Broad Brook Automotive Art

05/17/2026

Come on out next Saturday for our biennial village wide yard sales! Use the GPS address at the bottom of the poster or follow the yellow signs! All roads lead to East Barnard…

05/17/2026

If you’re a car or road trip enthusiast, check out these excellent stamps from the USPS! Thanks to my friends Brenda and Owen for thinking of me!

05/17/2026

One thing that’s important when taking a road trip is to make sure that you don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy... It’s important to stop periodically to break up the drive and to have the flexibility to go off course if something interesting catches your eye.
We had all of our overnight stops planned for this trip ahead of time and knew of a bunch of things that we wanted to see and do, but kept open minds as we were driving.
Every time Historic Route 66 strayed from I-40 we tried to take it. After Winslow we took an exit that led us to Jack Rabbit Trading Post. This place was founded in 1949 and had yellow billboards along the road with a jack rabbit and the mileage to the trading post on them (like South of the Border). At the trading post was a billboard proclaiming “Here It Is”. The billboards along the road are long gone, but the one at the store remains. Next to the store is a large fiberglass rabbit that you can get on for pictures. A couple vintage cars are rusting in the brush and the store boasts many of the same items available elsewhere. There’s a small back room with historical items from the heyday to checkout.
Even though most of these places have similar items, it’s important to look around because occasionally there is something special and different that catches your eye.
After looking for that special something, we drove on to The Petrified Forest National Monument.

05/14/2026

05/14/2026

After our little detour we headed up through Sedona towards Flagstaff to get back on track. Just a bit east of Cottonwood, Sedona is set below beautiful red rock outcroppings. We drove through town and then entered a windy road in a deep canyon that eventually wound it’s way up around tight switchbacks until we reached I-17 which took us up to I-40/Route 66.
Our first stop was the ruined remains of the Twin Arrows Trading Post. It operated from the 1940s until 1995. Not sure why it closed since it’s right off an exit of I-40 and easy to get to. It was in the movie Forrest Gump when he runs across the country and used to feature 2 large wooden arrows rising up from the ground. One remains along with the dilapidated and heavily graffitied buildings.
Next stop we’ll be standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona...

05/13/2026

We decided to take a little break from Route 66 and spent a couple nights in Cottonwood which is south of Flagstaff, between Prescott and Sedona. It is also close to the historic mining town of Jerome.
The main street of Cottonwood is very walkable and boasts many good eateries, wine bars and shops. We got into town in the late afternoon and got to explore several stores a little bit before they closed, but knew that we wanted to do more the following day.
We got up early the next morning and took a hike in the higher terrain of the Dead Horse Ranch State Park where we saw many desert plants, and then hiked around 2 lakes at the park where we saw and heard many native birds. It was a beautiful day with temps in the 80s and a rich blue sky.
Afterwards we drove a short way to the Tuzigoot National Monument which is a 110 room pueblo that was built 1000 years ago. Such amazing history.
An afternoon wine tasting rounded out the day along with some shopping. A perfect day.
It is so dry here that I’m amazed that all of these things are living and blooming.
Always in the lookout for vintage iron, spotted a sweet ‘67 Mustang, ‘69 VW van in mint condition and a very nice Red Chrysler at the retro gas station turned ice cream shop.
The photos are a bit hodgepodge. Sorry.

05/11/2026

Seligman is a fairly large town with quite a few shops and restaurants, probably due to it’s close proximity to I-40 which makes it easy for folks to get there.
Even so, there are many boarded up buildings and an air of abandonment about it. Not sure what would keep most of these towns going without the Route 66 nostalgia trade.
Seligman is another town that seems to take ownership of Radiator Springs in Cars.
Most of the vintage cars sitting around have fake eyes painted in the windshields.
We ate lunch at the Road Kill Cafe. Despite the kitschy vibe, the food was really good. There were also quite a few locals hanging out at the bar which is one of the litmus tests I have for good eateries.
A historic dessert spot is Delgadillo’s Snow Cap at the east end of town. This place has been a fixture in town since 1953 and is still run by the family that started it. I had a chocolate malted which was fantastic and Janet had a chocolate dipped vanilla cone. Highly recommend!

At this point we took a detour from Route 66 and traveled south to the town of Cottonwood where we spent 2 days which I’ll cover in the next post.

05/10/2026

There isn’t very much that’s too noteworthy between Hackberry and Seligman.
Truxton has several defunct motels and a nice lineup of old semi trucks.
Peach Springs also purports itself to be inspirational to the Cars movie. We couldn’t find any signage or scenery that would suggest this.
A couple miles east is the Grand Canyon Caverns/Inn/Campground/Museum and etc. We went in to the museum/giftshop and were underwhelmed. Outside are large dinosaur statues which also seem to be a thing at most of the stopping spots as well as gems and jewelry.
Onward to Seligman.
One of these photos shows the route from Hackberry General Store to Seligman. You can see how far I-40 bypassed Route 66 to the south.
The last photo shows one of the many freight trains we saw on this trip. Every day there were multiple trains, most quite long going both east and west through the same terrain that we were traveling in. It’s a real eye opener that so many of the goods we buy are transported this way.