Route 66: Day Five

Yesterday was a bit long. After going to dinner and a hot tub, and with online difficulties, I wasn't able to post last night. So let's start from the beginning for day five.

We stayed the night in Albuquerque, NM. Bugs Bunny always needed to take that left turn out of Albuquerque, but we didn't have any trouble. We finally got in the car at 9:16 local (Mountain) time and made our way for a good breakfast at Waffle House. And then we were really on our way.

There was some difficulty finding Rt 66 just coming out of Albuquerque. The directions we had wasn't very clear, so we made our best guess and went with it. It worked! But western New Mexico wasn't too exciting in the way of roadside attractions and hokey tourist traps. Some of the way out yesterday we needed to travel on I-40 because Rt 66 was either a dirt road, totally in disrepair or just didn't exist.

We finally came across the continental divide. This is the point in the US where if you should spit on one side, it will drain in the Atlantic Ocean. Spit on the other side and it will drain in the Pacific. At this point was some "Indian Village" supercenter shopping etc. Beth wanted to stop and look around. Meanwhile, I decided to play with Dennis' Garmin Pocket PC GPS device. For a location that it gave me, it said "Top of the World." The GPS also give you your estimated elevation, which stated 7,280 when I stood next to a non-functioning house drawn wagon that stated "Continental Divide Elevation 7275" on the side. I placed the GPS on the ground and then it read exactly 7,275. Cool!

Our next highlight was entering Arizona and eventually came into the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. After a quick lunch, we made our way into the park. It's 28 miles long and we would exit out on the south end of the park. So we missed some of Rt 66 here and there, though, we did see some some of the original 66 within the park itself. This place was very interesting. We first saw the Painted Desert, where it is similar to the badlands of South Dakota. As you drive further, you come into an area where some remains are left from the inhabitants of the area some 900 years ago. Then you find the Petrified Forest, large trees that have been preserved for millions of years. This was cool to look at. You would see an area that almost looked similar to someone who had clear cut a wooded area, only these stumps were rock.

There are strict rules about not taking anything out of the park. Of course Beth wanted to break the law and picked up a regular rock to take with her. It was explained that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, visitors were taking pieces of petrified wood out of the park (which didn't exist at the time) to keep or sell. Once the park was established, this act was outlawed so that these remains can be enjoyed by future visitors. As we approached the end of the park, we encountered signage stating that our car would be searched. They were serious about this rule. Beth simply threw the rock out of the car. Turns out, they never inspected our car.

We came into Holbrook, AZ for the night as we probably spent about 3 hours in the park. I was exhausted. First I was trying to figure out the local time as it appeared that we were in Pacific time. Then I tried unlocking the wrong room door. We were assigned room 217. I tried to open the door for room 211, but room 216 was directly across the hall from 211. As for the time, much of Arizona doesn't use daylight savings time. I wasn't crazy.

After checking into the Holiday Inn Express (our 3rd one), we went out to eat dinner. When paying the bill, the waitress gave us a coupon to a gift shop next door where they would give us a free piece of petrified wood. Huh? And when we came into the Holiday Inn, I noticed chunks of petrified wood used as landscaping. What was all this talk about limiting what comes out of the park and leaving these artifacts for future generations? Where is all this coming from? Whatever.

Today's Rt 66 Fun Fact: It is believed that Ernest Hemmingway wrote The Old Man & The Sea in the town of Villa De Cubero in western New Mexico. There's not much in the town.

Today will be day six and we plan to take it easy as we've been on the go for so long. We plan to see the Meteor Crater and look around Winzlow, AZ. I'm on a mission to get my picture taken standing on a corner... sort of an ode to the Eagles song Take It Easy. Tonight we are set to lodge at the Wigwam Village and tomorrow we're changing plans to go see the Grand Canyon. Until then. <note: I have no idea if the Wigwam village has Internet access, so it might be another day until I check in.>


Stats:
Miles travelled, today: 283/286 (going to dinner)
Miles travelled, total: 1,661
Today's travel time: 10.75 hrs
Today's average speed: 26.3
Today's fuel mileage: 31.5
Number of fighter jets: 3 (outside of Albuquerque)
Encounter with wildlife: 2 (a lizard and rabbit in the Petrified Forest)