The "world's largest dream catcher."

The "world's longest map of Route 66."

The mohawked geodesic dome.

The collapsed wall where the 100 foot map of Route 66 was painted





On the wall of the break room was this announcement for the circus coming to the nearby town of Winslow.













Used up prayer candles





A semi trailer sits out back, filled with a few odds and ends. It looks as if the previous owners never quite finished packing up before they left.





Not even the promise of free coffee could keep Meteor City open.

This portrait lay in a garbage can inside the trailer.









Faded artwork is still visible on the outside walls of the structures, though some has been covered and defaced.





















After exploring Meteor City, I headed east toward Joseph City and a neat old trading post surrounded by a few other abandonments . I'll tell you all about them next week!

At daybreak I left the rest area and headed to the abandoned Meteor City trading post a dozen miles west of Winslow, AZ. Not an actual city, the trading post is named for the nearby crater Barringer Crater , where the Canyon Diablo Meteorite hit 50,000 years ago.The site was much smaller than Two Guns , which I'd explored the previous day, but this place had only been abandoned for 2 years, so I figured there would still be plenty to see.Meteor City trading post is notable for three things:According to Guinness World Records , the dream catcher is no longer the world's largest, if it ever truly did hold that distinction. The large hole in it has probably reduced its dream catching ability anyway.Bob Waldmire painted the 100 foot "world's largest map of Route 66" on an exterior wall. It fell into disrepair and was repainted by volunteers in 2002 or 2003. The wall on which it is painted has since collapsed. According to this , it would not be the longest even if it were still standing.The business began as a service station opened in 1938 by Joseph Sharber. In 1941 Jack Newsum took over, gave it the name Meteor City, and turned it into an attraction where one could purchase gas, groceries, and curios. A roadside sign advertised it as a city with a population of 1. After Newsum married in 1946, he updated the population to 2.The trading post's signature dome was added in 1979. It appeared in the 1984 movie Starman, directed by John Carpenter and starring Jeff Bridges.In 1990 the dome burned down and was replaced by the structure that remains today.In 2001, Meteor City closed briefly and was reopened later that year with new owners Richard and Ermila Benton. It closed again in December of 2012 and was put up for sale for $150,000. It doesn't look like it will ever be reopened.The place was in pretty bad shape when I visited, even though it had only been 2 years since it closed. The display cases were still inside, but everything had been ransacked.The landmark is surrounded by concrete teepees.Inside one of the teepees:Behind the dome are several badly vandalized trailer homesMust've been a nice place for a BBQ.The floor was rotting through in a few places.The bedrooms were in rough shape.When the shop owner walked out his front door every morning, he was greeted by the geodesic dome.There was also a little workshop behind the store.A small structure served as the employee break room.Thanks for checking out this article. If you enjoyed it, please feel free to share it on Facebook . While you're at it, please subscribe to Places That Were and follow me on my social media sites:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/placesthatwere Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JimSullivanPlacesThatWere/posts EyeEm: https://www.eyeem.com/u/placesthatwere Instagram: http://instagram.com/theplacesthatwere Twitter: https://twitter.com/placesthatwere/ Tumblr: http://placesthatwere.tumblr.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jimplicit 500px: https://500px.com/placesthatwere Thank you!