The shot below is of a hotel in #Holbrook, Arizona, where rooms are caricatured teepees that guests spend the night. This is an old hotel, run-down, and along old Route 66 in #Arizonaland.
I’ve often been asked; where is the best place to find Rural Decay in the American Southwest? My answer would most certainly be to go visit New Mexico. I dub the state, The Rural Decay Capital of the Southwest. Of course, my all-time favorite places to photograph with historical charm is along any stretch of #Route66. Most of the highway is gone now and wherever you can find a patch of it anywhere along the historical route you will certainly find old abandoned buildings, homes, gas stations, restaurants, automotive repair shops, etc. Whenever you can find any remaining stretches of the highway that are still in-tact, this is where you will locate hidden treasures along the roadside!
Route-66 was known as the Mother of All Highways, and the trail that inspired John Steinbeck’s masterpiece; the #GrapesofWrath. After all these years I have spent photographing it, there is strong spiritual and emotional attachment that I have developed to this beautiful highway. Many a time, I have stepped into the past and remembered these simpler times in American History and the charm of the 1950s.
The photograph above is of Route 66 as it snakes through the frying pan of the blistering #MojaveDesert just shy south of the tourist trap of #Oatman, #Arizona (where donkeys still roam the streets) which seems to have a long-held tradition of inviting tourists feed oats to the donkeys. It’s on the way to Lake Havasu! If you have never been, I highly recommend paying Oatman a visit! My grandparents once witnessed the unique views, the beautiful vistas, and these bygone little towns. It’s a beautiful experience, walking in their shoes, or should we say driving down their old road?
