One of many budget motels that once lined US Route 66 in downtown Winslow, the Westerner has seen better days, but it still manages to hang on. I was stuck by the incongruous messages coming at me from its walls. Its marquee is in disarray – letters are missing and it makes little sense. Yet nobody has fixed it in years. What this hotel seems to be saying is that the guests who stay here don’t really need to read a marquee. They probably already know what it costs to stay there, and what the place offers them. Another message speaks of its very clean environment. The state of its cleanliness must be a relative term. The sign itself is rusting and the building that supports is in need of a paint job. The final incongruous touch that makes this wall speak so eloquently is the cowboy hat, complete with a drooping wire. The old west is no more. It is a fantasy, a place of dreams. I am not sure that this motel ever could have offered its visitors the authentic old west.