British Blonde Abroad

Day 16

Holbrook to Flagstaff

Back to the Route 66 adventure after a couple of fabulous days in Monument Valley – a great detour, albeit 200 hard miles each way (mile after mile of open road, with very few signs, and often 50 miles between towns/ service stations). Unlike Route 66, which is peppered with quirky diversions, and reasons to pull over.

First stop, downtown Holbrook, with a good showing of wall art, road signs, and motels…

The jewel in the crown being the famous Wigwam Motel. The sign outside asks ‘have you slept in a wigwam lately?’ And the answer for us was no. Whilst it has gimmick appeal, I don’t think January is the best time of the year for wigwam sleeping, and the main road to the front, and rail track to the rear didn’t seem to lend themselves to a good night’s sleep either! Pretty though.

The best attraction in Holbrook was the old courthouse, which was in operation until 1976 and boasts an original jail from 1899. Wouldn’t have liked to have been locked up there.

  

 

A quick stop next at the Jack Rabbit trading post, which is a Route 66 iconic sign…….

And then on to our main stop today – the best preserved and first proven meteor crater in the world. One mile across, 550 ft deep, big enough to hold 20 football pitches and entertain an audience of 2 million. Created by a meteor travelling so fast that it could have flown from LA to NYC in 5 minutes! Awesome sight!

 

Two Guns is an old “Wild West” town. All that is left is the ruins of an old roadside zoo, and some other derelict buildings. It’s a place of disputes, colourful characters and murder. Spooky, and I’m on the lookout for rattlesnakes too. The guidebook says in the summer it’s a rattlesnake ‘haven’ so I’m double spooked now!

The Twin Arrow trading post is the last quick stop before Flagstaff. Trading until a few years back, there are plans to re-open, but for today it was another derelict pit stop.

Finally, we arrive Flagstaff – which seems like a pretty alpine resort. We are now at 6000ft so, as in Monument Valley, it’s easy to get a little out of breath. Sadly it is cloudy and raining, and it is forecast rain tomorrow. We can’t complain though, it’s our first rain of the trip other than our snow day in Amarillo.

In the meantime, tonight it is curry night! Whoo whee – who would have thought it? Indian food has been rare, if non-existent on this trip, but this is apparently one of the best restaurants in town. We will see.