Kingman to Peach Springs 04-16-2026 Day 6

It was a long day in both climbing and time yesterday and today was going to be climbing without the grade, but even more distance. The target route to Seligman was about 83 miles. There were no shorter alternatives. We rose to a cool, partly sunny day. The road gave us a good shoulder. The trucks were respectful and the passenger cars and trucks were less so.

It hadn’t been difficult, but we had been going uphill for 8 miles and decided to take advantage of a gas station 16 miles in before the next available facilities 20 miles away. The first attraction that caught our eye was in Antares. Understand that most of the “towns” named along today”s stretch of Route 66 have no central marking that distinguishes them as a town. Antares had the remains of a gas station. I’m blocking the view of their “Easter Island” statue, Giganticus Headicus. Just pretend my head is his. I liked the old Police car. [By the way, you can click on thee pictures to get a better view]

The climb got a little steeper and it seemed like it took forever to get to Hackberry. It was windy, but it wasn’t at our back. Luckily, it wasn’t a headwind, either. I’m sure there were homes somewhere nearby, but the only thing we saw was the General Store. Ron asked the lady working the counter if there was anything labeled Route 66 that you could not find here. She said, “I don’t think so!”

There were lots of cool things inside the store, but we couldn’t resist the attraction that called to us as soon as our wheels touched the lot.

The map called out Crozier as a town, but this is all I saw.

The winds were getting stronger. Without them at our backs, we never would have made it over the hills. This is a typical sequence that we had to climb.

Typical pavement on the long lonely highway. Sometimes the road was rough, sometimes the shoulder was bumpy, and sometimes both.

When we got to Truxton, it didn’t look like there was much of anything left.

Just before 2 PM, we rolled into Peach Springs, a little more than halfway through our ride. We went into the only restaurant available in the last 25 miles. Ron asked our server what the soup of the day was. She replied, “I don’t know”. Ron: Could you find out? Her: They don’t tell me. Ron: Well, I Like soup, but there are a few I don’t care for and I just wanted to see what you had. I don’t want to order a soup I’m not going to eat. Her: They didn’t tell me what it was. Ron finally gave up, ordered a small burrito and a Strawberry shake. I ordered a Hualapai wrap and a Vanilla Shake. Later she brings Ron his Strawberry shake in two containers. There was the normal serving with whipped cream in a nice glass and there was also a whole 2nd serving in the metal cup they mix it in. When Ron saw the 2 containers, he told me that he could not kill both servings, so I graciously offered to take the extra off his hands. When our food came, I got my wrap, but no shake. I asked her if she could bring me a straw to use on Ron’s leftover shake in the metal cup and not to bother with the shake she neglected to bring with my food. We went back and forth trying to get her to understand that all I wanted her to do was to bring me a straw and not get a glass to pour the extra from its metal mixing container. When I finally asked about my milk shake, she just mumbled, “I never put it in your order”. She didn’t say why or apologize. And we never did find out what soup was available. It was all very strange.

Earlier in the day around 11:30, I saw that I had received a notice from the hotel we would be staying in Seligman this evening:

“Hello, this is The Aztec Motel in Seligman, Arizona. Due to a major accident on the I40 highway, our entire area will be without power, water, or gas until 8 PM this evening. The highway is closed between Ashfork and Seligman. ADOT has created a detour along Crookton Rd, aka the Old 66. It is a direct route straight into our town. We apologize for this inconvenience. We assure you we are doing our best to make your time here comfortable until the services are restored. Thank you and travel safe. ” And later came this while we were eating lunch in Peach Springs:

“The power will not be returning to our area. You need to call Booking.com right away and ask to cancel your booking. We do not have the power to do this. You need to cancel with Booking.com right away.” A few minutes later we got a call from the hotel telling us we would get a refund, but ALL the hotels in Seligman were unavailable as well. Since we were eating at the restaurant at the Hualapai Lodge, I walked over to the front desk and got us a room for the night.

I knew we needed to be flexible during this trip. Ron is a great riding partner and rolls with the punches. Our forced stay in Peach Springs, made for a shorter day than planned. Now the plan is to go beyond our original endpoint in Seligman and press on to Williams for a 79 mile day tomorrow. From there we will target a relatively short ride to Flagstaff, where we might find a Warm showers host.

The whole turn of events turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We were pretty worn from so many long days in a row, so we needed the break. Today, we didn’t get any rain, I got a free milk shake, and we saw a lot of relics from the past that make Route 66 a legend. Details of the route are here. And a 3D view is here.

The Not So Lone Rider