A very long and productive road trip yesterday. Ken Amorosano and I took off at five, headed for Seligman and the start of the Route 66 Fun Run. We were a two-man crew shooting coverage for our documentary on "Legends of The Road: The 66 Kid."
Got to Seligman at eight and Ken immediately started shooting some of the 900 cars cruising up and down the streets in front of the Snow Cap Drive-in:
Got plenty of footage of tricked out, souped up, bored and stroked, rat rodded, Detroit muscle rumbling back and forth on old Route 66.
Took off from Seligman at ten, shot segments and cars all the way to Kingman, including stops at Grand Canyon Caverns (Dinosaur Caverns back in my day), Truxton—where we filmed in a classic old Whiting Brothers gas station still in operation, complete with old school pumps and bell-ringer tubes. The only one I saw on the entire route. All the old style stations are gone, with some shells remaining but the pumps have all been ripped out. I also met the dude from Australia who wants to buy Truxton, or, I should say, the rest of Truxton. He already owns the motel and cafe.
Stopped at the Hackberry General Store for lunch.
Took off from there, but stopped a mile or two down the road to catch this. . .
Ken shooting two-lane blacktop near the Meadview Turnoff.
Landed in Kingman a little after two. Interviewed a car club, The Salt River Slugs, about their cars, then stopped in to see Scott Dunton at the old Dunton Motors showroom. My father worked as a mechanic for Scott's grandfather. We taped a segment with Scott telling Billy Logas stories. Really funny stuff. From there, we went over to the old Elks to tape a segment on "Land of A Thousand Dances" and I got to stand on the spot where I had my Wipeout, six years ago. Hadn't been back since the incident. It was a little eerie, to say the least.
Legendary fist fighter, Mickey Campa came by and so Scott, Mick and I traded lies, then posed outside:
Three Big Windies: BBB, Scott Dunton and Mickey Campa.
Took Mick to dinner at Mr. D's where we shot our last segment. Went over to the Powerhouse Museum to see the space where I'll be doing a show in August (based on the book and the TV doc). Met Josh Noble, the director and we went over specs, etc. Also met and talked to Rob Chilcoat, who is doing the film festival.
Ken could not get over the wind (Does it always blow like this? No, sometimes it blows from the other direction) or the trains, which rumble through, like clockwork about every 15 minutes.
Took off from Kingman at six and was home by nine. Long day, 15 hours on the road, but we got some good stuff, I hope.
"Kingman: home of incessant wind, constant trains and did we mention the wind?"
—Ken's proposed slogan for my hometown
