Category: Spotlight on [City]

Jim Hinckley’s Destination Spotlight: Kingman Arizona & Telling People Where To Go

Booking a holiday with RouteTrip USA is your passport to exciting, memory making, worry free adventures in the U.S. or Canada. Our bespoke holidays can also be a unique and immersive experience.

Our holiday packages in the American west, or on Route 66, include some of the Grand Circle. They also include a visit to Kingman, Arizona, a charming community in western Arizona forever immortalized in a song about getting your kicks on Route 66. 

The Grand Circle includes some of the most stunning and cinematic landscapes in the United States. It includes Monument Valley, and Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon as well as historic Native American sites such as Wupatki with towering pre-Columbian ruins framed by the snowcapped San Francisco peaks. 

Kingman is located on Route 66 along the southern edge of the Grand Circle. If you are a fan of craft beer (there are three microbreweries downtown), the American cinema, western frontier history, Technicolor sunsets, sunrise walkabouts in deeply shadowed canyons, or Route 66 history, this dusty desert crossroads needs to be a destination. 

Kingman has a connection with cinematic history including Easy Rider, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Universal Soldier. The town is also linked to automotive industry legends such as Louis Chevrolet and Edsel Ford, and aviation pioneers including Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. 

The extensive urban trail systems that range from nearly wheelchair accessible to challenging are a portal to awe inspiring scenic wonders as well as to historic sites and desert oasis complete with small waterfalls. Some of the trails follow 19th century wagon roads with ruts worn deep in the store in the shadow of towering cliffs. 

Kingman is a town full of surprises. Phase one of the world’s only electric vehicle museum is in the Powerhouse Visitor Center that is also home to an acclaimed Route 66 museum. An internationally acclaimed distillery that specializes in agave rum is a few miles east on Route 66 at was once the WWII era Kingman Army Airfield. And a short drive of just twelve miles takes you from the desert to Hualapai Mountain Park with a picturesque lodge and miles of shade dappled trails through a forest of towering pines. 

RouteTrip USA can ensure that you get the most from your visit to Kingman. After all, as with all our holiday packages, before we make recommendations for you, we test the pillows, taste the enchiladas, and make the partnerships that will enhance your trip. 

Discovering the rich history of Kingman, and its surprising Hollywood connection, begins with the self-guided tour that starts at the historic 1907 railroad depot. Using QR codes audio narration by author Jim Hinckley brings the story of filming locations, historic sites, Route 66, and fascinating people to life.

Often billed as America’s storyteller, Hinckley is the author of books about Route 66, the American southwest and the American auto industry, and the developer of Jim Hinckley’s America. He is also one of our travel destination consultants, another reason that we are a leading bespoke holiday company. This is why we can also ensure that each trip is tailored to your specific interests. 

Speaking of tailor-made trips, through special arrangement we can further enhance your stop in Kingman. We can arrange for Jim Hinckley to be your personal guide to historic or scenic locations in the immediate area. 

Are you ready to book a holiday that makes memories that last a lifetime? 

Spotlight on Austin, Texas

I first visited Austin in 2013, fell in love with the city and have been back several times since.

I was asked to provide my replica A-Team Van for the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) event for a promotion by the National Geographic Channel and made arrangements to get it to the state capital.

SXSW is a large, annual event for the music, film and multimedia industries and features conferences, presentations and a bit of showing off! My van was part of a 1980’s promotion and was running as a VIP shuttle between the airport and downtown Austin and, with a Delorean and General Lee participated in several events during it’s time in Austin.

texas state capitol austin
The A-Team Van outside the State Capitol building in Austin, Texas

Whilst the van was being used for promotional activities, I spent the time exploring Austin and found it a really fascinating city. The recorded history of Austin goes back to the 1830’s when settlers founded the village of Waterloo on the banks of the Colorado River. By 1839 the settlement had become the capital of the Republic of Texas and had adopted the name Austin from Stephen F Austin, known as the “Father of Texas”. 

There are some wonderful buildings in Austin, including the State Capitol Building on Congress Avenue and the historic Driskill Hotel on famous 6th Street.

In addition to visiting the State Capitol and nearby museum, I always walk down Congress Avenue and across the Colorado River to South Congress Avenue to wander around some of the antique shops as I head up to Allen’s Boots. Despite my best intentions, I always buy a Stetson, belt or cowboy boots in Allen’s Boots, a large western store on South Congress Ave.

One of the must-do activities in Austin is to stand by the bridge on Congress Avenue just before sunset and you’ll likely see around 1.5 million bats emerge from the underside of the bridge – it’s a spectacular sight! As the evening continues, we have our favourite restaurants and we like to experiment with some new ones too.

Austin is known as the live music capital of the world and you’ll find no shortage of this in the bars and clubs along 6th Street.

One of the striking things about Austin is the lack of chain stores, restaurants and other businesses. There is a general desire in the local community to support local businesses and to shun large corporations. Of course there is an out of town shopping mall with all the large, well known stores and restaurants but there is a very noticeable lack of these household names in downtown Austin.

congress avenue austin
On the bridge looking North along Congress Avenue with the State Capitol in the background.

Further outside of Austin, I always make sure I take the short drive north to Round Rock, to buy a doughnut from Round Rock Donuts, who sell giant, Texan sized doughnuts which happen to be really tasty too! Dallas and Houston are just a few hours drive away and San Antonio can be driven to in about an hour which makes it ideal for a day trip. I’ll write a blog about this separately at some point, but I love taking a stroll around San Antonio and nearby Gruene and this part of Texas really deserves more time than you could give it on a day trip.

Austin features in various of our Southern Road Trips and is well worth a two or three day stop as a part of your itinerary. Visit our main website www.routetripusa.co.uk to book your trip to Austin.