4 that want to own me, 2 that want to stone me
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2008
1
23
28
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Albuquerque,
New Mexico,
United States
Thursday, September 25, 2008
If you have not figured out the name of today's episode, you are not an Eagles fan. (more on this later) We left an hour late because the person before us in our room set the clock to Central time and we thought it was 8:00 when it was 9:00. Again today we paralleled the path of the old Route 66. Lots of the little towns along the route have no claim to fame other than a gas station, motel, or trading post from that bygone era. We happen to love that stuff, so we took lots of detours, and saw lots of Indian moccasins! One of the first was Crater City (You can go see the hole the crater made eons ago). We passed on that. Then we saw sign after sign for the Jackrabbit Trading Post. We couldn't resist. We bought trinkets, took each other's pictures with the big rabbit (neither one of us could climb up on it, we tried!), and marveled at the wisdom of their company policy.
We cold not pass up the next attraction. It was our duty to Jim and Patty Doolittle, lifetime Eagles fans, to pay them back for taking us to an Eagles concert many years ago, even though I was sicker than a dog that night. We made it to the Town Square in Winslow Arizona, and took a picture of the "Standing on a corner" statue. That is a mural in the background painted on the building next door. Careful examination of the picture will reveal "It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me" in the background. These are lyrics from the Eagles song "Take it Easy"! It was worth the side trip. Enjoy, Doolittles!
The next town with a section of old 66 was Holbrook, Arizona. Here, on the main drag, is the Wigwam Motel that was the inspiration of the one in the movie "Cars". The motel is restored and operating and each tepee has a vintage car parked in front. There is a bullet-nosed Studebaker parked at the reception office, and an old truck that looks a lot like "Tow-Mater" from the movie. There is also a hippie Volkswagen repair shop in town. I spent the rest of the day looking in the hills as we drove trying to find the "Wagon Wheel" inn, to no avail. Do you think we had fun today? You betcha.
We also drove through the Petrified Forest national Park, which includes the Painted Desert. I have been fascinated by petrified wood since I was a kid, I do not know why. It was really neat seeing so much of it up close. I can't wait to get home and study up on it. (I bought Max and Charlie each a piece at the Jackrabbit trading post).
The painted Desert was also beautiful and fascinating. The landscape is heavily eroded to display multi-colored layers of stone, each layer being colored by the major element in it, red from iron, green from copper, black from Carbon, etc. The whole effect is stunning. The same colored formations appear along the road periodically for a couple of hundred miles.
It was a very long, but fun day. We got to Albakerkie and headed for the La Quinta. We saw one as we came into town and I thought "great, it looks like a nice one. Then I noticed that Vicki said we had another 8 miles to go. When we got to the "right" one, it was a dump. Rather than canceling, we decided to "tough it out", and checked in. It was so old, they still have the "Ving cards" with the punched-hole pattern rather than the magnetic ones. We went around back to unload, and there was a car with three unsavory-looking characters parked there. They were just sitting in the car. We bailed. We canceled that reservation and went back across town to the newer La Quinta and checked in. We found a barbecue place for dinner, and went back to the motel.
Tomorrow, it's off to Fort Stockton, Texas, wherever the hell that is..
Meteor City Trading Post
