Historic Route 66: Flagstaff to Kingman

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Flagstaff

   Flagstaff stands at about 2,100 metres, higher than most Alpine villages, and it feels it. The air is thin and dry, the sky is a deep blue, and the town is wrapped in the largest ponderosa pine forest in North America, with the San Francisco Peaks rising to the north. The tallest of them, Humphreys Peak, is 3,851 metres, the highest point in Arizona, and it holds snow into early summer. The peaks are volcanic, the remains of a huge cone that blew out long ago, and they are sacred to many Native nations, including the Hopi and Navajo.

   Read the complete Flagstaff write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Flagstaff is where the day begins. Next is Seligman.

2. 2. Seligman

   Seligman is the town that saved Route 66. When the interstate bypassed it in 1978, the traffic that had kept the town alive simply disappeared, and the businesses along the main street faced ruin. A local barber, Angel Delgadillo, and his brother Juan began a campaign to preserve the old road, and in 1987 the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona was founded here, launching a revival that spread along the whole route. The town is now full of neon, vintage cars and roadside kitsch, and the Delgadillo family's barbershop and the Snow Cap Drive-In, famous for its jokes and fake mustard bottles, are still going.

   Read the complete Seligman write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Seligman comes up about 122 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kingman.

3. 3. Kingman

   Kingman is where Route 66 gets down to business in the Arizona desert. The town sits at about a thousand metres between the Hualapai and Cerbat mountains, with creosote flats stretching in all directions, and it has been a railway stop, a mining supply town and a highway halt in turn. Today it is a tidy, sun-bleached place of nearly thirty thousand people, with a long main street, Andy Devine Avenue, named after the gravelly-voiced Hollywood actor who grew up here. A small museum devoted to Route 66 occupies an old powerhouse, and a neon-lit downtown has diners, motels and murals that keep the mid-century atmosphere alive.

   Read the complete Kingman write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 241 km.