Kingman Rail Road Museum

On September 15, 2012, the Whistle Stop Rail Road Club will open a long anticipated Rail Road Museum in the Kingman Train Depot. The Depot currently serves as an Amtrak waiting room on the west end and a Hertz Rent-A-Car office in the center space. The museum will occupy the east end of the building.

The Kingman Train Depot dates back to 1907. Mohave County Historian Dan Messersmith note in his book, Images of America – Kingman (released 2010), that it is the third depot in Kingman. The other two had been destroyed by fire, with t he first being built in 1900. With embers from the steam locomotives' flutes, fires were common. Kingman about burned down twice (around 1890 and again in 1898).
The depot sits not far from the famous Kingman water tanks, which once served thirsty steam locomotives, and now tower into the sky with a Rusinko mural of a locomotive bursting out with a gush of water. It's part of the history and experience in a rail road town!
For more on the museum, visit http://www.whistlestoprailroadclub.org/railroad%20museum.htm.

The club has several artifacts going on display representing Santa Fe RR history in the area.

This view captures most of the space in the museum. The floor will have three operating train displays.

A Lionel display, some pieces in this display are close to 100 years old. 

Part of an existing display being refurbished and included in the museum.

This image shows the naked framework under construction.  The track is designed to have a smooth climb  and decent throughout the HO scale display.

Kingman Water Tank with mural

El Trovatore Motel facelift

The El Trovatore Motel was named for the 19th century Italian opera, yet it has sat out of the lime light now for some time. This location was an unincorporated city on the crest of the Hualapai Valley. Views of the Hualapai Mountains and desert valley still enlighten on-lookers of the vision behind its inception. But time has taken its tole on the historic motor-court-style inn.

After some 50+ years backstage, the little place is getting a much needed new skin. Owner Sam Frisher and his muralist are transforming each building with fresh, vibrant Route 66 colors!

The Muralist has almost completed painting a ribbon of the road along the front wing. A '50's Sante Fe train comes tolling into the courtyard in the view. The pink Route 66 sign at the base of the tower is becoming a Kingman signature.

El Trovatore's history is tied to Las Vegas. In celebration, the owner has plans to package overnights with a Kingman Route 66 stay one night, and a Las Vegas City of Lights stay the second. Here too, can the motel's first mural (with Elvis) be seen.

Stay tuned for updates!

Sky Island, just 12 miles from the Mother Road

The wife and I recently purchased a 1953 Budger Travel Trailer. We wanted to give the kids that camping / road trip we experienced in our youth.  But if we were going into the past, it was going to be in style! We paid a full $150 for the Budger, and put a few times more than that into it over the next five weeks, then took it on it's first adventure to Hualapai Mountain Park.

Rock climbing is a favorite activity around the camp site.

This little oasis in the Arizona desert, just 14 miles from Kingman, has tent camping, cabins, two RV parks, disk golf course, hiking trails and lots of wild life. The Kids enjoyed hiking, bird watching, and of course breakfast!

Dozens of bird species live in  Hualapai Mountain Park

New cabins just opened this month!

Spacious tee-pees are set up with four cots for just $35 a night..

The boys waiting for grilled dogs and brats!

A squirrel nabbing brunch.

Bask in The Neon

   This carries a particular meaning in old country songs. But here I reference a happier tone, rekindling a past scene spiced by big arrows, tubed letters and circles of flittering lights.

   Old Vegas had a spectric tinge like this. And I recall as a kid thinking that, and recognizing Kingman had something neat here, festive even.

   We need chain hotels, of course, predictable and prepackaged. It’s easier on some trips, for some purposes. But small singleton motor courts with a couple dozen rooms are still sought out by experience driven travelers.  And they are reviving a few letters at a time.

   The Hill Top Motel kicked off the trend by fixing the inner electrics of their flashing cloud and applying paint to the south-facing side. The north-face has yet to be prettied up, but its nightly glow is no less fantastic.

    In March, El Trovadore  Motel refurbished both of their mid 20^th century neon lures; a roadside box and Eiffel Tower jutting from a little hill just behind the motel. Warfarers will see this beauty some two or three miles out.

   The Route 66 Motel isn’t far behind. The owner landed a grant to help regain the glory of her neon gold (really, it boasts amber flashing lights around the central ‘Route 66’). Some prep work has already begun!

    By this summer, a night cruise down Andy Devine (aka Route 66) will deliver an art deco, nostalgia experience.

Radiator Springs, Arizona

The Hackberry General Store, originally ran by Bob Waldmire (a story himself and the most probable inspiration of Fillmore the microbus) is just 25 miles East of Kingman on Route 66 and sports a 1957 red corvette. The paint job strongly resembles McQueen’s renaissance look as painted by Ramone (AKA Cruisen McQueen) with the white splash and white wall tires.
(Photo: John in his '57 Vette, by Herberta Schroeder )

Radiator Springs, Arizona – at least that’s a local consensus. You can’t help but see the influence in the landscape of Arizona’s Route 66. The caricature autos are, however, a little less obvious - and yet there again, is Arizona influence. Entertain this thought for just a moment and take a gander at the other scenery of this small stretch of blacktop:

The Sheriff keeps his nice shiny coat by keeping under this blue cover. Yes, I know the flick portrays him as a ’49 Mercury, but he is a ’54 Chevy and living his life ever watching the Mother Road from the front yard at KPD. 

Driving into town from the little side attraction that is Las Vegas, one may see the Hudson Hornet at Lotta Lus Café on the very tip of town.

Even the lovable tow truck. Cool Springs, to the west of Kingman by 20 miles for years had this little tow truck out front.

Another possible influence, is Silverman Towing, just 25 miles north of Kingman, seen often rolling down the highway. 

And lastly, have you taken a look at the Car’s Poster as it compares to the Kingman Poster (released circa 1990)? Courthouse at the end of a the street with characters from town filling in the scene, rock bluff in the background with the majestic mountains behind, aircraft in the air, Route 66 sign in the foreground, even down to the Italian cypresses - I rest my case!

Desert Diamond Distillery Rum Tasting

Last weekend, we found a unique something to celebrate my wife’s birthday - a tasting of the opening of the first aged dark rum barrel at Desert Diamond Distillery, a little run factory off of Route 66 near Kingman.

Of course, this was not an ordinary stand around the counter tasting, but an event catered in by a local Italian chef and limited seating - very limited! So if you think this is for you, wait until next year when they have another set of pristine, aged barrels. The drink, aged in former Jack Daniels barrels, had the characteristic bourbon oaky flavors with unmistakable molasses finish of a true rum.

But if you don’t mind the ordinary tasting at a bar with history, one salvaged from a bar in Las Vegas known to have bestowed non other than the Rat Pack, then drop by any day and sit back to sip in a tasting of their Agave Rum or the Gold Miner Dark Rum, a Platinum at the 2011 SIP (International Spirits Competition Awards,www.sipawards.com.

Desert Diamond Distillery offers tastings and tours six days a week: www.desertdiamonddistillery.com.

Photo: Father & Son owners, Peter and John Patt (left to right).