Still Hoppin’ on Route 66

Bright yellow billboards advertising cold drinks, snacks and souvenirs dot the sides of highway I-40, encouraging folks to stop. After traveling for miles through the desert landscape in central-eastern Arizona, weary travelers take exit 269. They empty out of their vehicles at the only business still open on this stretch of road. Folks pause, snapping pictures in front of the iconic “HERE IT IS” billboard that has been across the road from Jack Rabbit Trading Post since 1949. In the parking lot, children smile atop a 10-foot-tall fiberglass rabbit. The tourists are part of Cindy (Blansett) Jaquez’s daily routine. She steps through the doorway that separates her home from the roadside business her family has operated since 1961. “Welcome to Jack Rabbit,” Cindy calls out cheerily as customers step inside.

Here It Is

Located just west of Joseph City, between Holbrook and Winslow, Jack Rabbit Trading Post has been a popular rest stop for travelers since it opened. In the 1960s, highway I-40 bypassed many parts of Route 66, aka the Mother Road, which negatively impacted many businesses. Although technically bypassed, Jack Rabbit is visible from the interstate, so people stop to take a break and buy refreshments. Cindy’s husband, Antonio “Tony” Jaquez, minds the store in the morning.  Both wearing Jack Rabbit T-shirts, Cindy’s white shirt is slightly smudged from the baking underway in their kitchen.

Cindy and Tony married in 1988 and worked about an hour away for a couple years. They moved back to run the store in 1990 so Cindy’s parents could retire. When Cindy and Tony bought the Jack Rabbit in 1995, they became the family’s third generation to own it. This mom and pop business is a part of Route 66’s story, and a piece of Americana that has stood the test of time. They want to stay connected with the Route 66 community, but their biggest goal is to preserve the Mother Road. 

The Mother Road’s Heyday

Established in 1926, Route 66 was the most direct, year-round route between Chicago and Los Angeles. In 1949, Jim Taylor bought the building on the Mother Road, opening a gas station with a small store and named it Jack Rabbit Trading Post. Cindy’s granddad, Glenn Blansett, took over the lease in 1961 and bought it in 1967. The roadside business has been in the Blansett family ever since. One of four children, Cindy and her family moved to Joseph City and lived in the house behind the Jack Rabbit after it was sold to her parents, Phil and Patricia “Pat” Blansett, in 1969.

Growing up at Jack Rabbit, Cindy and her siblings occasionally worked at the store. “We stocked, dusted and learned to wait on customers,” Cindy recalls. As a child, one of Cindy’s favorite memories was seeing families that would stop by each year when passing through on their vacations. “We got to know them well,” Cindy describes, “and they almost seemed like our own family.”

Clever Marketing

At the height of Route 66, roadside advertising was the only option for businesses. “This was before the internet, online review sites like Trip Advisor and the other social media platforms,” states Jerry McClanahan, Route 66 author and historian. Many shops depended on billboards and roadside signs to attract travelers to visit. “Jack Rabbit was not alone in this respect,” McClanahan continues, “however, its signs were memorable.”

Jack Rabbit’s original owner put up billboards all along the Mother Road, from Arizona to Missouri, to advertise the store. There were “hundreds of signs in both directions that counted down the miles,” McClanahan shares, which built anticipation for travelers.

 “My brother and I would play a game to see who could spot the next Jack Rabbit countdown sign first,” McClanahan tells about family trips on Route 66. After seeing the hand-painted Jack Rabbit mileage signs many youngsters asked, “Are we there yet?” The giant yellow “HERE IT IS” billboard was, and still is, a welcome sight.

After I-40 bypassed Joseph City in the 1960s, many businesses along its Main Street suffered. Jack Rabbit Trading Post could have met the same fate. “Thankfully,” Cindy adds, “my granddad worked to have an exit installed off I-40 in the late 1960s before he retired from the state senate.”

Preserving Route 66

Recently, efforts to preserve the buildings, neon signs and other Route 66 points of interest are receiving attention. “The towns in west Arizona from Seligman to Kingman were the first to embrace historic Route 66 status,” according to Nikki Seegers from the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. Business owners, like Cindy and Tony, along Arizona’s portion of Route 66 work to keep the nostalgia and Americana of yesterday alive.

At Jack Rabbit, Cindy and Tony proudly serve as Mother Road ambassadors to both American and international visitors. According to McClanahan, “They are trying to preserve their piece of Route 66.” The tradition of road side advertising lives on by selling handcrafted, customized versions of the mileage signs. Cindy posts often to the Jack Rabbit’s Facebook page and in Route 66 fan group pages. Using social media is one of the ways they are connecting with the Jack Rabbit’s followers.

Connecting Across the Miles

In June 2018, the west side of the Jack Rabbit’s “Here It Is” sign was completely restored in a project that took nearly one month. Cindy and Tony detailed the ongoing face-lift of the sign on Facebook. In a June 29, 2018 post after the sign was finished Cindy shared, in part:

“This sign has been here since 1949.  It was a huge project. Thanks to Facebook we have realised the big following we have. Thanks to all of your kind words & support. It makes it all worthwhile. We hope everybody knows this is truly a labor of love. We dedicate this to all of you “our fans”! I hope people know this isn’t just a photo op but about all the people who live on this route trying to keep it alive. Its who we are. THANK YOU!”

Jack Rabbit Trading Post Facebook Page

More Than a Road

Route 66 is more than the road. It’s the people that keep it alive. According to McClanahan, the Jack Rabbit is an important part of the Mother Road because it is one of the “last pure Route 66 shops” that is still family owned. “The best thing Cindy and Tony can do,” he adds, “is to keep Jack Rabbit Trading Post going as a piece of Americana and Route 66 history.” Looking down the road, Cindy and Tony plan to continue operating Jack Rabbit for now. At some point, Cindy explains, “we would like to get away from here as I have lived here for most of my 53 years.” However, Cindy and Tony’s children do not have an interest in taking over the store, so that might not happen anytime soon. “Time will tell,” Cindy ponders. As Tony often says, we just “keep hoppin’ on 66.”