Day 7 - Flagstaff, Arizona to Gallup, New Mexico.
Up early(ish) for a complimentary breakfast American style of waffles, cereal, yoghurt, donuts, toast & jam, coffee and juice. Today we headed East along the I-40 deviating to small towns and short stretches of Route 66 along the way.
First thing on the list was a visit to Meteor Crater, where a crater 4000 ft wide by 700 feet was formed by a meteorite approximately 50000 years ago. Very spectacular viewing of the crater from inside the rim.
Next stop Winslow, to pick up a big sub from Walmart for lunch and check out the 'Standing on the corner, of Winslow Arizona' site (Eagles, taking it Easy). Played the song, took the photos, bought the tee shirt!
Continued east through Holbrook stopping briefly to wander around the Wigwam motels - one of only two from six motels now remaining on Route66. Always other people stopping, whether travelling the "Mother Road" east or west wherever we stop to explore and take photos and generally speaking a multitude of languages. Touring Route66 is a BIG thing for people globally and all the shops and gas stations etc are all well stocked with Route66 merchandise.
Back on to the interstate again and put the "pedal to the metal" cruising at around 80mph (legal freeway speed 75mph) threading our way through the miriad of slower trucks and RV's and we soon reached the Petrified National Park visitor centre. Great exhibits here and we paid our $10 admission fee to continue further to the Painted Desert stopping at several view points to gaze at the palette of colours displayed by the grandeur of the desert topography below.
Our rest stop for the night after crossing the border in to New Mexico was at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, the preferred accommodation of all the movie stars (John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, Katherine Hepburn to name a few) featuring in Western movies since the hotel open in 1937. Lots of character here with many autographed photos of the stars adorning the magnificent two story open lobby with its circular staircase and heavy beams. Navajo rugs and several mounted animal heads are also featured. We stayed in Spencer Traceys room and dined in house tonite. Lost an hour here today due having to advance the clock forward an hour from Pacific Std Time to Mountain Std Time.
Another satisfying day with more to come tomorrow and the next week.
Adios amigos ! P.S. Tony's highlight of the day: living his boyhood dream of seeing Meteor Crater.