their endeavors for the old Frontier Motel
they had recently bought last time I came
through were long gone, the place once
again empty and overgrown with weeds.
Another Route 66 Icon left disintegrating
into the dusty surrounds.
I stopped by Seligman and Angel
Delgadillo’s Barber Shop, but Angel was
not there this time. I wanted to tell him
that I have not cut my hair once since he
graciously agreed to cut it for me in 2015.
On a previous visit he had told me that
my hair and the way I dressed reminded
him of his mother. I will never cut it again
because for the rest of my life I want to
be able to say that the last person who
ever cut my hair was the Angel of Route
66!
From Seligman I headed off keeping to
66 through Ash Fork and on to Williams
where I parked up right outside the
Cruisers Café 66 Diner and once again
became an attraction for happy snappers,
posing with a bevvy of Japanese tourists
before hearing the sound of a very
familiar accent as an Australian couple
who had come to my Australian home
in Maleny years ago to buy some back
issues once called out to me. What a
small world!
“We knew it was you!” they said and we
laughed at the odds of us being in the
same place in the same part of the world
so far away from where we were from.
Keen to hit to the road for Winslow
to go stand on a corner, we said our
goodbyes and at that moment up rolled
a big pickup beside me, and from out
the window a booming voice says “Well
hello there little lady!” and who should it
be but the mayor of Williams himself, my
Buddy John Moore who had been such
a wonderful host when we had hit up
Williams with the Sisters on the Fly Route
66 tour a couple of years ago.
“I had been wondering if I would bump
into you!” I said.
So we went and had a Route 66 soda float
and a catch up down the road at Twisters
Soda Fountain.
A few more photos later, and it was time
for me to keep rolling as I had ambitiously
intended to drive the 436 miles to Gallup
that night to meet up with some of my
Sisters on the Fly friends who were also
heading there. I say ambitious because I
didn’t take into account the hours I would
spend lingering, taking photos, catching
up with long lost friends… and breaking
down! Yes, unfortunately it happened
en route to Winslow, so I missed out on
standing on the corner this time (but I did
go back and do it again on the way back
home!)
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