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Monday, May 22, 2023
"Standing on a Corner"
Albuquerque to Winslow, Arizona
And so, with heavy heart, we left Monterey Motel in the rear view.
Nice overhead 66 sign leaving ABQ and there's something about taking the road
less traveled. I like the bullet holes in the "End Passing Zone" sign. .38
caliber, maybe?
Scenes along the way: Owl Rock near Mesita; Budville Trading Company;
Whiting
Bros. ghost sign; passing through a lava field.
At Mark's insistence, we stopped in Grants, NM to photograph
ourselves with our signs next to an actual installed road sign.
Appropriately enough, it is beside an abandoned gas station. I believe Route 66
showed me enough decaying filling stations and buildings to last a lifetime.
At Continental Divide (no kiddin'?), is the famous Route 66 / Dead End sign,
slowly disappearing under a carpet of travel stickers.
BNSF eastbound double stacks roll past scenic red bluffs outside Gallup.
Gallup, New Mexico - stopped just long enough to ship my NM 66 sign home (didn't
quite fit my suitcase) from the UPS Store AND pick up a wee drop more of Jack
Daniel's for our evening sipping sessions. ;p
Approaching the Arizona border are these grotesque cliffs and HEY, there's
Fort Courage! F-Troop! Wrangler
Jane! Whoooo-hoooo! (A long-since-closed tourist trap).
Now you're gonna see something. Petrified Forest National Park.
Named after the movie that
made Humphrey Bogart a star. ;p North of I-40 is
the Painted Desert. That's a whole lotta WOW - pictures just can't capture.
Painted Desert
Inn - once a motel, now a visitors center; Mark poses with the red rock;
storm on the horizon.
Now south of I-40, we cross a remnant of Route 66 and the Santa Fe Railway.
Agate Bridge; Crystal Forest of wood turned to stone; pathway through a time
capsule; a cross section is exquisite.
At the Rainbow Forest Ranger Station, we immediately used the facilities --
which turned out to be as ancient as some of those trees. Beautiful polished
cross section of a log. It weighs 800 pounds.
Back of Mister Ranger's rest stop, there's more wood/rock to see; Desert
flowers; that is a big hunk of petrified; Mark inspecting one of the logs with a
critical eye... "They should powder coat these things...".
Well, that was worth visiting, nice views and all. A little thin on the
Petrified Wood, IMHO.
We exit the park and SWEET FANCY MOSES...we
come upon two enormous gift shops on both sides of the road with more petrified
logs than we had seen in the entire National Park. They're using slabs of it to
line the parking lot.
No pictures, I was just STUNNED at the bounty of the stuff. It's everywhere. In
the gift shop we chose, I picked up a nice, fist-sized chunk of the stuff for
display on my computer desk. On to Holbrook.
The WigWam Motel is Holbrook's claim to fame. Looks like you get a crappy, old
car with each teepee. I had originally planned for us to stay overnight here,
but discovered there's another WigWam hotel in San Bernardino that fits in
better with the itinerary.
Remember that yellow 959 miles to rabbit sign back in Catoosa, OK? Of course,
you don't. Well, HERE IT IS in beautiful, downtown Jackrabbit, AZ. Not much left
of the place, but the sign. Time to PUNCH for Winslow!
La Posada! A beautiful
Santa Fe Railway /
Fred Harvey hotel and restaurant lovingly restored from the days of yore.
Again, Mark got a choice parking spot right by the entrance. As you enter, you
pass through these very fragrant flower gardens, then wind your way through a
huge gift shop (always with the gift shops on this trip) to reception.
The Turquoise Room serves as the
restaurant and bar for the hotel. Each room features a framed picture outside
showing the most famous person to stay in this room. I got
Jimmy Doolittle and
Mark got Shirley Temple.
Gotta do this right. We made a dinner reservation for 7pm at the Turquoise Room,
then after a brief nap, we set off for the famous "Standing
On A Corner" shrine, just a few blocks away.
I'm sure you've all heard the Eagles song, "Take
it Easy". Not wanting to miss an opportunity to pull tourists off of I-40,
the townsfolk of Winslow lifted just ONE VERSE from that song and re-created it
in detail on a city intersection. Excuse the use of a post card. It came out
better than my local pictures. ;p And by the way, that's a 1960 Ford F600
stake truck (flatbed Ford), so THERE! (THANX BIG BROTHER)
Close up of the building; Mark was just enthralled with this park and didn't
want to leave; Two brothers pose with Jackson Browne, a co-writer of the song;
that's Glenn Frey the other co-writer of the song; Mark had a brick made at the
park to commemorate our visit. Well done, big bruiser!
Back at the hotel, it's time for a cocktail before dinner. I'm having a Grey
Goose martini and Mark's having a uh, I'm not sure what he's got there Cosmo?
Bellini? Screwdriver? The world wonders...
How's THAT for a placemat?; I had the Pork Carnitas whilst Mark had the
Southwest Vegetable Platter with chicken added on; Dig in! Mmmm...great meal.
 
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