Last Sunday afternoon was a special one at Joe & Aggies Café in Holbrook, as television and film actor William Shatner stopped by for lunch and to take a break from the heat as he traveled along Route 66.
The actor was traveling with Kevin Sirotek of American Wrench and a film crew as they promote their collaboration on designing the Rivet motorcycle, film a documentary called Rivet: The Ride and to bring awareness to the children of veterans whose lives were lost while serving their country.
The actor had heard about The Mother Road’s iconic café and made a detour from his original schedule to have lunch there. As he dined, Shatner talked about the freedom he experienced traveling the open road and some of the hardships endured on the 2,400-mile motorcycle trek along Route 66 from Chicago, Ill., to Santa Monica, Calif.
“It’s been a grueling trip,” Shatner said as he drank from a large cup of water, his face burnt from long hours on a motorcycle. “We had a couple of accidents, one where a man feel asleep behind the wheel of his car and ran into our trailer, sending it off into the median. The heat has been so intense and we had one of our crew go home due to heat exhaustion; there’s been a lot going on during this trip,” he related.
Another unanticipated problem came when the Rivet motorcycle Shatner was supposed to ride on the trip experienced some difficulties with the steering mechanism, forcing the bike to be trailered and Shatner to ride his Harley-Davidson.
“That was really frustrating. We have to work on it, but we don’t have the right tools to repair it so it’ll have to wait until we get to a place that does,” explained Sirotek.
Despite the setbacks, the mood of the road weary group was good. They joked about their many misadventures and how liberating it was to travel the open road. At one point Sirotek was riding on his motorcycle with both arms spread out wide, taking in the vast panoramic view of the desert.
“It was just so wide open and amazing,” he said.
Shatner nodded in agreement. “It was so tempting to drive up and nudge him, but I thought, no we haven’t had that kind of luck. Something would go wrong and we’d see him heading off the side of the road,” he said with a laugh.
Shatner talked about his many travels on the Mother Road, whether by tour bus, car, motorcycle or hitchhiking. Although he hasn’t done it in many years, he doesn’t see the problem with it. “I don’t see why people are so scared of the idea of hitchhiking, you meet some interesting people. Who knows, I’m probably scarier than a lot of people that might have picked me up,” he said.
Shatner, whose career spans more than 60 years, has seen a lot of the world, but this trip along Route 66 holds a special meaning for him. “Aside from showing off this beautifully engineered motorcycle, we’re stopping along the way at various American Legion posts, visiting with veterans and encouraging people to contribute to the American Legion Legacy Fund,” he said, adding that the fund is provided for children whose parents have been killed while serving in the military.
He related the story of Kole Perry, a boy he met in Oklahoma. “Kole is such a fine example of the kids this scholarship can help. He’s polite, well mannered and he wants to become a scientist. After meeting him we decided he’s our poster child for this trip. We can’t change what happened to his father, but we can maybe assuage that pain by helping him to achieve his goal of going to college,” he said.
He went on to note some of the veterans he has met on the journey. “There are veterans who are living off of their meager retirement, contributing whatever they can to this fund. I met a man who gave $10, but was too embarrassed to let us film him for our documentary because it was such a small amount. He gave everything he had, how many people do that? I’m hoping that this will pull at the heart strings, as well as the pocket strings, of people who read this,” Shatner said.
He also took some time to visit with Holbrook Mayor Bobby Tyler, as well as Steve Gallegos, one of the owners of the café.
Gallegos explained to Shatner how his family contributed to the movie Cars. “John Lassiter (with Pixar) came in here several times and visited with my parents, gathering information for the movie,” said Gallegos.
As part of their visit, Sirotek, Shatner and his wife Elizabeth took some time to look at drawings created by local residents for a contest depicting a cartoon image of the Rivet motorcycle as it would appear if it were in the movie Cars. It didn’t take long for the group to select two winners: Jack Hardy in the youth category and Rob Edwards in the adult category.
Edwards’ drawing was created with Sirotek in the driver’s seat.
“That’s gotta be the one, that’s me. I can’t pass that up,” stated Sirotek.
Shatner and his wife agreed. “It sums up the whole mood of the trip; it suits what we’re doing,” said Elizabeth Shatner.
Both artists were present at the café and were filmed as part of the documentary, with each receiving a $100 credit at Joe & Aggies Café and a poster signed by Shatner. All other contestants who participated are asked to go to the café to pick up a signed poster as well.
Shatner took a few more moments to visit with residents before heading back out onto the road to Flagstaff.
