Hacking Winslow

The title tells the tale. We went sidecaring up to Winslow to spend two nights at one of our favorite restored hotels. La Posada was one of the Harvey House grand hotels on the Santa Fe Railway. Much of it has been lovingly restored by Allan Affeldt and his wife, artist Tina Mion. They continue the restoration and expansion, extending it to a second wing of the hotel. La Posada is beautiful and one of our favorite riding destinations. You can read the history La Posada here.

Mion is a well known artist and La Posada is filled with her art. I'm particularly fascinated by her large painting of the Purgatory party, attended by men and women who have either committed suicide or whose life styles killed them. Liberace has been invited, because he loved a party, even though he was not a suicide, and Tina Mion- still alive- is seen in the front row, second from the right.

We are anxiously awaiting the re-opening, at the end of ’08, of the El Garces hotel in Needles, California. This restoration is also an Affeldt project. Here’s a 1930 postcard view.

Of course one of the reasons to motor up to Winslow is to revisit a section of the Mother Road, Route 66 and a corner made famous by this verse from the Eagle's 1973 song Take It Easy:

Well, I'm standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
It's such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my Lord
In a flatbed Ford
Slowin' down to take a look at me

Katherine and friend.




Exposure is not so hot here, but there is a real flatbed Ford parked on the street and you can see its reflection painted on the wall behind it. There's an eagle sitting on the windowsill over the W in Winslow