Day 12 - Tues 27th May

Flagstaff, Az to Las Vegas, Nv

"Flagstaff, Arizona and don't forget Winona" (Again)

After missing breakfast at the Monte Vista Hotel, Flagstaff, we bumped into Pete & Lynda in the lobby. They had been up & about and saw Max (the car) in the car park. They also saw Arnie guarding it. Lynda remarked on how she thought that he was much bigger than what she imagined!

We said goodbye again and set off.

As we had departed from R66, "Main Street America" (as us R66 anoraks also call it), we had to drive back to where we had left it west of Gallup, Nm.

We decided to interstate it east to Winslow & R66 it west back to Flagstaff. Understand? Look at a map!

I was driving east on the interstate and we had an accident. Well, we didn't but the 20 wheeler truck next to us did!

I was overtaking the truck, about to pull alongside, when one of it's tyres blew. It exploded and threw large pieces of rubber at us. Luckily the truck didn't swerve at all. I swerved a little, then both us held steady, slowed down and pulled off at the next exit.

The driver, Paul Thompson, was very friendly and before anything else asked if we were OK.

We were, of course, so we went about exchanging insurance details etc. He phoned his company & I phoned the car rental company. At first we thought that there was no damage apart from black rubber marks on the front and side of Max.

 Then on closer inspection we realised that there were two small dents on the passenger door where the black rubber marks were.

The driver, Paul took lots of pictures and so did Boley. Paul's were for insurance purposes, Boley's were for the blog! All of this took about an hour and it was baking hot.

Boley heard Paul tell his boss that these were good guys (us) coz we were doing Route 66. 

The car rental company offered us a replacement car but we said that it wasn't necessary coz we liked Max, (even more so now that she's into rubber!)

We'd like to say a BIG thank you to Paul Thompson of Freshpoint Transportation. Obviously it was just one of those things, but Paul was very professional and helpful throughout.

 

Safe Trucking, Paul.

We carried on and Max performed with a new lease of life.

We arrived at Winslow, Arizona and sought out Kinsley & 2nd. Made famous by The Eagles/Jackson Browne song "Take It Easy".

So we took pics of me then Boley "Standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona".

We had already called in at one gift shop & bought some things. We wandered over to another and the lady in there, Sandra, was very much taken with Arnie. She takes photos of (almost) everyone who calls in and puts them on a large digital photo frame hung up from the ceiling.

So she took photos of us and we took photos of her! 

We then hit R66 back to Flagstaff and on to Seligman, Az.

There is a stretch of R66, starting east of Seligman, that is continuous original R66 for 159 miles. 

We stopped in Seligman at the Snow Cap Cafe, a R66 institution, for a brunch of hot dog & shake. 

The late Juan Delgadillo, owner of the Snow Cap, would play practical jokes on his customers. His son, continues in this tradition with squirting mustard, false door knobs and "slightly used" napkins amongst many other jokes and tricks. These are the toilets!!

The food was great too!

We continued on and in Kingman left R66 to branch off to Las Vegas, which is 100 miles away.

I've been to Vegas many times but Boley hasn't so we couldn't be so near & not spend  few days there.

We drove over the Hoover Dam and arrived in Vegas at 8 pm.

Drove down "the Strip" with Max's top off and checked into our hotel.

Went out, got something to eat and had a few beers in various bars 'til 2 am.

Mileage: 2678 

P.S. We forgot Winona!

Day 11 - Mon 26th May

Monument Valley to Flagstaff

“Flagstaff, Arizona and don’t forget Winona”

We rose early the next day (6 am) cos I wanted to take pictures of the sun rise over the valley, Kev was not pleased. Job done back to sleep ‘til 10 am. Boley woke me up at 6 to take pictures of the sun rising over the valley. I was not too pleased. Back to sleep ‘til 10 am.

We visited the original Goulding Lodge. The Gouldings, Harry and Mike (Harry’s wife!) started a trading post here in 1923. In 1929 they built the lodge, which is now a museum. It’s really interesting, full of Goulding and Indian artefacts and one room dedicated to the films that have been made at Monument Valley. Lots of pics of John Wayne and John Ford.

We took loads of photos and eventually left the valley about 11:30.

It was much further than we realised to The Grand Canyon. We stopped at Tuba City for food and fuel and sped on. We passed a sign for The Navajo National Monument so we thought we'd take a look. 18 miles later we reached it. I thought that it would be a monument, but it is a canyon with ancient Navajo dwellings in it. As we didn't have much time and as it was cold, due to the altitude, we had a quick look and left. 

We reached The Grand Canyon about 4:30. Paid our $25 and stopped at most of the viewing points along the south rim.

Arnie made some new friends in the gift shop.

Mmmmm nice Canyon, Arnie. You're looking the wrong way!

We took loads of pics (again) and left at about 6pm. I had arranged to meet up with an old school pal from Nottingham, Pete Lusczack and his wife Lynda, in Flagstaff.

Pete has lived in Phoenix, Arizona for the past 15 years. He met Lynda, who is from New York, in York. I’ve only seen him

once since leaving school. I thought that it would be nice to meet up in Flagstaff as it is so near to him (only 140 miles).

We arrived in Flagstaff at 7:30 pm. I was a little concerned as it was late and we hadn’t been able to contact Pete & Lynda for the past 2 days due to no mobile phone network out in them there hills.

We checked into the Monte Vista Hotel, a R66 institution, and were told that it was 6:30 not 7:30. We had gained an hour two days ago, but never realised it.

The Monte Vista Hotel is quiet famous. It is very old and many film and rock stars have stayed there. The hotel names the rooms after whoever has slept in that room.

We had the Humphrey Bogart room. It was nice and dark with a poster of Bogey on the wall. It had two double beds and Boley kept saying “Why did Humphrey Bogart have 2 beds?”

We met Pete & Lynda (Hi!) in the hotel bar at 7:30 pm, had a drink and went to a local Mexican restaurant for a meal. Afterwards we went to The Beaver Street Brewery Bar, at my request, won the quiz, caught up on old times and had a thoroughly great time.

As Flagstaff is at 7,000 feet, it was really cold outside. We said goodbye to Pete & Lynda back at our hotel and me n Boley had a few more beers at the hotel bar. The bar was meant to stay open until 2 am but closed at 1 am. Shame!

A quick thanks to Pete & Lynda for driving 280 miles to meet up with us for a beer (or four).

See you in Nottingham or Yorkshire in July.

Mileage: 2287

Quiz Score:

Brits (including Lynda): 11387

Others: Not as many as the Brits  

Day 10 - Sun 25th May

Albuquerque to Monument Valley

“Gallup, New Mexico”

Managed to make breakfast for the first time in over a week.

Left A’que about 11 am and hit the “Mother Road” (as us R66 anoraks call it).

We had a long drive today as we had to make up time due to the extra night’s stay in A”que. We had 160 miles to Gallup and another 179 to Monument Valley.

R66 was almost entirely off the interstate. We were making good time when we suddenly realised we were missing the Leeds/Donnie game. We switched channels on the radio only to find the “phone in” discussion after the match. Boley was inconsolable after he discovered the result. I couldn't keep Max (the car) on the road with laughing. (Mighty Leeds???)

After about about an hour we came across a cowboy event in the middle of nowhere.

They were roping steers (not queers!) We took lots of pics and got on our way.

Shortly after that stop we diverted off R66 to visit Acomo Pueblo, “Sky City”. This is an ancient Spanish/Mexican city perched on the top of a Mesa (large mountain outcrop). To gain access you have to pay for a guided tour and must buy a permit to take photographs. We didn’t have time for the tour, so used the visitor centre’s facilities (very clean and very very nice) took some photos without a permit and sped away.

The weather by this time was hot, so we had Max’s top down.

Roadkill Alert:

I inadvertently hit a bird. Sorry, little bird.

We reached Gallup mid afternoon and had a food stop. It was in Earl’s Family Diner run entirely by Navajo Indians. Gallup is the unofficial capital of the Navajo Nation.

While we were eating, there was a constant supply of Indian vendors. Unlike on the continent, there did not hassle you, but politely walked away if you weren’t interested. We bought a couple of gifts.

On leaving Gallup, we had to leave Route 66 to head north to Monument Valley. 

At this point we left New Mexico and entered Arizona. You could tell it was Arizona because Boley nearly hit a stray dog that was crossing the road, followed by a stray horse! Now that WOULD have been a high scoring roadkill!

Music On The Move:

Before we set off a few people had asked if we’d got our tapes or playlists ready for the trip. I had sort of sorted a playlist on the ipod to play through the radio, but we haven’t used it once.

Driving through Illinois and Missouri we listened to a Rock station, but since Oklahoma we have been listening to Country. So much so, that we have begun singing along with the songs as we’ve heard them that many times.

During this part of the drive (Sunday evening) the top 30 chart was being run down. It was quiet exciting (sad??) A current hit is a version of Life In A Northern Town. Who did the original?

We arrived at Monument Valley at 6:15 pm. We paid our entrance fee and were told that the “park” closed at 9 pm.

First we parked at the visitor’s centre and took some pics with and without Arnie. It was at this time that a local stray dog first took an interest in me by chewing my shoes and then took a VERY strong interest in Arnie. At first I thought that he wanted to chew him, but soon realised that his interest was more of an amorous nature. So much so, that he became aroused, much to our amusement but totally confusing the Japanese tourists. Some good pics though!

We drove Max, with her top down, around Monument Valley. Boley was driving, I was stood up, filming on the camcorder and taking pics. We were shouting and waving to all the other tourists as they drove past us and making them cheer and wave as I pretended to film them. Oh what fun!. One lady shouted “You’ll get dirty” to which we replied “We’re dirty anyway”. We later found out that the wind blows the sand and it gets EVERYWHERE.  Max is now covered in a thin film of sand, inside and out. (Take note you plumbers, Max is very dirty)

We took loads of pics including the elephants butt and the camels butt (honest) and before we knew it, it was 8:45 and almost dark. By the time we found our way out, it was dark.

We had nowhere to stay, but thought that we’d try Gouldings Lodge, which is about 2 miles away. They had one room available with one king bed & a pull out sofa. We decided to take it as we would be struggling to reach anywhere else before total darkness and not knowing the roads it could be dangerous. We just managed to get something to eat and settled down for the night with ghosts of John Wayne, Lee Marvin & John Ford. 

By the way, Monument Valley was absolutely fantastic. The highlight of the trip so far along with The Detroit Cobras and Boley losing his sunglasses.

Mileage: 2004 miles

Roadkill:

Boley: 2

Moggy:1

Day 9 - Sat 24th May

Albuquerque to Albuquerque

This is the first time in over a week that we've been able to stay 2 nights in one place.

Got up late & missed breakfast, no change there, and drove into the old town.

Weather warming up from yesterday's rain.

The old town is not very big but it's really cool. There was a festival going on. We saw 2 mariachi bands and some flamenco dancers in the plaza.

Did some sight-seeing, including another church and had a Mexican brunch.

Boley felt really at home, being a Mexican bandido.

Drove back to the hotel, parked up and went to find the free music festival. It was only 2 blocks away.

We just caught the end of the 1st act, Indigenous. They were a blues/rock band. The lead guitarist/singer is an American Indian, hence the name. They were really good.

The next band, Ruthie Fisher were due on an hour later at 4 pm so the MC encouraged people to visit the many stall during the break.

The festival was to promote green awareness and to encourage re-cycling. There were many "alternative" stalls there and many middle aged hippy types.

We went to the stand housing the organisers and discovered that they were encouraging people to walk or cycle to the event. Boley told them that we were driving R66 which I thought was not the most diplomatically environmentally friendly opener he could come out with. However, because we are from England and are more environmentally aware than the US, he forgave Boley and gave him a free t-shirt. So I got one too.

There were many people with dogs wearing coats that said "Rescue Me" on them, and other folk walking cats!

The second act Ruthie Foster was brilliant. She and her band are from Texas. She looks a little like Tracey Chapman, but sings soul/blues/gospel and reggae. I would definitely check her out if she came to the UK.  

By this time, the weather had become really hot and I got sunburnt coz I was wearing a vest. So now I have burnt red skin and silly white bits where my vest was. Typical Brit abroad!

There was another break of an hour so we went for a beer in an Irish bar nearby.

I forgot to mention, Arnie was with us and was receiving quite a lot of attention and compliments. One couple asked if they could sit next to my armadillo. We saw the same couple in the bar and they asked us to join them. We had a chat and they said that all 3 acts at the festival were pretty big in the States, so it was quite a coup to have them in Albuquerque at a free event.

Also, the festival did NOT have a beer tent. I guess because you are not allowed to drink on the street. However, this made for a friendly atmosphere. I can't imagine having a music festival with no beer in the UK.

The final act was Keb Mo, a solo blues/folk singer. An Emmy award winner. He was very mellow, a little like Jack Johnson. All the seats were taken so we stood at the back. At the end, most folk were on their feet and many were dancing at the front.

When it was finished we went for a beer and something to eat then back to the hotel.

Boley had a nap while I blogged then we went out at 11 pm.

First to the micro-brewery bar (we like it there) and then to the Irish bar we'd been to that afternoon.

The yanks are very strict on checking I.D.'s on the doors of busy bars. As neither of us had I.D.'s with us we weren't allowed in.  A silly rule because it is obvious that the reason to check I.D.'s is for underage drinkers. I don't think that we fall into that category, however the bouncers argued that everyone MUST have I.D. on them. It is the state law. We could have gone back to the hotel for them, it wasn't far, but were we BOTHERED?

We went to The Atomic Cafe again. The previous night we were dressed in jeans & leather  as it was cool. This evening we were dressed like Miami Vice as it was warm. We looked very out of place amongst all the rockers. Did we care?

And guess what? Yes, Bob the Leicester fan was there. He didn't stay late as he was up early the next morning for the Iron Maiden gig.

We left and had a final beer in the micro-brewery bar again. (We really ought to have found out the name of that place as we spent so much time there)

Went back to the hotel and fell asleep blogging. Well it was Saturday night and custom has it that I fall asleep during MOTD.

Milage: 1633 (still)

Day 8 - Fri 23rd May

Santa Fe to Albuquerque

After breakfast we had a walk around the old town of Santa Fe.

Took some photos & went to church!

Set off at 12:30 in light rain and by 12:45 it was heavy rain.

Drove on The Turquoise Trail south through the mountains and stopped off at Cerillos & Madrid.

Cerillos is an almost deserted turquoise mining town and Madrid is now a new-age, hippy, funky little place. It is where they filmed Roads Hogs. If you've not seen the film, it's about a group of middle aged has-beens (John Travolta is in it) who decide to do a road-trip through the states and get into all sorts of trouble. Sounds familiar?

It also has claim to fame of the longest bar in New Mexico at the Mining Shaft Tavern.

The two "old-timers" sat behind me in the bar thought that Arnie was real.

To be continued.......................

.............................continuation 12 hours later.

Of course he IS real.

Couldn't finish Day 8 as we've been driving all day. Back to the blog.

So we left Madrid and completed the journey to Albuquerque by 7 pm.

Route 66 goes down the main thoroughfare which is Central Avenue. There are many 50's style motels on the way in. We were told to stay on Central Avenue between 1st & 12th Avenue. We found a reasonable hotel called The Blue Hotel on Central & 10th.

Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico even though Santa Fe is the state capital.

It is not like many of the other cities we have been through recently. Because it has an Old Town it has character (as did Santa Fe). The centre of Santa Fe is prettier but Albuquerque has a little more life.

We found a Brazilian restaurant which did an all you can eat buffet. In fact that was the only thing they did!

You helped yourself to the salad bar while the waiters came to you with skewers of various meats. We weren't too impressed as by the time the waiters got to our table, the meat was cold.

We told them this and they brought the next dish immediately to us but it was still cold. They knocked $10 off the check (bill) which stopped Boley from hitting them.

Next door was a micro-brewery bar. We had a few beers in there and were told about a couple of other bars a few blocks away that people thought we might like. We were also told that there is a free music festival in town the following afternoon.

While we were sat in the bar, a slow procession of customised cars went by.

It seems that on a Friday & Saturday night, the done thing for the "Hip-Hop Fraternity" is to cruise Central Avenue.

 

We went to one of the suggested bars, The Atomic Cafe. The doorman asked if I was with "the band". I said "Yes", so he let us in for free. We later found out that they let everyone in for free!

"The band" were a heavy metal outfit. We didn't listen to them much, but they sounded OK.

There were a lot of Mexicans in the place. Two spoke to us and thought that we were with "the band". I then went to see "the band" in the room next door and spilled my beer on this heavy looking rocker. I apologised and when I spoke he said "F*** me, your not English are you?"

It turns out that Bob (Hi) and about 12 others are the road-crew for Iron Maiden who are playing Albuquerque Sunday night. 

 

Bob is a die-hard Leicester City fan and had to rub it in about how they beat Forest this season even after giving us a goal......that's another story. He also had nothing complementary to say about Leeds and all things Yorkshire. So we had a laugh and a few beers with Bob and the others and compared US cities with UK cities. Some good, some not so good in both countries, returned to the micro-brewery bar for a final pint.

I got talking to Natasha from London who looks after the band. The last tour she had done before this was Take That.  She was there with her boyfriend who is also one of the road crew. 

When we arrived back at the hotel, after checking mileages etc, we decided that we would be able to stay in Albuquerque another night. The original plan was to drive the next day to Gallup, Nm and from there to Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon and Flagstaff for Monday night. But we had heard that there was nothing in Gallup and as it was only 120 miles from Albuquerque we should be able to do that quite easily by interstate.

So we stayed another night!

Mileage: 1634

Day 7 - Thurs 22nd May

Amarillo to Tucumcari No Albuquerque No Santa Fe

We had breakfast at The Big Texan Steakhouse. Boley helped with the cooking, and we left about 12: High Noon. (And by the way "The stars at night are big and bright........")

Sorry the pic is a bit blurred...........it was early.

I had emailed a reservation at The Blue Swallow Motel (a R66 institution!) for tonight and as it is only 115 miles we had plenty of time.

On the way out of Amarillo Boley kept asking folk 'which way' was Amarillo. We stopped at the Cadillac  Ranch.

Boley found a spray paint canister with some paint in, so we both spray-painted our names.

This part of Texas is very flat with "wide-open spaces" and very windy. Its called the Texas Pan Handle because it looks like the handle of a pan. The next stop we HAD to make was The Mid Point Cafe in Adrian, Tx. www.midpointroute66cafe.com (nice plug!)

We immediately got talking to some other travellers and had a slice of Ugly Crust Pie - delicious. Bought a few things from the gift shop and had a laugh with Lelia who works there. She was great and says hi.  "Hi Lelia" .

The mid point mileage is 1223. We have done 1315 miles. Less than 100 miles more. Not bad!

Can you find Arne in one of the following pictures?

By no time we were in Vega (TX) looking for a Loo. Then off out of Texas to New Mexico (NM). The boarder was not as prominent as we hoped but we still managed to catch a passing picture.

Into Tucumcari at 1600hrs and past the Blue Swallow and out of town by 1610hrs. The town was small and had one main street and did not even have a horse. So we decided to move on to Albuquerque then changed our minds and drove to Santa Fe. Both were on R66 at one time or another. We were not sure we could make it but as most of the route is on interstate or next to it we put the pedal to the metal. We kicked up the dust and shot off, right into the coldest weather we had had so far. We managed to arrive by 7 pm, got out of the car, and it was freezing!

Santa Fe is quite high up, but this is the desert! Anyway we got booked into a really nice adobe style motel and walked into town. Everywhere in Santa Fe is no higher than 2 storeys and in the adobe (Spanish) style architecture. The town was quiet but we managed to find a decent bar (or two) and had something to eat. As usual, some locals got talking to us, had a laugh, took some pics and called it a night.

Mileage: 1556 miles

Day 6 - Wed 21st May

Oklahoma, Ok to Amarillo, Tx

"Have you seen Amarillo?"

OK today we have a really long drive (by R 66 standard) - 260 miles. Normally on the interstate you could manage that in 4/5 hours, but we are talking Route 66 here.

Also, we are talking Moggy & Boley here. We don't usually leave until the sun is in the west coz we haven't a map to guide us so we rely on that big yellow thing.

Talking of big yellow things, Boley was looking a little yellow after a night out on OK City.

We didn't make breakfast  (as per usual) and left Oklahoma @ 11:45.

Completed our 1,000 miles just East of Reno, Ok @ 11:40. The going was easy. Often the R66 route is easier now & much quieter than the interstate.  

Stopped at the Cherokee Trading Post for brunch and took some more silly photos.

Around about this time we managed to pick up a poor little stray. He looked so mean & stoopid that we called him Arnie.

He may appear on 1 or 2 photos from now on.

We carried on through Oklahoma and reached the Texas state line after about 2 hours.

We had driven 1156 miles. Halfway is only meant to be 1122 and we were nowhere near there!

This part of the sates is known as Tornado Alley.

We haven't seen any twisters but did manage the odd funky chicken!

Continued on through Texas, listening to The Champions League Cup final on the satellite radio. It was early afternoon here. Stopped in a small town called Clinton and visited the R66 museum. There are many R66 museums on the road. This was the first one we managed to have the time to call in. There was a 50's convertible parked in front of a screen that showed a film of the route from the driver's viewpoint. So we got in and did some filming on the camcorder of Boley driving, swerving, crashing, feet on dash, feet out of window, etc, etc. I don't think we should stop at any more museums.

On we travelled, stopping in Shamrock to see an old "gas" station that has been renovated and converted into a diner/museum. The museum was closed (luckily) so took some photos. Can you spot Arnie?

 

He's on every pic...............somewhere.

Eventually arrived at the Big Old Texan, Amarillo, known for its 72 inch free steak. If you can eat it in an hour you get it free. What they don't tell you is you also have to eat a salad, baked spud, 2 large prawns and something else but I forgot. No, we didn't try it. 

Arnie wanted to do a U-turn and go to Hooters further on down the road but we said "No son, you're too young."

We stayed the night at the hotel.

Had our pictures taken with the resident band. They were all our age. 

Ate a big Big Texan and met a real life cowboy - Rawlan, a rodeo cowboy who waits tables to make some money when he's not breaking horses or roping steers. Only in the US.

He gave us a lift to a local bar. There was nothing happening there apart from playing pool.

 

We had an early night ready for the next day. 

Mileage: 1255

Pool Score:

Rawlan: 4

Mog n Boley: 0