You Can't Get Lost - Day 23 Updated

 I'm catching up on my days again!!!

I planned to leave Phoenix about noon today, but Loraine tempted me with pancakes and the leftover Chinese food for lunch.  It ended up being about 2:30 or 3:00 when I left.  I wanted to get gas, but there wasn't a convenient gas station (like Love's or Pilot or Flying J) within miles of their house.  I drove up McClintock to Broadway where I found an expensive ARCO that was easy-in, high cover and easy-out.  That is worth 20 cents a gallon in my book.  And at these prices, you can hardly tell the difference.  The only problem is that I had to prepay, and I only put in $130 worth.  I normally like to fill it because I keep tabs of the mileage and I really wanted to see a high mpg after dropping 4000 feet from Flagstaff to,  Phoenix.  Of course, today it was the other direction, so I'll see what it looks like on the next tank.  It won't be near as much fun.  

Overall the drive was easy.  Traffic wasn't bad going up the hill and Johnny Dollar solved three cases by the time I got to the turnoff for the Meteor Crater.  Turned off at the 233 exit, drove the six miles to the site and to the closed fence in front of the visitor center.  Here is my view of the famed Meteor Crater.

At least I saved $23 by not going in.  And Luckily, enough people have turned around at the gate that I could get the hen and chick turned around and back on the road to Winslow.  

I got to Winslow about 6:30.  The gas station at the turnoff is as easy in and out as I've seen, so I might drive back there tomorrow to fill, even if it is a couple of miles backtracking.  I'm carefully following the GPS through downtown Winslow, I know about where the hotel is located, and the GPS tells me to turn on the highway going south right before I get there.  I figured it is an RV GPS and its directing me to a parking lot behind the hotel for easy parking.  Only I go under an overpass bridge which I realize is the railroad track and I end up on the south side of the tracks opposite the hotel.  It then tells me to make a hard left onto a road that it shows curving around and I can see ahead that there is no road there.  Since I left Phoenix late, it is now late dusk and I can't see well.  So I get out of the MH, and walk to where it is showing me to go.  And it is telling me to drive over a river to a road on the other side, only there is no bridge there.  (I had visions of the famed off-road mountain trail motorhome trip...)  If I had driven another 100 feet, I would have been stuck.  On a railroad track.  Honestly, the track was rusty, but that's still not a good place to be.  But since I had stopped, there was a big open space that looked like a truck parking lot that I could just turn into and turn around.  So I did, and it worked and I drove back under the railroad bridge and turned back onto the highway through town (which happens to be Route 66), and drove right past my hotel.  That was a good thing, since if I had driven into the hotel parking lot, there would have been absolutely no place to park and it would have been a trick to get out of.  But the highway itself was marked with parking stripes along the curb all the way in front of the hotel and there were no cars parked there at all.  So I drove around the block, turned at the "Take it easy" park and parked in front of the hotel.  Safe and sound.  At 7:00.  And the hotel had my reservation, and I walked into the restaurant and was told that I could come back at 8:30.  Which was fine.  It gave me a little chance to calm down.  

Now, the hotel.  I said on Day 0 that I would talk about the Fred Harvey Hotels and Cafes.  Fred Harvey was an uneducated immigrant from England and came to the States at 17.  He started working in a restaurant as a dish washer and and worked up to a manager.  He quit, moved to Topeka and started a restaurant there.  It became one of the best restaurants in Topeka.  When the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad started in Chicago to Topeka, it became one of the popular stops on the line.  When the line started going into the west that was only lightly settled, there were not many places for passengers to stop and eat.  Stations were set up every 100 miles for water and timber/coal and it took an hour to service.  Passengers would sit and order and wait while the food was being prepared and then the whistle would blow and they would often have to leave before they had eaten.  

Harvey got in touch with the officials of the AT&FE and offered to setup restaurants that would guarantee passengers would have good and timely food if the railroad would build the building.  They agreed and he started supplying services every 100 miles along the line from Topeka to Los Angeles.  The railroad provided the transportation of meat, vegetables for free daily; it was always fresh and they would start cooking when they heard the train whistle as it came into town.  However, Harvey had trouble hiring and keeping employees, especially wait staff and cooks.  Men would work there for a while and then head off to the next grubstake.  

Harvey came up with a great idea to get and keep employees.  The principle occupations for women in the west were teaching school, nursing and bar/salon and associated occupations.  In 1883, Harvey advertised throughout the East and Midwest for girls who:  had an eighth grade education, high moral standards, pleasant attitude and who agreed to work for a minimum of six months.  He was swamped with applications and set up an interview office in Topeka.  Those hired became known as the Harvey Girls.  Most were 18-30 years old, but there were several that were 16 and others up into their 40s.  

Their initial assignments would be to small stations in more out-of-the-way locations, and if they were successful there, they could be moved to bigger cafes in nicer areas.  They lived in dormitories with supervisors, so there wasn't any catting around, but former employees told stories of how they got around the restrictions.   

The early cafes were set up with a U shaped counter and each Girl had 16 patrons to take care of.  They were expected to talk to the "guests" and make them feel welcome.  They had a standard uniform which included white aprons, hair nets, dresses not higher than eight inches off the ground and black high heeled shoes.  

Harvey was a stickler about service and once fired the whole serving crew in Raton, NM for inadequate service.  He also believed that people deserved a good square meal, or more.  A piece of pie was a quarter slice, not a sixth or an eighth.  And he served a broad menu.  

The term "Blue Plate Special" came from a Harvey menu in 1892.  

As the communities grew, there developed a need for hotels along the line and Fred Harvey worked with the AT&SF to develop the Harvey House Hotels.  By 1900, there were 24 Harvey House Hotels.  Some of the most famous were built after that, such as the El Tovar (1903) and the Bright Angel Lodge (1935) at the Grand Canyon.  Mary Jane Colter was hired by Fred Harvey's sons to design hotels that fit into the environment and local culture.  

Winslow, AZ became one of the main stations for the AT&SF and the La Posada was one of the gems along the line.  It became known as the Hotel of the Stars, popular since it was about half way between Chicago and Los Angeles.  Many stayed in specific rooms, for example Howard Hughes stayed in #225.  John Huston stayed in #104.  There is the Alfred Einstein room and so on.  They have a big wall with pictures of people who stayed here.  It continues up the hallway.

I was in the Roy Rogers Room, #116.  I laughed and decided that Trigger stayed in the next room.  Since the Roy Rogers Room was the end of the hallway, Trigger would have been right outside.  The room is furnished in Southwestern Spanish style. 

One of the things I looked forward to was eating in the Turquoise Room.  I've read about it and cousin Merle recommended it also.  I had the Wild-Wild Platter.

Of course, the quail was the size of a chick, which made formal dining with knife and fork difficult.  So I checked the etiquette on line and it said that, once you finished mauling what you could off the bones, you can pick it up and eat with the fingers.  So I did.  But it was a fun meal in a unique setting and I enjoyed the whole ambience of staying at La Posada.  

Time for Norwegian... 640 days...