(Hackberry) Where Nostalgia Is Appreciated

What a great feeling it was to come back to a nostalgic site, where the “old things” were the same, as when last visited.

Following a genuine set of Burma shave signs displayed here, we actually experienced the truth of Route 66. A Chevy Corvette of Route 66 TV fames was parked out front, but the bone yard in the back was full of broken down vehicles from the “great migration,” during the double whammy of a depression, and a dustbowl.

Did the “Oakies” feel the wrath of the towners of Kingman when passing through? A big yes, there. In the blues music on that CD we purchased at Hackberry for background mood, there were references to the “sadness of trying to trade family treasures for gasoline,” and being cruelly rebuffed. Townies of that time, most likely the grandparents of today’s chamber of commerce members, wanted to sell gasoline, but they too had the attitude of “you had better be moving on, because ‘your kind’ of travelers really weren't wanted.”

In what was mostly a 50’s motif store, extremely busy ringing up sales of fuzzy dice to hang on a car’s rearview mirror, James Dean postcards, and replica signs, the proprietors took the time to photocopy historical material that lead us, a couple of days later, to a genuine migrant camp.

This started us on the fun of scoring this sojourn by points — what was living history, and what was MemoryXXX.

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