Day 17: Get your Kicks, part 2
by Andrew JohnsonWe want to get to Flagstaff, AZ by tonight, and possibly push through to the Grand Canyon if we make good time. We got our earliest start of the whole trip – on the road by 7:30am (a definite record). If you could see the amount of luggage, coolers and electronic equipment we take into the hotel rooms each night, you’d understand why this is an achievement. You would think we’re moving in for a week! We’ve never been good at packing.
We drove through Albuquerque, NM and some of the most spectacular desert scenery you could imagine. We’re now officially in the desert so we’re treated to clear, cloudless skies, the wind has let up but it is still pretty cold – but it’s the good kind of cold. Our next Route 66 stop was Holbrook, AZ, another old motel stop, notable now mostly for the restored Wigwam Motel. They have individual free-standing structures that are shaped like teepees! You may have seen them in photos. We originally wanted to stay here one night, but it didn’t work out that way – we passed through at midday. But we stopped and took some pictures anyway. (We’re going to come back to this area for a driving vacation through the Painted Desert, Monument Valley, Arches, etc. so we’ll make this one of our overnight stops then.) The owner has placed antique cars at each wigwam, so it’s easy to imagine when this place was booked to capacity in the ‘50s.
After a misguided Rt. 66 detour (it’s sometimes very difficult to find the original road) that required a 3-point turnaround with the trailer down a deserted stretch of road (almost put it in a sandy ditch, but was successful in making the U-turn – only took about 2 dozen turns instead of 3, but I was proud of myself nonetheless – even the steers which stopped to stare at us seemed impressed), we finally found the famous JackRabbit Trading Post – a tacky souvenir shop operating since 1948. They used to have a huge rabbit out front, but apparently too many tired travelers ran into it over the years and they had to deep-6 it. Now there’s a smaller concrete version set back from the road. But the original “Here It Is” sign is still intact. A few trinkets later and we’re back on the road. The rest of the day was spent driving – going past huge mesas, red rock canyons and crumbling concrete dinosaurs and teepees left over from the curio and rock shops along the old 66 highway.
The scenery out here is breathtaking – we’ve said it but can’t stress it enough. We’ve been treated to some of the most beautiful sunsets you could ever imagine – big sky, neon colors, rugged landscape – the highway at dusk is almost surreal, with the headlights and taillights of the cars and trucks stretching out for miles straight ahead with us literally driving off into in the sunset. We made it to the Grand Canyon for the night and anxiously await our visit tomorrow. I’ve been there before (Andy), but Spike and Annie have never been, so it’s going to be a special day. And while the “Service Engine Soon” light still keeps nagging at us, the Family Truckster is still chugging along – turned 99,000 miles as we drove into the hotel tonight!
Sidenote: Traveling with our 3-year-old is not as bad as we had originally expected. Alex has been incredibly adaptable, well-behaved and mostly patient. Having 3 adults to “tag-team-play” definitely helps, as has the portable DVD player I bought for this trip! And traveling in the off-season, even during the Holiday season, has made the trip very pleasant – hotel rooms are easy to find, the decorations all across the country are beautiful (we’ve added a few small ones to our traveling home), and of course not enduring triple-digit temperatures in the desert. The Suburban thanks us for that!
Lesson #4: Choose your words carefully when booking hotel rooms. “Two Queens, non-smoking” takes on different meanings as we travel further west (especially coming from a New Yorker named Spike – sorta like a mobile Queer Eye for the Straight Guy).
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