Took a drive up Highway 99 today to Winslow, Arizona. I found some lunch and then drove around town, checking out some of the older parts that were falling to ruin. This iconic “Standin’ on the Corner” spot in town used to be part of the main thoroughfare back when Route 66 sliced across America. Progress brought distress to a lot of the towns that were cut off as people sped by on Interstate 40.

Whiting Bros. Gas and Motels was a chain of small businesses here in the Southwest, with their first gas station popping up in St. Johns, Arizona, back in 1926. By the 1990s the Whiting company was essentially finished, though one gas station still retains the name over in Moriarty, New Mexico. Update: the building in this photo has since been demolished.

LZ Budget Motel was also once a Whiting Bros. property, but it changed hands over the years until finally, by the time I arrived here in 2002, the place was shuddered.

Due to America no longer being able to create jobs in areas outside our major cities, we are witnessing the total decay of our past. Instead of investing in infrastructure like broadband and giving investment incentives to entrepreneurs to open shop in places like Winslow, we are letting them crumble. Then again, we have failed to invest in our education system instead of opting to accept mediocrity so that even if tech jobs came to these parts employees would have to be imported. Update: most of these buildings have been demolished.

Hard to tell just how big this fire is, but one thing is obvious: it’s burning. I’m driving back down Highway 99.

These old classic cars are probably beyond repair and make me wonder if Winslow is effectively in the same condition.

It is seriously beautiful out on these open plains. Too bad others may not agree.