We maybe should've thought about investing in one of these rolling racks. And a bellhop to go with it. So we thought we had this travel light, in and out, thing figured out... This was for ONE night, not even 7 hours, at the Raddisson. After this, we really did pack for the one night stays. Mostly, because re-packing it all back in Ned and James was really hard. We don't have Rachel's packing gene.
And we're off! Heading from Flagstaff, Ay Zee to Albequerque, En Em.
322 miles according to Google maps. Not tragic.
Gorgeous mountains.
Snow still on the mountaintops in AZ.
Pretty... Eyes on the road, eyes on the road!
Coconino National Forest
We didn't realize we had entered the National Forest. We must have been rooting around in the cooler when we passed that sign.
Sedona. No photos. (File under "Stuff We Didn't See." Next time.)
They misspelled it, but it still counts.
Which came first? The sign?
... or the arrows
Albuquerque in our future. James in our rear view. BTW we never quite got over the knee-jerk reaction of looking in the rear view mirror and cussing the A-Hole who was tailgaiting us. File it under #Pavlov
Sno cone machine! Don't leave home without it.
One of the many Native Trading Posts in AZ and NM. Don't you just love the traditions and humility of the desert & plains people. BTW good prices here on those beaded belts that say Arizona on them and petrified wood pieces. Lots of these places along Route 66 haven't changed in decades. And neither have their restrooms.
Meteor City Trading Post. No time to see the crater this time. If you really need to see the big hole again (heh heh) please re-read the blogs from our first road trip.
Announcing the big McCain/Palin rally that the "Tea Baggers" (really? that's the name you chose?) hosted in AZ. Huge turn-out, despite the cheesy sign. Lots of talk on the AM airwaves about this one. We worry for America.
Lots of Squidward friends on the highway.
Jeez, this dope won't get off my tail... uh, nevermind.
Twin Smokestacks. We've been sucked into the theme.
Making sure America has power. And what better place to contaminate the environment than on Indian Land.
The cooling ponds near the power plant. That there is some cancer water, ladies and gents.
Native condo with a view.
We're looking for the Mildly Timid Forest. Might be in Connecticut.
We didn't stop in Winslow, AZ this time. But here's what we missed. The La Posada Hotel, which was one of the original Harvey Houses next to the train stop. It was completely redone and supposed to be great.
And of course, Winslow was made famous in the Eagles song, "Take it Easy." In fact, you can have your picture taken with the "Girl in the Flatbed Ford" on the corner in Winslow. Wonder what that gig pays?
Lots of US Military and Homeland Security vehicles on this trip. Not sure whether to feel safe or in danger? But at least they aren't hiding behind some fake Baskin Robbins or Piggly Wiggly truck like in "Close Encounters." It's right out there for us to see.
While we didn't stop in Winslow we did however stop in Holbrook another little burg on Route 66.
Route 66 Wigwam Motor Motel. Awesome!
I think as as child NLM stayed in WigWam number 4 when she was traveling Route 66 every summer with her family. She wanted to stop and see if they ever found her polished rock collection that was accidentally left behind. We didn't stop though, as she was sure they saw the value of the collection and sold it on the black market.
Look at those cars! The station wagon brought back some memories for NLM (not all good...).
Joe & Aggie's Diner in Holbrook. A recommendation from Road Food (thanks, Meredith!)
Begs the question "Original what?" How many times do you think Pat heard over the years "What do you have that's semi-original?" I'd really rather not pay full price for an original. Do you have a copy of an original? Maybe that's her cousin's store "Sally's House of Knock-offs."
Now that's original.
Handy velociraptor parking here.
But are they polished?
Blizzard anyone?
Knife City. Much better deals here than at Knife Hamlet.
That's a right purty rig, mister.
Just hit a big bump in the road. Thought we heard James yell "Cowabunga!"
Not sure what this is that they were hauling, but it looked scary and scifi-ish. Oh wait, "SyFy-ish." Okay, X-files maybe.
Glimpsing Maeve's future...
Speaking of Maeve...
Big rock. (you can tell because of the semi truck for scale. See what we did there?)
Four dollar blankets?! In 90 degree heat?! Stop the car!!!!
Woooo! New Mexico! And it's Cinco de Mayo. Cut to: us plugging the blender into the cool lighter adapter inverter thingy we bought at the fancy TA truckstop.
Longing for the Squidward.
And some food... Gallup, NM, here we come.
First we tried to find a place recommended on roadfood.com, but it literally looked like the food might actually come from the road. So we opted for the much better option of the El Rancho Hotel and Motel.
Super famous for the Hollywood set back in the 40's & 50's. Tons of movies were filmed in the near by desert and mesas. Now it's a stop for tourists and bikers. We had lunch, snapped photos and wished for those glam days of yore. Rooms are named after famous guests, signed photos line the walls, etc. the whole shebang.
"Hallelujah Trail" was one of the films shot here.
In addition to the El Rancho, Gallup is a good place to buy Indian Jewelry -- if you don't mind the bad juju -- pawned to buy booze or dug up from the Indian graves. Nan's mom, Maye, used to always ask when buying pawn in Gallup. "Is it dead pawn?" She never wanted to buy from the graves. We all have our lines we won't cross...
Dinosaur nesting ground.
Cool!
Not nearly as exciting as we thought it would be. See? But I guess if you were traveling by wagon or horse this halfway point would be a huge event.
This is total "Thelma and Louise" territory.
As a matter of fact we are.
That too.
Thinking of you. You know who you are.
Guess you gotta work with what you've got.
We arrived at Nan's sister Celia and her husband Clay's house at sunset. We parked Ned, James & Tow-Tow in front of there house for the night. Clay was impressed with our rig and our driving skills. Of course, he hasn't seen us try to back this thing up.
We threw our stuff in Celia's car and headed for the Albuqueque Marriott for a girls night and slumber party. Celia picked this hotel, she says it's where all the roadies stay when they are working rock tours in town. When we asked how she knew that she said "first hand" and that's all she would say.
Celia is a Moody Blues fan. A big fan. Has followed them around the world. Now she's no Penny Lane, but she has had her share of rock n' roll fun in the late 60's & 70's.
We laughed and relaxed and drank excellent box wine and actually got to bed at a decent hour. Tomorrow, a day trip to see Santa Fe and our pal, Joan Tewkesbury.
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