a.k.a. Radiator Springs. For most of the trip we have commented how the movie Cars looks like the scenery around us. From southern Utah and Monument Valley to the abandoned sections of Route 66. Then we really found it. Holbrook, Arizona has the Wigwam Motel where you can stay in a tepee shaped motel room. The main street has all the right shops and is part of the original Route 66. Then we made a comment about it to the receptionist at the hotel and sure enough the script was written at one of the restaurants in town. Here we are in Radiator Springs- or what Radiator Springs would have looked like if Lightening had not gotten lost there. This town has certainly seen better days. The section of Route 66 is the main street in town and Interstate 40 bypasses all of it. It's the anti-Cars story.
(I learned after a bit of research- the movie is based on a number of towns along this section of Route 66, and many of the surrounding areas also play a role. Monument Valley and Utah were used as inspiration even though they are not along the original route.)
As we drove east from Flagstaff yesterday, Jim and I commented on the number of small road-side trading posts, restaurants, and towns that are abandoned. Every 5-10 miles there seems to be another. It's a sad remnant of a time when our type of travel was more common and the interstate wasn't even a thought. I think we would have preferred Route 66.
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