuary, beautiful beaches, cross over the impressive Seven Mile Bridge, and back into history. One note here, while this is a great trip, you’ll have to park your RV somewhere else at the end of your journey, because the streets in Key West, at the southern end of your route, are not suited for large vehicles.

Old Spanish Trail – Incorporating US Highway 90 in the east and US Highway 80 in the west, the route known to old time travelers as the Old Spanish Trail, is an interesting and memorable journey that will carry you from Jacksonville Beach, Florida all the way west to San Diego, California, as you trace America’s history from coast to coast.

Lincoln Highway – The Lincoln Highway was America’s first transcontinental highway, stretching from New York to San Francisco, and though the old route has been replaced by Interstate 80, you can still drive much of the original route, especially in the east and Midwest. It’s a slow paced trip to remember.  

US Highway 60 – Beginning at an intersection with Interstate 10 in Quartzsite, Arizona, and stretching all the way to Virginia Beach, Virginia, we love to take this slow, scenic highway when we travel east from our old hometown in Show Low, Arizona. Sure, we could go north a few miles and jump on Interstate 40, but what fun would that be? We prefer to take our time, stop for lunch in small town cafes, and experience the real America that the superslab bypasses.

So there you have it, my ten favorite great RV routes. Tell us about some of yours.

Bad Nick doesn’t have hitch itch, but he is pretty ticked off at the latest rip off coming out of Washington. Check out his new Bad Nick Blog post titled Adding Insult to Injury and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day -A bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless you fail to make the turn.

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Yesterday was a weird weather day. When we woke up we had about an inch of snow covering everything, but at least the wind from the day before had stopped. We left for Flagstaff about noon, and bucked a headwind most of the way, but nothing the van couldn’t handle.

About fifteen miles east of Flagstaff it began to snow hard, and within minutes it was sticking to the windshield and starting to cover the roadway. Near Winona, Miss Terry spotted several elk on a hillside, but the best I could do was a quick glance because driving was becoming a challenge.

Once we got to the Arizona Daily Sun newspaper, who does our printing when we’re in Arizona, it was nearly a whiteout, and the temperature had dropped fifteen degrees. It was so nasty that we pulled the van inside their pressroom to load up the new issue.

We had to make a couple of quick stops before we left town, and when we got back on Interstate 40 eastbound we were both wondering if we could make it safely back to Show Low.  The road was covered in snow, and more was coming down! We knew that we had at least fifteen miles of this, if not more, depending how far east the storm had moved.

Then, miraculously, in less than a mile after getting on the interstate, the snow suddenly stopped and we were driving in sunshine so bright that we could see the shadows of the cars around us! We had dry roads and no wind all the way home. Like I said, weird weather.

In a blog a few days ago, I wrote about Two Guns, once a famous Route 66 icon. Just a few miles west of Two Guns is another reminder of the good old days, the Twin Arrows Trading Post. Long abandoned, the historic trading post has been fading away and is looking pretty forlorn, and the two huge arrows that were a Route 66 landmark had about disintegrated.

I’m happy to report that the arrows have been refurbished and are looking good today, and the news is that the old trading post will be restored, as part of a project that will include an Navajo Indian casino on the other side of Interstate 40. It’s good to see a part of history coming back to life.

I’m afraid I have some bad news to report. Any RVer who has been to a Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) rally surely knows Henry Gartner, aka Flakey the Magic Clown. For years Flakey has been a fixture at RV rallies, where he rides around on his motorized cart and performs magic tricks for the crowds. We received word yesterday that Henry’s beloved wife Kathy passed away Wednesday in Ohio. We always enjoyed visiting with Kathy and Henry, and we extend our condolences to Henry at this terrible time. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Miss Terry will be busy the next few days stuffing envelopes, so we can get the new issue back to the mail service in Flagstaff on Monday. Since the weather report is for more cold weather the next few days, it’s just as well. We’re happy to stay snug and warm inside our cozy home on wheels until good weather returns. Assuming it ever does!

Meanwhile, Bad Nick posted a new Bad Nick Blog titled Obama Bashing Gone Too Far. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – Happiness is good health and a bad memory.

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On our way back to Show Low after dropping the new issue of the Gypsy Journal off at the printer in Flagstaff yesterday, we took a break to explore the ruins of Two Guns, which was once a Route 66 icon.

There isn’t much left these days except stone ruins, but you can just feel the history of this old place.

Two Guns is sandwiched between Interstate 40 (which replaced Route 66) and Diablo Canyon, a deep, rough chasm with a history all its own. Warring Indians used the canyon as a refuge and to launch ambushes against their enemies. One legend tells of a “death cave” in the canyon near Two Guns, in which a war party of 42 Apaches hid after raiding two Navajo villages. When the Navajos pursuing the war party discovered the secret cave, they set fires at the entrance, sending their enemies to a horrible death by smoke inhalation and asphyxiation.

Early white settlers built a small, short lived community known as Canyon Lodge here, but the town failed before long. Two Guns was built on the old town site.

Two Guns was named for a eccentric hermit named “Two Gun Miller,” who claimed to be an Apache and to live in a cave in Canyon Diablo. Miller operated a trading post and tourist attraction at Two Guns, making a living off the travelers who passed by.  He was a colorful character who billed himself as “Chief Crazy Thunder,” wore his long hair braided, and told wild tales of his adventures to thrill the tourists.

Two Guns was typical of the Route 66 tourist traps that dotted the highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. Miller built a series of stone buildings at Two Guns, including a zoo where he displayed several mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and a collection of other wild animals. Other buildings include a restaurant, Indian curio shop, and a tourist court where road weary travelers could spend the night.

We drove past the ruins of the old mountain lion pens and across an ancient concrete bridge, then followed a dirt road a quarter mile or so to the main ruins perched on the edge of Canyon Diablo. Most of the old stone and block buildings have fallen in, but one turret-like structure still had a spiral stairway winding up the outside of it.

Being careful of rattlesnakes, we walked around the old ruins and wondered about the lives of those who had been here before us. Peering over the edge of the deep canyon, we understood why it was such an important refuge for the Indians who once lived here, and why it was such a roadblock when the railroad came through northern Arizona. 

The road was a bit rough, but our van had no problem getting us back to the ruins. I wouldn’t want to drive it in a passenger car, and in bad weather I wouldn’t attempt it in anything less than a four wheel drive vehicle.

I was pleased to see that, unlike many of the ghost towns I have been too, overall Two Guns is in decent shape. There was evidence of a camp fire, a few broken bottles, but no graffiti or piles of trash laying around.

Two Guns is located on the south side of Interstate 40 at Exit 230, and is visible from the highway. After you turn off the highway, there are the remains of a service station and campground on the hill to your right, but if you go there, you’ve gone too far. The road to Two Guns is an immediate right after you get off the highway. Drive west about 1/4 mile and turn through the fence to Two Guns. 

Thought For The Day – We have enough youth, how about a fountain of Smart?

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 In spite of very slow internet service, Kingman, Arizona has a couple of things going for it that make the city well worth a visit, especially if you enjoy history as much as we do.

The Mohave Museum of History and Arts has many interesting displays on the area, from Native Americans to gold prospectors, to World War II airmen, and Route 66 Oakies, who all passed through here at some point in history.

Route 66 saw the greatest migration of people in American history, as refugees from the Dust Bowl fled west, in search of a better life in the Promised Land of California. Many never made it that far, settling down wherever their old jalopies broke down for the last time. A lot of those 20th century pilgrims never made it past Kingman, and their families live on here today.

The Arizona Route 66 Museum, housed in the old Powerhouse Visitor Center, right on historic Route 66, tells the story of the Mother Road and the role it played in shaping our nation’s history and culture. I’ve been a big fan of Route 66 for as long as I can remember, and have enjoyed visiting the museum several times, and enjoyed it every time.

A few winding mountain miles up Route 66 from Kingman, the “ghost town” of Oatman waits to entertain you with costumed gunfighters, interesting small shops, and a resident herd of wild burros who wander the town’s one street, begging for handouts of carrots. The burros are descendents of prospectors’ pack animals that were set free when the gold boom went bust.

During World War II, Kingman Army Airfield was a major training base for aerial gunners who would see battle in the skies over Germany and the South Pacific, and there is a small museum at the Kingman Regional Airport with displays on that period in the city’s history. Further afield, you will find real ghost towns, old stagecoach stops, all kinds of outdoor sports, and plenty of history waiting to be discovered in Mohave County.

Kingman has several RV parks, none of which I would call upscale, but several that are fine for a few nights’ stay while you visit this part of northwest Arizona.

Before I close today’s blog entry, I wanted to report that a representative of TA Travel Centers called me yesterday to discuss the problem we had at their Kingman location earlier this week. I’m happy to report that my money has been credited back to my bank account, and the gentleman is even sending me a gift certificate for our time and trouble. I told him that wasn’t necessary, that I just wanted the problem resolved, but he insisted that it was necessary, as compensation for our inconvenience. He also assured me that the employees at the truck stop will have some remedial training in customer service and company policy. So even though we had an issue, to TA’s credit, they did handle it for us, which I appreciate.

Thought For The Day – A frog in a well does not know the great sea.

I’ve been traveling America’s highways and byways all of my life, first as a little kid riding in the back seat of my Dad’s old Hudson, as we moved from one place to another or made our annual pilgrimage back to Ohio to visit family.

Later on, as a teenager I remember hitchhiking through several states, back in the days when hitchhiking was a safe and even accepted mode of travel. As a young soldier without any money, I “rode my thumb” across dozens of states to get to wherever I wanted to go.

Over the years I have traveled from coast to coast and border to border, on and in everything from motorcycles to automobiles, and now in a motorhome. There’s a reason I named our publication the Gypsy Journal; I know if I had been born 200 years ago, I’d have been a pioneer coming through the Cumberland Gap, in search of whatever lay over the next hill and across the next valley.

So I’ve covered a lot of miles in my time, and I’ve seen a lot of tourist traps along the way. You know what I mean, those hokey places offering “Real Indian Jewelry” and the opportunity to see “Live Rattlesnakes” or, in the case of the famous Wall Drug in South Dakota, just “Free Ice Water.”

Who knew you could build a business recognized around the world by giving away water? The folks at Wall Drug knew, and they did it! I don’t think you can drive any highway west of the Mississippi and north of Oklahoma and not see a sign for Wall Drug.

I have a love-hate relationship with tourist traps. I know that whatever they’re advertising to draw me in is probably not nearly as good as they promise, but who can drive past The Thing in southern Arizona, or the Jack Rabbit Trading Post up on Route 66 in the northern part of the state and not want to stop?

For those of you who have always wondered, but never stopped, the Thing is a mummified Indian found in a cave somewhere in the Southwest. But for the low admission price, you also get to see some other oddball things, including strange sculptures, and a Rolls Royce that supposedly once belonged to Adolf Hitler.

Of course, roadside tourist traps are not just a Western phenomenon. There are plenty to explore in the eastern half of the country, from the massive South of the Border on Interstate 95 in Dillon, South Carolina, where you can find trinkets and trash, along with some decent food and even a South of the Border theme park called Pedroland. How politically un-correct is that? I love it!

Just down the road from us here in Titusville, Florida is another famous tourist trap, called Jungle Adventures, which boasts the World’s Largest Alligator. As it turns out, that would be Swampy, a 200 foot long alligator shaped building that houses the ticket counter and gift shop. Not exactly what I wanted to see if I’m expecting the real world’s largest alligator. Still, Swampy’s toothy grin was quite inviting. I’d hate to have to pay his orthodontist bill!

Thought For The Day – Everyone thinks his own goose is a swan.

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