Route 66 Chronicles, Vol. II The Good Old Days: Arizona - New Mexico

In the 1940’s, kids like me were mesmerized by the beguiling objects found at Rimmy Jim’s in Two Guns and at the El Tovar at the Grand Canyon. Sugared oranges in miniature crates, colorful sweets in little glass cars fascinated us and were cherished treasures. The old trading posts, like the venerable Wolf’s on the Little Colorado, tempted their enchanted 1800’s travelers with champagne imported from Europe and other unimaginable wonders. Further down the river, Cameron’s proudly offered Indian blankets, furs and silver – earthy mementos snapped up by 1900’s tourists under the spell of the Southwest. Many writers attempted to capture the quintessence of the West. Of an evening, I’d read Zane Grey’s captivating stories, tales that breathed life into my Tucker Flat Gang haunts — the high desert mesas and Camp Geronimo Scout Camp along the Mogollon Rim. Grey infused excitement into our favorite stomping grounds, and we joyfully interpreted what Grey created so beautifully in his books. At an early age, the caverns of the Alvarado in Albuquerque and the halls of La Posada in Winslow were special to me. I have identified many of those old Opera Houses from Flagstaff, Salida, and Gallup where my Grandmother and sister sang, danced and told tales. Of a day on the old state at the Tabor in Leadville I swore I heard Monon Erin in the winds singing through the rafters. The allure of Route 66 is due in part to the inevitable infusion of detail and drama into the vast array of its diverse icons. The contents of this book provide intriquing information about those icons and will deepen understanding for anyone seeking heretofore hidden dimensions of the Road. May those near and far discover newfound joy ~ and ‘get their kicks’ ~ reading about that great old Route 66. Do moments in time live forever? Quantum theory of modern physics says yes they do. Therefore, those precious moments of life on Route 66 days must be secreted somewhere deep inside the psyches of both townies and sojourners of old Route 66. Can those moments be recaptured and brought alive again? Christopher Reeves did so in “Somewhere in Time”? As the movie implied, could autosuggestion and self-hypnotism provide access to those long gone feelings, scents, images and sounds that made Route 66 a carnivalesque adventure—filled with constant thrills and excited expectations about the next thing down the road? The GOOD OLD DAYS is a serious effort to recreate certain moments in time—the one in a lifetime events, the unforgettable characters, and the exquisite places. At that famous corner in Winslow, Arizona an overwhelming and breathless thrill wells up in one’s chest each September as refrains from “Take it Easy” boom into the night air— It especially endearing to be standing on the spot where one jerked chocolate sodas and a father filled prescriptions. The Corner in Winslow was a vortex of Route 66 culture and stands as a Rubicon for Rusty’s passageway into adolescence –his romances, rites of passage, a work ethic and lasting identity. Like many small communities of the West, Winslow provided a crucible of democracy in the formation of character, commitment and compassion. Winslow High School was highly esteemed by the University of Arizona. It produced a US Attorney General, an Air Force General, a Kennedy Space Center Director, a Federal Judge, an All-American Football Player, a US Hall of Fame Football Coach, world renowned celebrities and Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient, Jay R. Vargas. Those old haunts, now dark buildings, lonely deserts, secret canyons and the mysterious buttes and mountains of the good old days cry out for the their warm spirits to be rekindled once again and become alive another time in our minds. There is a passion and a quest for recapturing the good old days on the part of those who lived there and those who journey the Road for the first time.

Gerald (Jerry) Knowles was born in the old mining town of Jerome, Arizona. Jerry also lived in a number of places on Route 66 across Arizona and New Mexico — Flagstaff, Winslow, Holbrook, Gallup, Albuquerque and on the Navajo, Zuni and Apache Nations. Jerry was pulled out of third grade in St. Anthony’s and sent over into second grade, not knowing that the difference in the college lab school curriculum was very different than what the Catholic nuns were teaching. The fear of failure and the shame that might come as a result drove Jerry through public school, and into postgraduate degrees, culminating in a doctorate from the University of Illinois, researching the key role of teacher emphathy in student development. Jerry loved teaching and spent seven years in elementary/middle school teaching and found that his chief asset was empathy for the students having a rough time. Bobby, one of the most needy of all his students was mentally retarded and suffered physical handicaps. Years later attended a Clemency Hearing for Bobby who had unjustly been sentenced to death. Jerry “high fived” on the death row bullet proof glass and said goodbye to his old six grader. Bobby was executed five days later in Safford, Arizona. Jerry by shear chance went into Gary, Indiana the day after Martin Luther King was assassinated to begin an Early Childhood Project. After the success in Gary, Jerry went to Temple in Philadelphia for a year, but had do return home to Arizona wherein he worked to provide a project for Navajo teacher aids to become teachers. He later opened a community school on the White Mountain Apache Nation. Jerry was fortunate to be involved in a special economic project on the Navajo Nation. Because of the drive, dedication of the local people in Kayenta, Arizona the town was established as a local government within the Tribal Code. It received special recognition from the Harvard John F Kennidy School of Government — highest honor from the “Honoring American Indian Nations” Project Jerry has published five professional articles, several research projects, and two books — Route 66 Chronicles, Shadow of the Past Over Route 66 and The Navajo of North America. Jerry wishes to provide the action and spirit that was contained in all those old Route 66 places, characters and events — a bequest for his friends, children and grand children — and the joy in sharing “how it was” with all those wonderful travelers that love Route 66.