Dead Chicken Earrings

The next day, we entered a town first called Seligman. Unlike many of the run-down towns, Seligman is a real destination. Its Snowcap restaurant is like a giant assemblage work of art and it has a flushing outhouse with a sink that's so covered in stickers and signage that I could barely find the door. And on top of that, they sell dead chicken earrings and are incredibly friendly.

As we ate (OUTSIDE - I forgot to mention we started putting our coats in the trunk about this time), the speakers started playing "Jesse's Girl" which had been playing the previous night at the bar when Heather said that if she were at home she would be at her martial arts class listening to a song like that.  We liked the coincidence.

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, we centered a fairly generic 66 gift shop and then when I started a conversation with a gray-haired lady about my hair (she has dreams of tints of lavendar - I told her if she does it a little at a time her husband won't even notice, like a frog in boiling water) SHE started a conversation with us about how Seligman is integral in route 66 history because the barber of the town, Angel, fought and fought for signage, etc. to get people to come through again. Then she showered us with brochures and information, showed us the barber shop, and showered us some more with friendliness.

The walls of the tiny shop were COVERED in business cards from people all over there world and there was a shelf of binders with more cards inside.  There was another wall in the attached gift shop with foreign money collaged all over it from visitors.

Angel had hung a frame with a sign "two waiting, no barber - two barbers, no waiting." He also had a heartfelt (and that's about all I can say for it) poem about his career called "a little off the top." I sat in his ancient barber chair and was glad about this stop. 

By the time we left, I was too tired to make Heather stop at any of the other colorful buildings left in the town, even the one with several mannequins standing on the porch - AND the roof. Regret.

Our next stop, Hackberry. Not really even a town, it was just a building with lots of interesting junk tacked up on  and around it. It rivaled the Snowcap in some ways. Inside the owner's obsession with pinups, Marilyn Monroe, and mannequins was evident. Two blonde mannequins stand perpetual watch over the toilet, for example.

We read that if we had sharp eyes we might spot Hyde Park's ruins on some hill or other right before we got to the somewhat hokey Grand Canyon Caverns (which are so named because they get their natural air supply all the way from the Grand Canyon), but we didn't. It used to be a resort, and it bears our name, but our "no backtracking" rule forbade us from going back to search for it.

Grand Canyon Canyons is a dry cavern. No stalagtites or mites. It's so dry that a wildcat who wandered in was mummified. There is also an artful recreation of an extinct mammal whose bones were excavated from the cave's rocks.  She looks like Snuffaluffagus from sesame street. She died when she was a year old, say the professionals, which are very sad, and you can see the scratch marks on the cave walls from her trying to climb out the hole she fell in.

The concrete walkways and wooden stairways are made from excess materials sent over from the hoover dam project.

You can stay the night in this cave for 885 per night. They have a flat screen TV, good movie selection, a running toilet and shower, two queen or double beds, and walkie talkies that connect you to the earth above.

The whole vibe I got, though, was a bit campy. Dinosaurs in the front yard, a very casual tour guide, and a dark, vacant,  odd-smelling cafeteria upon entrance to the building turned me off. And the tour was more of a fun uphill trudging physical challenge than a visual masterpiece.

But we love caves.  And we got to meet a cool dog and his humans.  The dog was very well behaved and quiet in the cave.

Next, we arrive at the section of road represented on the map as a little squiggle.

I forget what it's called, but it was beautiful, and I'm glad I wasn't driving.  We drove on a two-lane road around true hairpins around green mountains and cliffs. The green things were desert-y, though, like weird cacti and palmy things we hadn't seen before! Very cool. I'm learning to appreciate the panorama feature of my phone camera.

You bet there's more! We're comin' round the mountain and runnin' out of gas. And will we find it on the other side? Wait and see.