Route 66 in Arizona

Although Arizona didn’t win the Super Bowl, they put up a great fight. It was an exciting game and they showed Pittsburgh and the rest of the world that they were there to play.

If Kurt Warner had been able to utilize Larry Fitzgerald earlier than the fourth quarter, they may have won. Or, if the Cards hadn’t had 3 personal fouls in the third quarter….

Anyway, I’m not here to Monday morning quarterback. The Cards played a great game, and they are still champions to all of Arizona.

The team arrived back home today to a pep rally at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. An estimated 4,000 Arizonians were on hand to welcome the boys in red home.

We’re ready for next year!

After searching and searching and searching, I was finally able to find a Cardinals shirt.  I went to BHC on Friday, about 30 miles away.  I went to Target, Ross’s, WalMart, and a few other stores with no luck.  Then it hit me!  Kohl’s!  Kohl’s in Kansas City always had Royals, Chiefs and college gear, so maybe I’d get lucky here and find Arizona gear.  And I did!  I was so relieved that someone at least recognized the Cardinals here in NW Arizona.   I wasn’t the only one looking for the stuff either.  Kohl’s didn’t have a large selection left.  While I was deciding between one of the two designs available, a father and his son walked in and saw the display.  The father let out a sigh and said “Thank God.  I’ve been looking all over this town for Cardinals gear”.  I told him I had too, and my town as well.

Maybe I should have bought up all the shirts that were left and sold them here in my town.  I probably would have made some money.

The Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl, right? And, they are from Arizona, right? So you’d think Cardinals gear would be easy to find in the state, right? Wrong! At least not in the northwestern part of the state.

I have been looking and looking and looking for Cardinals gear locally and I’ve come up empty-handed. It’s not because the Cardinals stuff is sold out either; it just doesn’t seem to exist. I’ve been looking for it since August, since we moved to the state.

I’m a big sports fan, and I like to show my support of the home teams.  I lived in Kansas City for 47 years, so I have quite a collection of Royals and Chiefs apparel.  My husband is from Indiana, and we have our share of Colts and Pacers memorabilia.  I even have Colorado Rockies shirts, gotten while visiting my father, who lives in Colorado.  No Broncos items are allowed in my house however.  Being in the same division as the Chiefs, they have always been bitter rivals, and they always will be.  But, I digress.

I started following the Cardinals closely when we moved here, and I wanted a Cardinals shirt.  Could I find one early in the season?  Nope.  Can I find one now that they are the NFC champs and heading for the big game? Nope.  Now, there’s not a whole lot of places to shop in this town, but we do have WalMart and Kmart.  Evidently, WalMart thinks that Arizona only has three teams:  the Diamondbacks, the Suns, and the Arizona State University Sun Devils.  At Kmart, it was even worse.  There were a few Diamondback shirts, but that was it as far as Arizona teams went.  Now, if I wanted shirts of the Green Bays Packers, Denver Broncos, or Oakland Raiders, they were plentiful.   I even went to some of the truck stops near here.  I could find Chiefs stuff, and Colts stuff, and just about every other NFL team’s stuff, but no Cardinals stuff.

I have been checking religiously ~ like nearly every day.  I’ve even asked at Kmart if they were ever going to get anything in.  The girl looked at me like she’d never heard of the Cardinals.

If Cardinals gear exists in this town, it’s pretty well hidden.  I did find a ball cap at Dollar General, but I didn’t have enough money with me to buy it, because I wasn’t expecting to find anything there.  I mean, if Kmart and WalMart didn’t have gear, I sure didn’t think Dollar General would either.  They only had a few, and I’m sure they’ve sold out.

I’m heading out to a nearby, bigger town on Friday.  Maybe I’ll have more luck there.  If not, I’ll pop across the state line into Nevada or California since I’m not going to be able to get into Phoenix.  Surely someone acknowledges that Arizona has a football team.

 Woot!  The Cardinals beat Philadelphia in the NFC Championship game 32 - 25!  They are on their way to the Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Bay.

There was a sea of maroon as far as the eye could see at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale Arizona.  American Idol winner Jordin Sparks sang the National Anthem. Once the game was underway, the first half was owned by Arizona, specifically Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald.  Three touchdowns and one field goal later, the Cards went into half time ahead of the Eagles, 24 - 6.

 The second half started out with a different story however.  Philadelphia dominated, scoring a straight 19 points with 3 touchdowns, putting them ahead of Arizona 25 - 24.  A missed PAT and 2-point conversion prevented the Eagles from gaining a 4-point lead.

With a little over 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter, Arizona got the ball, and took the lead back with another touchdown.  Arizona followed the TD with a 2-point conversion, leading Philadelphia 32 - 25.  After the Eagles briefly regained possession of the ball, Arizona ended their wild ride with the 32 - 25 final score.

Several conversions and mistakes by the Eagles, and an awesome offense and defense from Arizona catapulted the Cardinals into the big dance, the first time a Cardinal team has taken part in a football championship game since the Chicago Cardinals of 1947.

Against the odds, the Arizona Cardinals have made it to the NFC Championship Game. They are now just one step away from the big game, the Super Bowl.

The NFC Championship game will be played this Sunday, the 18th, at Arizona’s home stadium in Glendale Arizona. They will be playing the Philadelphia Eagles for the Conference title. The game will be seen on TV on Fox, at 1:00pm  Arizona time.

To be honest, I have no idea what the Cards’ chance is against the Eagles. I’m still not used to following NFC teams. Since I lived in Kansas City for so long, and am a die-hard Chiefs fan, I have always paid more attention to the AFC teams. In my opinion though, I think the Cardinals have a better chance of winning against the Eagles then they would have had the NY Giants won instead of the Eagles last week.

It would be very exciting if the Cardinals beat Philadelphia and went to the Super Bowl. I haven’t lived in an area where a team went to the Super Bowl since 1969, when the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV (played on January 11, 1970), beating the Minnesota Vikings 23 – 7.

This picture is of Route 66 in Kingman Arizona.  It was taken near the railroad tracks that run parallel to the road, just south of Route 66.  The picture is looking to the west, toward downtown Kingman.

You can see a couple of motels from the Route 66 heyday, the Rambling Rose Motel and the Arcadia Lodge.  I believe that both of these motels are used mainly for apartments today.

To the right of the Arcadia Lodge sign is the Kingman water tower, which is next to the railroad tracks and was used to provide water to the Santa Fe trains back in the day.

The top of the picture shows the empty desert landscape between Kingman and Bullhead City.

Oatman is having a bed race. The 19th Annual Great Oatman Bed Races will be held on January 24 in the town of Oatman, Arizona. Oatman is located in the Black Mountains, on old Route 66.

The last time I saw a bed race was when I was in college…a long, long time ago. I didn’t even realize that people still did bed races. I know they were outlawed on my college campus shortly after I graduated because of insurance issues.

If you are not familiar with bed races, well, you are missing out on some crazy fun. Generally, 5-person teams participate, with one person riding in a specially constructed bed, and the other 4 team members guiding the bed through a designated course. At the halfway point of the race, teams have to stop and make up a stationary bed, complete with sheets, comforter or bedspread, and pillows before continuing. While it’s common to have to build your own racing bed for a bed race, beds will be provided for each team that enters the Oatman race.

The Oatman race will take place at 1:30pm on January 24 along Main Street. There will be a Chamber Pot Parade starting at 11:00am, and spectators and participants alike are encouraged to wear pajamas. There will also be a bake sale, a toilet seat toss, and other events during the day. There will also be a burro calling contest.

This sounds like it’s going to be a wild and crazy day in Oatman.

I watched the NFC Wildcard playoff game this afternoon between the Arizona Cardinals and the Atlanta Falcons. The game was being played in Glendale Arizona at the Cardinals home stadium. I’m working to become a Cardinals fan now that we live in Arizona. Football fever is running high, even in this remote northwestern corner of the state.

After a turnover by the Falcons, the Cardinals made the first score of the day, with a touchdown less than 5 minutes into the game. That was the only score of the first quarter.

Atlanta started the second quarter with a field goal. Arizona scored next with a 71-yard touchdown run by Anquan Boldin. After the run, Boldin was being checked out on the sidelines, looked like he may have pulled a muscle.

The Falcons retaliated with a 77-yard touchdown, but Arizona was still ahead by 3 points, 14-10. Atlanta intercepted a Cardinal pass, and with 23 seconds left in the first half, the Falcons scored another touchdown to take the lead.

Less than a minute into the second half, the Cardinals picked off a mid-air Falcon fumble and took the ball to the end zone, putting Arizona back in front.

Atlanta got away with a couple of penalties that should have been called and weren’t.

At this point, I had to leave to go pick up my husband at work. I figured I’d be back home in time to see the end of the game, but he was in the middle of a sale, so I had to wait on him. I had to wait over an hour, so I missed seeing the end of the game. I did try and listen to it on the radio (poor reception), but the essence of the game gets lost in translation, even with good reception.

Arizona did win, 30 – 24, and will play either the New York Giants or the Carolina Panthers next weekend. Today’s game marked the first playoff game for the Cardinals since 1947, when they were the Chicago Cardinals.

Wishing a happy and healthy 2009 to all my readers!  Thank you all for your continued support and interest in the happenings along Route 66 in Arizona.  I hope you are able to keep gettin’ your kicks on Route 66 in the coming year.

If there is anything about Route 66 you would like more information on or want me to write about, please feel free to contact me through the comment form here on my blog, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.   It can be about Route 66 in general, or about something specific in Arizona.

Again, thanks for reading, and blessings for the New Year!