Motivated by Music

Traveling Route 66 is a dream for some people. How they accomplish that dream takes on many different forms. Some people are influenced by music. The Rolling Stones recorded the popular Bobby Troup song "Route 66" in 1964. In 1972 the Eagles released their first single, another Route 66 related song, "Take it Easy". Both bands inspired Johan Burgmeijer’s dream to traverse Route66. Johan, a Hollander, grew up listening to American music. His favorites were The Eagles, Rolling Stones, the Doors, Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Seger and America.
The music motivated Johan to delve deeper into American culture. Johan visited his local library to look at books filled with photos of American landmarks. His passion for music continued into his adulthood. Johan married and raised 4 children. He worked as a carpenter and in his free time he learned sport massage and rehabilitation. He found time to run in a triathlon and in 94’ he competed in the Holland Iron Man.
"After many years, when retired 2 years, married 25 years we had a party to celebrate. My wife said, "what do you really want to do?" Johan said in broken English. Johan told his wife it was his dream to go to America and travel on Route 66. "She said make a plan, do your dream". So Johan did some research online and put together a plan to travel Route 66 by motor home. "I showed my wife the plan, My wife said ‘I don’t go with you, make another plan.’"
Johan went back to the Internet and came across a picture of a man standing next to a recumbent bicycle in the Andes Mountains, which gave him an idea. Johan decided to rent a recumbent bicycle for a week to try it out. He found the bicycle very comfortable so he decided to purchase one last year. Johan trained with friends in the mountains of Holland to prepare for his Route 66 trip. "This was my first trip to America, first trip without my wife. It is strange, I do not know perfect the language" he said. Johan learned to speak English through the American music he loved to listen to. His perspective of American came not only from music but from politics, television and movies.
Johan’s Route 66 adventure started on April 5th, in the rain, at Adams Street in Chicago. "So much has happened to me since then, I could write a book", said Johan. He found Americans very helpful throughout his trip. "I met so many people. People were interested in my bicycle, they were so friendly. I didn’t expect that. You ask something, they tell you, show you, bring you".
Along the way, Johan picked up some mementos from his trip. He purchased a birdhouse for is garden back home. "Someone gave me stones for luck and a veteran soldier gave me his metal for luck", said Johan. Johan visited the football stadium in Oklahoma to take photos. "Someone came from a local television station. He asked what I was doing and I told him my story", said Johan. They interviewed him on the spot and the stadium manager gave Johan an Oklahoma Sooners cap and shirt. "I was a little emotional", he said, "you don’t know people and they give you something. I was a little confused". With very limited on space on his bicycle, Johan packed the mementos in a box, "I sent everything to Holland before I reached Oklahoma city" he said.
Music was always in Johan’s thoughts. Johan kept an online blog of his travels, at one point he wrote about eating while listening to the tunes of Dolly Parton and John Denver. Johan hit some rain along the road, "so Randy Newman, came along with the song " Rider in the Rain", said Johan. Johan reached Winslow and found the Standing on the Corner park, statute and 2 story mural depicting a scene in the song. "It was an emotional moment" he said. He found that the store across the street from the monument, Roadworks, was filled with Rolling Stones merchandise. The store owner was a Rolling Stones fan. In Kingman, Johan found some records in a thrift store, "you don’t see in Holland".
Along his trip, Johan met people from all over the world, Switzerland, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Scotland, Korea and Czechoslovakia. "In Kingman I met people on motorcycles. We had breakfast and they told me I should go to Hoover dam. I tried to go to Kingman to Needles, then Needles to Barstow" said Johan. Johan was warned about travel through the desert by one of the motorcyclists, a fellow Hollander. "It was very rough to Oatman, when in Needles I rented a car. It was too hot, 108 degrees. I thought to myself don’t be ridiculous, listen to people. In my heart I say, ‘That's a pity". Johan put his bicycle in the back of his rented truck and drove to the Hoover dam, the Grand Canyon and to Las Vegas where he saw the band America play. Johan continued his 2338 mile, westward quest and finished his dream on May 24.
"Now, thinking back, all the pieces fall together", said Johan referring to his training for the triathlon. "What I did prepared me for this mission, this dream. I rode over the Mississippi on a bridge. No motorcycles were allowed. I was alone across the Mississippi river. It was very beautiful and a very emotional moment. I read about the river in books, and now I cross it" Johan said recalling the hours he spent looking at books in the library in Holland. Although Johans dream was inspired by music, he inspired many fellow Hollanders who followed him on his blog. Many people along Route 66 gave him encouragement, friendship, directions and help when his bicycle broke down. Lin Yutang wrote, "However vague they are, dreams have a way of concealing themselves and leave us no peace until they are translated into reality, like seeds germinating underground, sure to sprout in their search for the sunlight." What is next, now that he has accomplished his dream at the young age of 60? "I think I will learn English better so my spelling is good and I can write letters to everyone."

Havasu Harvey House, Seligman Arizona

This is from an article I wrote in May 2008. I updated some information

Despite efforts to save the Havasu, the demolition of the Harvey House is completed. Built in 1905, the Havasu House in Seligman Arizona was approximately 60,000 square feet and was two stories high. The BNSF deemed the building, which sits about 25 feet from the tracks, at an unsafe distance from active railroad tracks.
The demolition supervisor, identified himself only as Mike, stated, “I was here in September and between then and the date we started the demolition, someone had gone through the building and removed the copper pipe”. The copper pipe was traced through a series of holes in the wall and removed by unknown persons. Part of the demolition includes salvaging timber, brick, metal and the tile roofing material. Several large metal steamers were salvaged along with metal pipes and screens from the building. The tile roofing was carefully removed and stacked on pallets.
Unknown to many people, some vagrants had taken up residence in the partially demolished building. Local residents were not surprised, “they hang around the back of the store, we had to keep the store doors closed to keep them out“ stated a local shop owner. Frank, another shop owner said “you know Mike really tried to get them [the vagrants] out of there. He even offered them food .” Despite the distraction the vagrants created, the demolition continued and one worker was assigned the duty of cleaning off the cement from the bricks and neatly stacking the salvageable bricks onto pallets.

The Seligman Historical Society attempted to have the bricks from the Harvey House donated to help fund the Cottage Motel. The Cottage Motel houses many documents and artifacts from the Seligman area. “In this day and age we have to cut costs, we have salvaged as much from this project as we could” said Mike. Part of the bid for the demolition project included salvaging building materials. According to the project supervisor, buyers were being sought for the salvaged roof tile. The prospective buyers were made aware of the significance of the tile and were seeking more information on the Harvey House.
Two days before the scheduled completion of the demolition, one of the workers had caught the last vagrant trying to escape from his encampment in the remains of the Havasu. The worker actually saved the vagrant from running into the train tracks; a short stout fellow that protested loudly when caught. The hero refused to have his photo taken, but said “We thought we had all of them out of the building yesterday”. Apparently some of the locals took in two of the vagrants relatives the prior day. The Havasu housed many people over the years and has many stories to tell.

To Don Grey, the Havasu is part of his heritage. His grandmother, Clara Stork, was a Harvey girl at the Havasu. His grandfather, Charles A. Greenlaw worked at a garage nearby. His grandparents met at the Havasu, fell in love and later married. Don inherited photographs from his grandparents and is retracing their travels. Many of the photos he inherited include photos of the Havasu. Don was given permission by the BNSF to take the last interior photographs of the Havasu prior to the demolition. Don has been documenting the final stages of the demolition.
The demolition was completed on May 29th. It is unknown exactly what will replace the Havasu. There is speculation that the property may be used as a maintenance yard.

The vagrant, little Havasu, is the last known occupant of the Havasu Harvey House. She is adjusting to her new life in California and doing what kittens do best; playing, eating and sleeping.

Bumper stickers

When I meet someone I usually can tell something about them by their accent, if they have one, and their clothes. Clothes can make a statement about a person like where they are from or what they like to do. Some people make rather dramatic statements and others are much subtler. Either way, the message is: “this is who I am”.
Sometimes the car you drive says something about you. Most people like to personalize their cars by either adding some fancy “bling“ wheels, quirky seat covers or an exotic paint scheme. Cars can be a reflection of ourselves, but the end result is a statement that says, “this is mine”.
If the type of car you drive doesn’t make a statement, the less fancy and inexpensive bumper stickers certainly do. I have never been a big fan of bumper stickers. My father, as a joke, slapped my sister’s car with a “Drama Queen” bumper sticker and my car with a “Horn doesn’t work, watch for finger” sticker. I promptly peeled my sticker off but I believe my sister still has that bumper sticker on her car some 5 years later. I sometimes didn‘t understand my fathers sarcastic humor because, although my sister was the oldest, she was never in line for the crown of any thespian troupe and I took Spanish to fulfill my language requirement in college, not sign language.
Keeping this in mind, sometimes bumper stickers are a little vague and the statement the owner is trying to make is not quite so clear. For instance, I was behind an SUV today that was plastered with bumper stickers. OK, to me one bumper sticker is more than enough, so this person seemed to really want to make a statement. The car I saw today had 4 bumper stickers and a very telling license plate.
The first bumper sticker was in the window and simply said “Dog”. Oh, please.... before one starts to draw conclusions on this person’s character, let me continue with the other vinyl statements. The second bumper sticker was an oval shaped British flag. The third sticker had a picture of a snowboarder shredding powder and the fourth said “Let peace prevail on Earth”. Ok, here is the icing.... this driver’s license plate frame read, “I’m not wearing any socks and I have matching underwear”.
(Apparently this persons mother never told them to make sure they were wearing clean underwear in the event they are involved in an accident.)

I am not sure, but I think the combined bumper stickers and license plate frame made a the following statement:
This person is a.... dog loving, snowboarding, British hippy that can not afford socks or underwear.

Back to the road...