World-famous Delgadillo’s Snow Cap Drive-In is a landmark on Route 66, and today, we were lucky enough to visit this historic corner of Americana in Seligman, Arizona.
We got to meet the 85-year-old owner, Juan Delgadillo, who played a few gags on us with straws and various other paraphernalia before his son took our order. We’d already heard that this was the place for a chocolate malted shake, and that’s just what we got along with a burger and some onion rings.
The reason we were out here on the Mother Road “Route 66” is that we are stopping in Peach Springs on the Hualapai reservation for a camping permit before we head up the old rutted dirt road to the Diamond Creek campground on the Colorado River.
We’ve arrived at the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, where Diamond Creek enters the river, and as we can’t afford to raft the river yet, we’ll have to content ourselves with sleeping next to it for a couple of days. Caroline had learned about this remote place and the only one where you can practically drive into the Grand Canyon while we were doing research for ScenicPath. ScenicPath was an effort from the two of us to build a travel app that would share some of the knowledge we’ve gleaned since starting this effort to travel so much.
The perspective down here is so very different from looking down at the river from one of the rims of the Canyon. We have no real plan, haven’t learned if there are nearby trails, or even know if we’ll stay through tomorrow.
It’s peaceful and quiet here, with just the sound of the river going by. Nobody else has set up camp or driven down here for a look at the river. Seems like we’ll be here alone tonight. Just as we were thinking that, a couple came driving down the dusty road. Lisa and Daniel were down here to camp for the night, too. We chatted a bit regarding their ambition to see a chunk of America before embarking on a journey somewhere in Asia to teach English as a second language and extend their time seeing the world before settling down. We exchanged emails before separating to allow each other to bask in the solitude.
Just before it starts getting dark, we get one last burst of color in the sky. We’ve walked around camp and the creek while watching how the changing light alters the appearance of the canyon walls.
Our tent, which is altogether too big for two people, is set up, and with the fire going, we took up sitting on a nearby rock for some dinner and stared into the flames as the constant sound of the river kept us company. Dinner was hot dogs for me and soy dogs for Caroline. We had brought firewood down here to the river in case there wasn’t any driftwood, good thing we did. We’d also purchased a long fork to cook the wieners on and with it, Caroline attempted to bake biscuits using it, with little success.