Is it the Cozy Cone Motel or the Wigwam Motel? To Find Out, Watch the Movie Cars
Anyone who has seen the Pixar movie, “Cars” will recall the Cozy Cone Motel.
As with much of that animated movie, a real motel looks surprisingly
like the place that McQueen the race car spent the night. At the Cozy
Cone Motel, the individual rooms resembled giant orange traffic cones.
At Wigwam Village, also known as the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona,
the individual rooms resemble giant Indian teepees.
With
a 2009 population of just over 5,000, the City of Holbrook grew by over
three percent in the past decade. Among its claims to fame are the only
regulation golf course along Interstate I-40 between Flagstaff, Arizona
and Gallup, New Mexico. A stretch of Old Route 66 makes up its business district, while I-40 skirts the town to the north.
I found Holbrook a pleasant place to spend a
Saturday afternoon. After shopping for groceries and talking to locals
at the Safeway, I drove across the street to check out the Wigwam Motel.
Not wanting to intrude on their business, I approached the old main
office, only to find that it was deserted. While researching the place, I discovered that most days, the motel opens for business around 4:00 PM.
Even
when unoccupied by physical human beings, the place feels like the
spirits of ancient travelers still inhabit the grounds. In front of each
whitewashed teepee is a 1950’s vintage automobile. Did someone really
arrive the previous night in that ’55 Buick Century?
Are they inside their teepee, planning to spend another night? As the
afternoon wore on, no one entered or exited their teepee to tell me
their story, so I made up my own.
Years ago, I found a traffic cone in Henderson Nevada. Originally stenciled with the words “SW Gas”,
it stood abandoned in a strip mall parking lot. Thinking that I might
later need a traffic cone to protect my travel trailer, I named him “Coney” and he has traveled with me ever since.
Those who have studied the Pre-Puebloan Indians of the Four Corners region know about the mythical flute player we call Kokopelli. The Ancients
chipped images of Kokopelli on to stone canyon walls throughout the
region. Some hypothesize that Kokopelli represented the real
flute-playing minstrels who wandered from one ancient camp to another.
The playing of his flute upon approach to an unknown encampment signaled
that he was peaceful and perhaps bore news from elsewhere along the
trail.
Soon after Coney joined me in my travels, I received a stuffed Kokopelli doll as a gift. Now, whenever I travel in the High Southwest, a smaller version of Coney and my stuffed Kokopelli travel with me in the cab of my truck. When traveling
alone for days on end, it is tempting to start up conversations with
myself, but I prefer to talk with Coney and Kokopelli. Although they
rarely answer my questions, when they do, their advice varies from sage
to hilarious.
As we approached the Wigwam Motel, they both wanted
to get out of the truck and stretch their legs. Well, actually, only
Kokopelli has legs, but Coney stood up for himself and demanded time in
the fresh air, as well. As we toured the ersatz Indian Village, they
wanted to pose with all of the rolling stock that lay around the yard.
“Hey, that tow truck looks like Mater from the movie, Cars”, Coney said. Indeed, I could see the resemblance. Soon, Kokopelli was leaning back against
Coney and pretending to drive an old orange Ford V8 dump truck. After
posing with several of the vehicles, Coney and Kokopelli were ready to
move on. Just then, however, a Santa Fe Railroad locomotive sped along the tracks behind the motel.
The sun was low in the afternoon sky as we contemplated the loop road at Petrified Forest National Park. After that, we would stop for fuel in Gallup New Mexico. Our final destination that night was Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.
“Come on, guys. Let’s go”, I said as we all jumped into the truck. Off
we went down West Hopi Drive, also known in the legends of travel as Old-66.
By James McGillis at 05:38 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link
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