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Road Trip July 2007
Bill Zervakos and Cathy Droz
How about a seven-hour road trip? Choose your motorized form of transportation and get ready to be seduced by vast acres of green valleys, the smell of clean air and the voices of friendly people. Spend the day photographing historical landmarks, dine in a real western saloon and just when you think Roy Rogers or Ozzie and Harriet will be walking by… you realize you’re only a few hours out of Phoenix.
We’re Cathy and Bill from Two for the Road USA and we escaped from reality for an early morning talk show interview at Wickenburg’s number one radio station. AZ3Sixty asked if we would take a camera, notepad and drive from Phoenix to Wickenburg to Prescott and back in one day. Then the publisher took it one step further and asked if we make the trip in a Smart Car which is only 8’ 2.5” in length, 4’ 11.5” in width and weighs only 1588 pounds. It was a perfect vehicle for our day trip, given that it averaged 65 mpg on the highway and we could park anywhere we wanted.
We started out early determined to eat breakfast in a small town café in Wickenburg “where everyone knows you name”. If Two for the Road ever wanted to feel like celebrities, a trip to Wickenburg including breakfast at the Twin Wheel Café could do it. Our stops in Wickenburg included an interview with Pete at the radio station, a golf course tour of Rancho Caballeros and the charming Chamber of Commerce housed in an old rail road station. We didn’t want to visit the typical tourist sites so we asked folks if they knew of any unusual landmarks. We were directed to the Rancho Bar7 restaurant and told to ask for Uncle Wes. It turns out that Wes, at age 88, has been working at that same restaurant for 65 ½ years and still shows up for work 3- 5 days a week. A celebrity in his own right, he stood steadfast at the bar, where we asked who his favorite customer was. He said without hesitation “Clark Gable, who stopped by to get a drink in l945 and was very nice”. After our inspirational conversation with Uncle Wes we left Wickenburg and proceeded in our Smart Car to our next stop in the pouring rain.
We passed other small towns like Congress, Peeples Valley, and Yarnell on our way to Prescott. We took photos of truck bone yards and mailboxes that seemed to have no need for locks, flags waving a patriotic welcome, and vistas that reminded one of Norman Rockwell inspired paintings. The green background and quaint homes looked more like a Vermont town than one in Arizona
We finally came upon the beautiful town of Prescott. Prescott has some great historical sites, fabulous hotels, restaurants and antique shops. We stopped at the very busy Chamber of Commerce where Joan, one of the volunteers, gave us some information not everyone was privy to. She informed us there are haunted rooms in a local hotel and the oldest working elevator in Northern Arizona is at the St. Michaels; but she wanted to know if we had a chance to visit the headstone of the town dog placed in the town square?
Since we hadn’t done that, with camera in hand, we quickly made it to “Mike’s” resting place and again were impressed with the pride of this community and the people who are part of it.
Our lunch was at the Palace Saloon located on the infamous “Whiskey Row”. As you enter through the swinging doors you are greeted by a bartender who offers you a drink in Wyatt Earp attire and then directs you to the dining room. Sitting at tables in this western style saloon, you are surrounded by large murals, celebrity photos, state flags and Wild West memorabilia. There is even a whole wall with a hand painted movie billboard of actor Steve McQueen’s movie, “Junior Bonner,” which was filmed in the Palace.
It was time for us to head back to Phoenix as we passed through and waved to Dewey and Humboldt. We chuckled as we commented that our return to Phoenix was like the movie Back to the Future. Here we were driving a car of the future and had visited some of Arizona’s proud past.
You need more than a day to see everything there is in all those towns but our 7 hour trip was fun, educational and we made lots of new friends. The other bonus was we went 250 miles on 4 gallons of gas which cost us $11.00. I wonder what Michael will have us drive next time, a bicycle?
For more information:
Wickenburg, AZ
Prescott, AZ
Smart Car