Shortly after the Interstate 40 super slab was opened, people in Seligman who had been ripping off travelers (so I hear) since before The Grapes of Wrath became a book or a movie, short-sticking oil dipstick checks, slicing radiator hoses to make sales, and shooting oil onto shock absorbers to simulate leaks needed a new way to attract people to ride and drive the remaining long stretch of the “Mutha Road” (again, my words) so they could continue making a living. Now it’s Route 66 trinkets and other necessities.

   A local barber named Angel Delgadillo became the driving force in getting the state of Arizona to hype Route 66 as a hysterical byway (some people say historical, I say hysterical). Some also say the real aim of this was to get people off the super slab and to drive through Seligman and sample all the Route 66 tourist memorabilia they didn’t know they couldn’t live without!

   Speaking with a local transplant who wishes to remain anonymous and to continue living in Seligman, today most of the tourists on motorcycles are Germans. They’re on guided tours presold in Germany to perpetuate the myth of the American West, cowboys, Indians, gunfights, and all things Route 66. It’s stuff that Europeans can only dream about unless they journey to the land of legends and lies. Most of the Route 66 tourists on the big sightseeing buses are from Asia.