Destination Time Capsule: The First Look Inside

Immedietly after I arrived in Tulsa and checked in at the very 70s Crown Plaza Hotel I made a mad dash several blocks away to the county courthouse where the car is buried. I was SHOCKED and amazed to find a small group of curiosity seekers pressed up againt the chain link fence with their mouths hanging open as men in hard hats were carefully removing the top of the time capsule with with a big giant crane. My timing was perfect. I couldn’t beleive it! The car wasn’t supposed to see until Friday, June 15. Lookie-loos, event organizers and workmen gasped in unison and some cried as the crane removed the lid and we saw a very dirty plastic covered car sitting in a pool of muddy water. Everyones hopes and dreams of a pristine original car vanished.

I will post pics of the car when its finally pulled once-and-for-all from its ill-fated tomb and dispayed on Friday night for the all world to see. And thats not an understement. People from all over the world have come to see the car.

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Destination Time Capsule: The “Car”-b-q & The Wig-Wam Motel in Holbrook, AZ

From Las Vegas we, (I’m traveling with one of NPR producer, Steve Proffitt, Day to Day is covering this trip) drove very slowly across Hoover Dam then onto to Kingman, AZ. We made a pit stop there at Safeway to get dinner supplies to cook on the engine block as we drove nearly half way across Arizona to the legendary Wig Wam Village Motel. I’ve been wanting to have a “Car”-b-q for a long time and this was the PERFECT time to do it! For the main course I carefully selected a plump pork tenderloin, tiny new potatoes. For desert two big juicy granny smith apples for a kind-of crustless aple pie effect. In a Dairy Queen parking lot across the street from the market we prepared the meal. The pork tenderloin was smothered in a rub, the potatoes-salted, peppered and buttered and the apples-sliced, sugared and yes, buttered. Everything was triple wrapped separetly wrapped in heavy duty aluminum foil and tucked into every nook and cranny of my Dodge Magnum’s engine block that I could find.

After a two hour or-so drive to Flagstaff we stopped at yet another Dairy Queen parking check on dinner. The pork didn’t seem hot enough so I stuffed it between the radiator hose and the block where it was piping hot. With two more hours to go I figured a little Dairy Queen couldn’t hurt so we marched ourselves in there and got some good ‘ol soft serve. It’s SO good and those crunchy cardboard cones are always so, well cardboard. Steve prompty managed to drop his chocolate dipped cone in the car. Oh well!

We arrived at the Wig Wam Motel famished and eager to see if our car cooking efforts had paid off. Pulling up for the first time to this legendary roadside wonder was overwhelming. But before I could explore the wonderland of wig wams we had to see how our car cooking efforts paid off. As I opened the hood and began unwrapping Fellow wig wammers gathered ’round. The pork was cook perfectly. In fact it may well’ve been the most savory a piece of pig I’ve ever had. Far better than i coul’ve cooked it at home! The potatoes however were a bit under cooked. The apples were the just perfect.

I could hardly concentrate on dinner because I was spellbound by fifteen cement teepee motel rooms arranged in U-shape layout with the office as the centerpiece. I had no idea that there would be a dozen or so pre-1960 cars permantly parked there to add to the Americana ambiance. I was even more suprised to open the door (with a key) to find the original rustic wooden furniture that had been there since the place opened in 1950. I nearly fell over when the lone lady behind the counter told me her father had built the place and it had always been in the family. So many rare elements come together to make the Wig Wam Motel in Holbrook, AZ a VERY special place. I’d say its a miracle!!!-home spun and family run, fantasy architecture, original hand-made furniture and it’s on Route 66! If that’s not Americana I don’t know what is!

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