Flagstaff, AZ to Albuquerque,NM

Was cool up in Flagstaff this morning and there wasn't a Starbucks on the East side of town, so I had to settle for a non-descript coffee. The Route out of Flagstaff was quite scenic, at this elevation there were large Spruce or Fur and the landscape had some color other than brown. Running down Route 66 to I-40, I ran across an old alignment and decomissioned steel gerter bridge, which was a photo op.

In Eastern Arizona, and Eastern New Mexico for that matter, the Mother Road is an extension of I-40. It goes for a distance, then you are forced onto the Interstate again. Obviously, when the Interstate system was built, it utilized quite a bit of the original road surface. Actually, driving on I-40 was not so bad, out here the Interstate speed limit is 75, so everybody drives 80 to 90 mph and the road surface is much smoother than those back home.

First stop of the day was to visit the Meteor Crater, West of Winslow, AZ. It's just 6 miles South of I-40 and worth the diversion. I wanted to see this 3 years ago while on a family retreat North of Phoenix, but it didn't work out. It's one of the best preserved meteor impact crates on the planet. A rather large asteroid (they say it was probably 6,000 tons) hit the earth 50,000 years ago at an estimated speed of 40,000 mph. The crater it left is 1 mile across, 3 miles in circumference and 600 feet deep. It wasn't a "planet killer" but it must have been one hell of an explosion and probably was felt in China.

East of the Crater, Route 66 again branches off I-40 and drops into Winslow, AZ. Being an Eagles fan since the early 1970's, I had to check out Winslow. One of their more popular songs was "Take it Easy", written by Glen Frey, and one of the lyrics goes .... I was standin on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see .... It was a girl my lord in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me." With the notoriety that came from this song, Winslow had a bronze statue of Glen Frey installed on the corner of 2nd Street. When I arrived and parked the Black Bullitt, there was a crowd of tourist standing around the statue. So I took a stroll down the street and when I came back they were gone. While taking acouple of pictures, a 1959 Corvette pulled up and parked in a red zone right in front. Jokingly, I said to the driver that the red curb must mean reserved for Classic Vets only. He laughed and asked which direction I was heading. I told him I was going in the wrong direction, Eastbound. I introduced myself and learned he and his crew (who were following the Vet in an SUV) were putting together a special for Good Morning America on Route 66. They were Westbound, which is the proper direction to be driving. That probably explains why he didn't ask to put me on camera, I was just some schmuk from Wisconsin heading the wrong way on Route 66.

New Mexico is very colorful, with huge butes and mesas of various hues of red. I took alot of pictures (most while driving 65 or 80 mph). You'll see a few of the more interesting ones here.

As we approached Albuquerque from the West, Route 66 twists and winds around a fair amount and the signage wasn't the best. The Garmin GPS I have doesn't show many parts of the Mother Road, and here it wasn't any help. So, I got turned around several times and had to backtrack and find the correct road. Not a big deal, just had the opportunity to see more of the terrain. Just West of the city, there is a relatively new and large casino called Route 66 Casino. Needless to say, I didn't stop, but continued on through the center of Albuquerque and came to a rest on the East side of town where Route 66 meets the I-40 again.

Put almost 400 miles on the Black Bullitt's odmeter today. Tomorrow its on to Amarillo, TX adding another 350 miles or so....