Route 66, Twin Guns-A Saturday trip

As last week went by, I noticed I was looking forward to my Saturday photographic trip, as I was spit balling ideas of where to go and take photographs next. The previous Saturday I had gone to the Casa Grande Domes, a very unique and surreal experience that I had read about in a blog titled: "10 most insane abandoned places in Arizona" (you can find the link, photos and further details of the trip on my previous post titled Casa Grande Domes). The article had also spiked my interested in several spots along the old Route 66, but these were a bit far away for a quick day trip.

I put Route 66 in the back burner for the time being and instead was contemplating several spots around town to just park and walk about taking pictures. Through the week I realized the kids had Friday off and furthermore I also realized I had requested that Friday off from work as well (I usually need to request my PTO at the beginning of the year so sometimes I don't remember that I had requested a certain day off).

With this in mind my wife and I talked about maybe doing something with the kids, given that both them and I were off and she tells me how she would like to visit the Grand Canyon. A light bulb goes off in my head, maybe...just maybe...we can drive to the Grand Canyon on Friday, stay the night in Flagstaff, just 40 mins away from one of the Route 66 locations I was interested in....my 5AM alarm would ring Saturday morning...well the rest is history..

At 5AM Saturday morning my alarm went off. I had driven a lot the previous day, walked a lot at the Grand Canyon and had even taken several pictures of the whole experience. For a quick moment a little deceiving voice inside of me asks "What if you just stay in and rest your tired bones?" I don't know about you, but I have grown to hate this voice of mine that tries to lead me into complacency.

I get out of my bed quickly, get dressed, ready my gear and hit the road after some last minute google searches making sure I had my bearings right. The day before I had posted on Facebook asking for recommendations for music to listen to while exploring Old Route 66, so I made sure I had those on my Spotify as well.

The site I had chosen was Twin Guns, mainly because it was just 40 mins East from Flagstaff, versus 2 hrs West from Flagstaff to the other locations that had spiked my interest. Twin Guns used to be a gas stop along Route 66 and even had a campground, now abandoned.

This time I'm able to catch the sunrise on the actual location instead of the highway, I set myself up for the sunrise, the air was cold enough for me to keep my hands inside my pockets whenever I wasn't using them. The first landmark on this stop is the gas station which also housed a mechanic pit, which I choose for my sunrise pictures, liking the triangular design of the rooftop, a favored style back when this route was used and diners received travelers.

After finishing the sunrise pictures, I walk closer to the building, taking it all in, first to make sure its definitely empty. I find it empty of people but people had come before me and had added their own touch to the abandoned ruins.

The walls had been decorated by different street art styles and messages. At one point I was inside the mechanic's pit, photographing the sunrise through the windows on the inside and spray painted in front of me I see "bang bang you're dead yuppie" and I couldn't help but think how if this was one of those deserted road horror films this would be the perfect time for something to happen to me from behind. I don't consider myself a paranoid person but desolate places do tend to be nice settings for those types of scenes. Seeing that I didn't get shot from behind or anything I resume my exploration of the area and encounter more artistically inclined messages.

I found several hearts by someone who's alias is @POETRYBYBOOTS that reminded me of a street art movement back in Mexico called "Accion Poetica" (now expanded into other countries) that consisted of painting walls white and writing short single sentence poems or reflections on black, my favorite being "If you were two, who would win" (translated from Spanish). Anyways this one seemed like a more fashionable version of it.

I get my fill of the first structure and start walking along this pebble road leading up to an abandoned KOA camp.

I fight the urge to go straight to the deserted camp (one of the most prominent and interesting looking features) and make myself go slow, step by step, and visit a small shack on the entrance of the road leading up to the camp. Maybe this was where you paid the entrance fees, a souvenir shop perhaps. I walk around the shack, taking some pictures prior to coming in. The outer ceiling was mostly intact, making it darker than the previous structure, light coming in from two windows and two torn down entrances, and the ceiling's insulation hanging down.

I walk into a strange scene, a sort of living room I guess, with a torn sofa just before one of the windows and among the ruins I see on the floor "The Path of Rad" written on it. Not knowing exactly what to make of it, it sounded kinda cool and the scene definitely looked rad, I decided to photograph the scene.

As I walk around, reading what else was written on the walls and floor, taking my time but not wanting to linger long here among falling ceiling insulation (don't know where I read they used to use asbestos on these things), I turn to look outside one of the windows and find myself looking into what felt like looking into a different dimension.

Exiting the shack I make my way up the road that leads into the camp. Passing by a collapsed mobile home and what looked like huge cement soda cans with cowboys and Indians themes painted on them, now faded and with more modern art overlapped on them.

As I get near the camp, to my right I see a colorful scene of what I guess used to be the showers and the pool. I can't help but think this once was a nice stop along the road.

I usually tend to like faded colors or just black and white, but this site had such an interesting mix of colors, design and structures, that some of the photos I left in full color.

I even found a screaming Panda framed in a very interesting way, by the bare ceiling structure and the surrounding colors. The shadows that the sun cast over the scene, the deep blue sky..just wonderful.

I don't know if I ever told you but I currently am of a frame of mind of not altering the scene not even a bit.

Everything I do has to do with position myself, zooming in and out and adjusting settings. The stones, litter, furniture, etc. that I encounter weren't adjusted in any way.

As I turn to explore the actual Kamp structure I see the profile of the building before me, the wall torn giving me a view to the desert on the other side and I enjoy how the desert converges with the ruins and continues one through from right to left, visible through the openings the ruin provides. This complemented by an old poster on one of the columns, the indistinguishable layers of graffiti, roof tiles sprawled over the ground and a tree. I even just stand there several minutes before even engaging the scene with my camera,

As I explore the main structure, reading and photographing I eventually make my way to the tree that been in one of my previous shots. I find what looks like an old RV hook-up and a Peace and Love sign on the ground, arranged with rocks and broken glass.

As I had lined up the previous shot, I notice there's a another shack in the background I wasn't aware of.

As I make myself over to it I decide that a scenic picture is in order, liking how the browns on the desert interacted with the pink of the structure and the blue of the sky.

Walking on the inside I found myself also starring into a similar surreal scene, feeling like the world inside the ruins and the desert outside belonged to two different dimensions but somehow linked to each other.

As I finished up here, getting into my car I saw the remnants on the old road, now almost a dirt path as the desert had swallowed most of the concrete already, which I followed and found some stone ruins as well... but I think that will be part of a complementary post to follow this one.

For now, thank you for reading and hope you have enjoyed this trip.

Andres Gonzalez