(When I originally posted these on the Patreon feed Day 6 actually did post before Day 5 - see, Time Lords! I am taking advantage of this reposting to put these two posts in the correct order.)
Wednesday, September 13
We didn’t start bright and early, but we did manage to get the car packed and leave the hotel by 11. A stop for gas and we left Laughlin with a goal of driving across Arizona to Gallup, Now Mexico. It was supposed to be about a five or six hour drive, so we figured it was a good “stretch,” but not an “this trip is killing me” day.
We wanted breakfast, but after filling the gas tank and getting the GPS directions to the highway, we were out of town before we realized. Rather than turn around, we decided to get food in Kingman, just a half-hour down the road.
We made Kingman quickly, and found a Black Bear Diner where we ate our last time through Kingman, about 2 ½ years ago. The food was good, the service on point, and we were soon back on the road.
The Sinclair dino outside the Black Bear Diner. I think Dash Dino may be upset that I didn't get him in this photo.
Today our biggest issue was not other people, or a Transformer Parade™, but instead it was distractions of our own making. This should be understandable. As creators we are inherently curious people, and we can be quickly side-tracked by all kinds of things.
One of those things is simply the views around us. We drove through some incredible places in the Arizona desert, and it was easy to see the results of the recent rainfall (more on that later).
There will be pictures, but you’re only going to get a tiny sample of what I took, because otherwise we will be here all night just uploading pictures!
The next distraction was only a few miles ahead in Seligman. One of the old Route 66 stops, Seligman is seeing a bit of a revival as nostalgia for Route 66 drives tourists off the highway onto the local loop. When we were there today there were three giant tour buses parked in front of Angel & Vilma Delgadillo’s gift shop, and swarms of tourists wandered the street and filled the Snow Cap burger stand.
There's some public art in Seligman; these cars are a sample. The raven showed up while I was taking pictures of the bison statue, and posed on the fence post so I could share his magnificence with you. Unfortunately, we don't do selfies nearly that magnificent!
We drove through town taking pictures, then stopped at the little gift shop where we bought one of Steve’s favorite shirts on our last trip. He doesn’t often get cool shirts because almost no one stocks extra-long sizes, but we found one here in 2021. He’s worn through one elbow, and I haven’t patched it yet, so we figured it was worth a try.
This is the gift shop where we bought our shirts. If you're ever in Seligman, stop in. Great people!
When I asked the clerk she said they didn’t stock tall sizes, but there were a few large sizes on the sale rack in a small side room. To our amazement we found a replacement shirt! It’s bigger than he needs, but he wears it as an overshirt, so it will be just fine! We also found several other great shirts on sale, so it looks like we may have just started our Christmas shopping. Don’t tell my kids!
This is across the road from Snow Cap, at a small motel. I think we should plan to come back through Seligman and stay here. They obviously meant this place just for us!
Back on the road we kept rubber-necking as we drove. We were both amazed by the beauty around us, and kept commenting to each other. It felt like every mile, every curve, every rise and fall of the highway gave us a new view of something amazing. There was one point where we were admiring the beauty of the red and orange rocks, and Steve said, “It makes me want to go look closer. Then I think ‘How many snakes must be hiding in those rocks?’ and I think I’ll just keep driving.”
By mid-afternoon we were seeing clouds and rain, as we had yesterday. The clouds continued to grow, and we started getting rain - up close, not in the distance. Finally, in Flagstaff we looked at the darkening sky and the distant lightning and decided we should call it a day earlier than planned.
The gathering storm clouds got darker as we drove east, and we could see lightning more often as time went on.
We drove as far as Winslow, where we drove through several intersections that needed those signs from yesterday, creeping through to be sure the water wasn’t too deep to cross, and watched lightning streak across the sky. It was definitely time to call it a night.
So tonight we are sleeping on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, in a motel that’s been around as long as I have. The owners are delightful, the place is clean and well-maintained, and the wifi works, so we have all we need for tonight. Tomorrow morning we will get some tourist photos on the corner with the statue of Glenn Frey, and the flatbed Ford, and continue east. So there’s that.
Our home for the night; and Buffalo, our night guard.
There wasn’t a lot of listening time today, but we did get one episode of a favorite, 99% Invisible. The basic premise of the podcast is things that are mostly invisible to us in our daily lives - often related to architecture - and telling the stories behind their existence. Today’s listen was about Luddites - where the term came from, who were the original Luddites, and what they actually stood for. Worth the listen.
One other reason we lost time and didn’t get to Gallup. Somewhere early in the day we got a warning light on the dash. Did you know that newer cars will tell you when you have a brake light out? We didn’t, until now. A stop in Flagstaff netted us a bulb at an auto parts store, but we still haven’t figured out how to get to the light to replace the bulb. Here’s hoping we can either figure it out in the morning or find someone who knows how.
And here are some of the pictures from the road between Laughlin and Winslow. It was a beautiful drive!
