Route 66: A rainy day at the Hackberry General Store

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

HACKBERRY, Arizona — The mayor stretched on the couch under the air conditioner in the Hackberry General Store and looked slightly annoyed at the tourist who woke him from his nap.
In addition to his duties as the unofficial leader of the unincorporated former mining town's 334 residents, Charlie the 10-year-old cat is also the store's night security guard and its exterminator.
'He was dropped off as a kitten,' remembered store clerk Eva Rodriguez, 66. 'He was feral, just a mess. But he decided he liked this place.'
Located on Route 66 about 30 miles east of Kingman at the edge of the Peacock Mountains in northwest Arizona, the general store was perhaps destined to become another crumbling ruin when the route was decommissioned in 1985.
That is, until Bob Waldmire came to town.
Waldmire's family opened the Springfield, Illinois, institution Cozy Dog, which is located on Route 66 and claims to have invented the corn dog. Born in St. Louis, he became a legendary figure of the route's lore with his hand-drawn postcards, maps and murals. Both he and the van he took on his frequent route trips served as the inspiration for the character Fillmore in the Disney Pixar film 'Cars.'
In the early 1990s, Waldmire purchased the store and turned it into a Route 66 tourist shop. A map he drew along the length of one wall depicts the full route from Chicago to Los Angeles. Today, it's barely visible behind currency from around the world tacked up by the shop's visitors.
Waldmire's tenure was brief. Before the decade was up, he sold the store. An Associated Press story said the decision was due, in part, to a feud with a local rancher over granite quarries in the area.
'I'm here, I'm an old hippie nature lover, the easiest target in the world,' Waldmire told the AP. 'To be caught alone in unfamiliar territory has been very traumatic.'
The store is now owned by Amy Franklin, a former Chicagoan who, according to an Arizona Republic profile, retired to Hackberry and worked as a store clerk until she bought it in 2016.
A steady stream of customers browsed the shop's aisles of Route 66 souvenirs — magnets, shirts, luggage and the like — snacks and other memorabilia on a Thursday morning in June.
'They come from all over the world,' said Rodriguez, a retired human resources generalist who lives in town and has worked at the store for the last five years. 'It's amazing. The majority of our guests are non-American … they have to make the trek here.'
Almost as if on cue, a couple from Valencia, Spain, approached the counter to purchase Route 66 magnets.
Rodriguez excitedly directed the couple — Tiziana Da Pieva, 29, and Carlos Oliver, 32 — to the white and green No. 17 Real Betis jersey hanging from the wall, signed by Spanish soccer player Joaquin Sanchez Rodriguez, whom she said visited the store some time back with his family.
'He's handsome too,' she told the couple. 'Muy guapo.'
Later, she rang up Route 66 duffle bags for a group from France that decided to travel a portion of Route 66 on their three-week exploration of America's West (other stops included the Grand Canyon and San Francisco).
'We love it,' Murielle Fressancourt, 61, said of her initial impressions of the United States. '.'
Outside, at least a dozen people hid from a downpour under the store's awning. A group of older men stood eating ice cream as they inspected the vintage cars in the store's parking lot.
Austrian native Mike Antosch, 56, and his wife, Galina Schultes, 46, rode their rented Harley-Davidson from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and then visited a trio of national parks — Yosemite, Death Valley, Grand Canyon — before riding a portion of Route 66 from Kingman to Hackberry.
Schultes, originally from Ukraine, marveled at the size of America.
'It's not big,' she said, 'it's huge.'
Nearby, perched on a chair close to the entrance, guitarist Ray Rose finished the last verse to John Prine's 'Spanish Pipedream' and got ready for his next song, 'Good Hearted Woman,' by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.
The 75-year-old local started playing guitar at 13. In his 20s, he made a habit of going to a bar a day before he was scheduled to play there so he could record the songs people picked on the jukebox. That way, he said, he could learn songs people liked.
Later in his musical career he performed four nights a week for Grand Canyon tourists. For the last three months, he's set up his microphone, amplifier and iPad full of lyrics outside the Hackberry General Store. He usually starts at 8 a.m. and will wrap up around 1 p.m., before it gets too hot.
'I didn't want to play the clubs,' said Rose, 75. 'Now I busk for tips.'
The rain eventually dissipated, as did the audience. While they walked to their cars, Rose played them one more song.
'Get your kicks,' he sang, 'on Route 66.'