In Part 2 of Oprah Winfrey’s “Oprah & Gayle’s Big Adventure,” the two had been booked for the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Ariz.

Oprah was actually looking forward to having her own suite at the Wigwams.

After spending hours in close quarters, Oprah and Gayle needed some time apart. “I want my own teepee,” Gayle said. “[Oprah and I are] not a couple, despite what you’ve heard. I know it looks a little suspicious right now, America!”

“I want my wigwam on the other end of the village,” Oprah said.

But it didn’t work out that way.

Oprah realized that there weren’t enough teepees to accommodate her production crew—18 total—so she packed up and moved to a nearby motel. “There just weren’t enough wigwams to go around,” she says. “We didn’t want to split up because we were in a strange place.”

Feh. I’m glad Oprah didn’t bail because she didn’t like the accommodations. But Holbrook isn’t exactly a big or intimidating town. I would have sent off the others to a nearby motel and spent a restful night in one of those teepees. Togetherness can take a break for one night.

The latest issue of Route 66 Magazine is out, and it contains these articles for your reading pleasure:

• The cover story is the history of the rise and fall and rise again of Cool Springs Camp, on Oatman Road between Oatman and Kingman. It includes comtemporary and vintage photos, including one in which the camp was “rebuilt” so it could be blown up for a scene in the movie “Universal Soldier.”
• There’s also a feature with lots of photos about the Pacific Atlantic Cycling Tour of Route 66 that went from Santa Monica to Chicago in 29 days. Jim Bradbury, one of the tour’s participants, wrote it.
• A story about Camp Cajon on Cajon Pass north of San Bernardino, Calif. Its owner was Bill Bristol, who built it in 1919 as a rest stop before the arduous trip downhill (or as a breather for those who made it up to the pass).
• Plenty of book and video reviews.

Route 66 Magazine can be found at newsstands in Borders and Barnes & Noble. You can also go to its Web site and subscribe.

In 1963, a Sinclair gas station opened on old Route 66 on 200 E. Baltimore in Wilmington, Ill., featuring the brand’s green brontosaurus that overlooked the station and highway.

Gary Geiss bought the station in 2001 and sought to put a dinosaur back on the building (there’s no word on what happened to the old one). The Kankakee Daily Journal reports that he negotiated with an eBay seller and bought an 80-pound, fiberglass Sinclair dinosaur that’s at least 45 years old and originally was displayed at a station in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Sinclair dino can be seen here.

Wilmington is now the home of two fiberglass giants — Geiss’ Sinclair dino and the Launching Pad Drive-In’s giant astronaut.

Decades before San Bernardino, Calif., started its humongously popular Route 66 Rendezvous, the city had its Covered Wagon Days, reports historian Nicholas R. Cataldo in the San Bernardino County Sun.

The festival, which paid tribute to the city’s Old West days, started in the 1930s.

For four days in November, there was a covered wagon encampment where participants lived in the wagons in much the same manner and under similar conditions to those that confronted the pioneers when crossing the plains.

Special awards were given to the oldest covered wagon, the most original covered wagon and to the group that presented the best portrayal of pioneer life in the covered wagon camp.

Special courtesies were paid to all residents who had lived in San Bernardino for at least 50 years. A “Half-Century Club” was being formed during the time of the festival, and all old timers were invited to register.

Women were encouraged to wear pioneer-era outfits or risk “jail.” Men also were hauled off to the hoosegow if they didn’t grow a beard. Taverns left their doors open, Old West-style. Horses traveled streets covered in sawdust. Orange Show Stadium hosted two rodeos, and the Municipal Auditorium was the site of Grandpa’s Follies, featuring 12 can-can girls.

The festival drew as many as 125,000 people in the late ’40s. Inexplicably, it lost its luster in the 1950s and faded away.

Too bad. I think reviving Covered Wagon Days on a smaller scale — at the Orange Show grounds, for instance — would be fun and worthwhile.

The Pueblo of Laguna is set to break ground today on a new 150-room hotel next to the burgeoning Route 66 Casino west of Albuquerque, reports the Albuquerque Tribune.

That includes the Isleta Pueblo that broke ground last month on a 201-room hotel. And a few months ago, Sandia Pueblo started construction on a 228-room resort that also features a golf course and spa.

Most of the developers want to get more visitors from far-flung places. But Isleta seeks to compete against the Vegas and Atlantic City casinos:

Isleta Pueblo’s niche, he said, could be in offering the same types of gambling, but with more family-friendly activities such as bowling and camping. Las Vegas, meanwhile, is busy reclaiming a rougher past with the famous “what happens here stays here” advertising campaign.

Plus, Ferguson said, New Mexico’s climate is better.

“You don’t have to worry about going outside,” he said.

I’m a bit skeptical about it doing that well. But with the weather, he has a point.

Elotrolopez traveled on Route 66 in August, with detours into Colorado, Utah, Las Vegas and Northern California. The number of pictures were so vast, he/she broke it up into three YouTube videos.

Elotrolopez must have been particularly taken with New Mexico; there are many images in the second video of that state’s vibrant skies.

• Nicole of Kingman, Ariz., tells what it’s like to live near the Street Racing event in downtown — blocked driveways, the smoke of burning tires in the air, and not hearing the town’s ubiquitous trains.
• Bearnard B. Behr on Route 66 travels the Mother Road through western Arizona, including stops at the Snow-Cap restaurant, Angel Delgadillo’s barbershop, Hackberry General Store and Oatman.
• Shane and his dad hop on their Harleys and check out a new, well-decorated 1950s diner on Route 66 in Glendora, Calif. Alas, Shane doesn’t give the name of the place. UPDATE: Helen Baker informs me that it’s the Legends Classic Diner.
• Martha Middleton of Notes on Needles General Plan recommends preserving a few of the California desert town’s historic Route 66 motels, among other recommendations. The purpose of the blog is a bit murky, but I’m guessing it’s examining the city’s general plan and seeing how it relates to the current day.