I was raised by wolves. Very kind, very nurturing wolves. I love riding to a town a just barely learned the name of on a Friday, making a decision at the intersection to get myself lost 1000 miles away from home on a Saturday, and trying to figure out how the hell I can get home on a Sunday. Just ride a place and see a thing.
I think I’m done with politics. I know where I stand, and where I’ve always put my vote. I’m just sick of how divided the world is, and how its trickled down to daily life.
I’m looking forward to the time when we judge people by whether they’re an asshole or not, not what color of state they’re in, or whatever else.
You can feel a revolution coming on, or some kind of social civil war. It’s dumber than hell.
Man, life is too short. Aaaaand, for me anyway, There’s too many good things out there to enjoy….
I’m sitting here, at my computer chair watching youtube videos on a weekend, and doing pretty much absolutely nothing. It’s a Saturday, and it’s pretty awesome.
A few people have asked me why I like Easy Rider so much. Anytime I’m asked what my favorite movie is, I’ll always say Easy Rider. It must be, because I’ve spent at least 20 years chasing down locations from it. I think it’s my favorite movie because of all the fun I’ve had finding those locations. At first, it was just a cheap excuse to ride somewhere and put the puzzle pieces together. When I watch the movie now, it gets intertwined with all the people I’ve met, and the fun I’ve had finding these places.
I first posted the route 10 years ago on this blog. A lot has changed since then, and I’ve had a helluva lotta fun with the tours and the documentaries, etc. I’ve ridden and became friends with some pretty fucking cool people. I really need to re-write the whole thing, because I have so much more info now then I did back then.
Anyway….
The last place I’ve never identified was the Tire change scene. It’s the ranch house where Billy and Wyatt showed up with a flat tire, and scored a groovy dinner at lunch time. I’ve always figgered it was around Valentine Arizona, and I was right. A German biker named Berndt hit me up and inspired me to finally get off my ass and go check it out, finally. Thanks Berndt!
Here’s the scene:
I found it. It’s right dead center between Valentine and Hackberry. I didn’t go up to the place, but I can tell you it’s the place. The mountains all line up. It was posted “No Trespassing” and in Rural Arizona, if you’re smart you pay a little heed to those signs. Mostly, because its a good place to get shot if you don’t. With a little respect and some time, I’ll be able to get in and talk to the owners and see if I can get some good pictures.
They Shot a lot of scenes around here. One of the most famous pictures of ER was also shot, just at within a mile or two of the turn off.
Spent a lot of years riding and researching it and having a hell of a lot of fun along the way…. Ridden it from LA to New Orleans several times and a few times with some of the best people I know.
A buddy of mine from the UK who loves the movie as much as I do hit me up about doing the ride again for the 50th Anniversary of Easy Rider. It’s been sorta in the works since 2013, when we rode the route together. This time, its going to be a little more grass roots than it was with Eagle Rider. A little more truer to the route, maybe a little camping where they camped, and a little more fun. We’re putting together the itinerary now.
It’s warming up here, and the weather is fairly killer for riding. I had a chance to get the hell out of dodge last weekend for a couple of days and I took it. I had a killer month at work, and it just seemed right to make some miles somewhere. I was figuring north, back to my favorite road — Route 66. I haven’t ridden the southern part of the Colorado River in Arizona, so I wanted to see that too.
Interstate 17 is ass on any sort of holiday weekend. Arbor day, ground hog day, let alone Easter weekend. It was slow going, but I finally made it off the interstate and west toward the good stuff.
A good sign. I’m a sucker for a good historic roadJerome Arizona. This is the good stuff, a killer little historic Arizona mining town on the side of a hill. If you haven’t been here, it’s well worth checking out.The Partridge Creek Bridge was officially route 66 from the 20s to 1965. It’s a unique bridge that has a fully mature tree growing out of it. I first saw it in a biker mag in 1988, and shortly thereafter set out to see if we could figure out where it was. My wife and I would take weekend road trips to try and find it every weekend we could, and fell in love with route 66 along the way. This was before the internet and being able to look things up online. After 3 years we finally found it. It’s still one of my favorite spots on the mother road.
Partridge creek — Heading West.
I stayed the night in the Seligman KOA, roamed around and took some pictures of the local neon signs.
Woke up in the morning and headed to downtown seligman. I got molested by a bus full of Chinese Tourists where I had to educate them on the do’s and don’ts of touching an American mans bike, and headed down route 66 toward Kingman It was a pretty beautiful day to ride, and the weather was effing perfect.
The East side of Oatman road. this was route 66 up until 1953.Taking selfies like all the other Jackasses in Oatman.
Had me a tense moment eating lunch outside of Oatman and almost got into a fight with some prick. He backed out and walked away. It took me about 2 hours to calm down as I headed down the Colorado river and home.
I rode through the remains of what’s left of the Longhorn Ranch, and somehow I connected to this place. There’s not much left; A really bitchen old school sign, a burned down complex whats left of a motel and some trucks. I think the far end of the ranch is a strip club. You could tell this place had a heyday at some point: There’s some ghosts here, and I wanted to know it’s story…
The Longhorn Ranch. This place was an icon back back in a the day, and a major stop along Route 66.
7 miles east of Moriarty, the Longhorn is a bit out of place: it appears to be a motel, and out in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico. Other than that, there’s not much left. What happened?
But there’s a story here: the more I dug into it, the more it made sense and was a story I could relate to.
William Ehret was a patrolman in Lincoln County New Mexico in the late 1930s, and soon became a state Police Captain. Known by Bill to his friends; he was looking for something different. Being a policeman is exciting, but it also means time away from your family, long days on the road a ruthless boredom at times. Bill had a whole state to cover, but mainly patrolled a town a whole county of several cities, all with a whopping population of the time of about 14,000 people in a county of almost 5,000 square miles.
But there appeared to be opportunity ahead, and Mr. Ehret saw that. Bill saw that people were starting to travel west toward California, and Californians had the chance to Travel east. Route 66 had just changed it’s alignment from heading north into Santa Fe only 2 years ago, to cutting right across the center of the state More and more people were driving Route 66. Bill saw an opportunity, and a chance to try something new, which appealed to him. Just 80 miles north of Lincoln County, there was opportunity.
Bill Acquired a good sized piece of land, and at the age of 38 he started building this Longhorn Ranch with his 20 year old son. It was the golden age of travel, and America was just starting to stretch it’s legs. Captain Ehret was going to be part of that. He went to work and started building the Longhorn Ranch.
It started out as a 10 stool cafe, with a single counter and a curio shop. It expanded to include a gas station to invite even more travelers from the mother road.
The Longhorn Ranch Route 66 New Mexico 1940s. Bill put out his shingle, and people started stopping for gas, food and whatever else he could get into his store.
He started collecting taxidermy and western regalia (some historic) from all over the west and the enterprise soon included a garage, Museum and a 15 room Hotel. It eventually included a cowboy town, Indian dancers and Stagecoach rides. It became a main attraction on route 66, with the motto “where the west still lives.”
1940s postcard from the Longhorn Ranch“welcome, light and set a bit”
Bill saw his son who helped him build the place get married here in 1955, 15 years after they’d built it together. He was 53 years old, and like all pioneers he was looking to the next adventure. He’d conquered this portion of route 66, and had his eye toward other dreams. He sold the land within that year and went on to the next challenge.
But the Longhorn Lived on, under new management, with the same flair it had before. It had grown in reputation, and was one of the Largest and most vibrant tourist attractions along Route 66.
Stagecoach Rides? I’d have been all over this when I was a kid….
Bill Died in 1972 at the age of 70. He was an active Methodist, had several grandchildren and was an active and beloved member of his community. His son died in 2015.
The longhorn continued to thrive until the 70s, when interest in cowboy towns waned, cars could make it to Albuquerque without stopping, and Captain Bills little spot on route 66 got Bypassed by the interstate. There’s not much here now, just a few hundred yards off the highway. Most of it is burned down, but the memory remains of a man who helped build on the Legend of all the things we love about route 66. It’s people like Bill who made route 66 what it was (and is), living the American Dream and putting their shingle out to make something happen.
Stop by when you’re in the area. It’s still a bitchen little stop along route 66.
I was out of bed and on the road by the time the sun was up. The Monterey Motel was cool; Its always nice when you stay in a 1946 Motel on route 66. Its even better when its clean and has Wifi. I loaded up, and headed out up Central avenue to see some spots from one of my favorite series ever — Breaking Bad.
Jessie Pinkman sits at the Dog House in Albuquerque on Route 66, contemplating how the hell he’s going to get out of a mess. — Screenshot from the A&E Series Breaking Bad.
The Dog house today. It’s a route 66 institution in ABQ. I hear they make a helluva good chili cheese dog, but they weren’t open for breakfast. I’ll have to come back. Ever Seen Breaking Bad?
Just around the corner, about a mile away was another Breaking Bad spot: Jessie Pinkmans house. If you haven’t seen the series, you’re missing out — in my opinion it was one of the best written television series ever produced. For me, its right up there with The Rifleman, Then Came Bronson, and The original Star Trek.
Jessie Pinkmans House (bitch)– About a mile away from the Dog house off Route 66. Being a bald man with a goatee, I sorta giggled to myself as I got out to take the picture.
12 miles later, I found Saul Goodmans office on the other side of Albuquerque
Better Call Saul! — Screenshot from the Series
Saul Goodmans Office Today. Somehow, it seems fitting that its called the Dirty Burbon dance hall and saloon (in a strip mall). I love Irony.
About a mile away from that, was Walter White’s house. The home owners have been known to be cranky, but then again so have I. I was braced for confrontation, but they weren’t even up yet.
Walter and Skyler White’s house: 308 Negra Arroyo Lane, Albuquerque New Mexico.
It’s morning at the whites house. Too early if I can ask if I can throw a pizza on their roof? #IamTheOneWhoKnocks All joking aside, the owners have lived in this house for almost 40 years. Because idiots don’t understand respect, they’ve had to put up gates and surveillance.
The New Mexico sun was ascending, and I headed west down route 66 through central avenue and into downtown Albuquerque again. ABQ is pretty interesting. Its a mixture of modern, art deco, southwest, Neon, homeless people, history and weird art that I just don’t get. They have a Mass transit bus system that drives down the center of the street that I don’t think was really all that thought out… Some of it I absolutely was loving, some of it I could do without. It’s got an Art/Hippie vibe that is really not my thing. I know I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live here, but I also haven’t stopped thinking about going back there again to explore it yet again. I will.
The last motel on route 66 on the way out of town. I thought the Saguaro cactus sign was cool. I wouldn’t see real cacti like that for another 400 miles.
I hit interstate 40 for a while and was itching to get on a side road as soon as I could. It didn’t take long.
Owl Rock on an older alignment of route 66. This was called “dead mans curve” and it’s between Mesita and Laguna. A killer little stretch of road, if you want to get off the interstate.The Villa De Cubero Trading post on Route 66. Lots of history here.I hit old route 66 bridges….The Bluewater Motel in Bluewater New Mexico.
From Bluewater, I headed through Gallup and Grants along as much of route 66 as I could, and headed south to home.
Home is good. I passed up and didn’t document a whole lot of history and stories a long the way, but this trip wasn’t about documentation. It was about scouting the perimeter. It’s been a few since I’ve been this way, and I wanted to see it again. Shit changes. Hell, the world has changed. I’m just trying to keep up and enjoy the ride a long the way.
