2017 Road-trip day 5

Day 5 Saturday

Up early today - 5.40am, can't seem to have a lie in! We used our time just chilling, rearranging our packing and trying to get a blog article posted. We checked out of the El Troubadour and headed to Starbucks to grab some decent coffee and bagels for breakfast.

Then it was back heading out of town onto Route 66 towards Hackberry and Peach Springs and into the Hualapai Indian Reservation. As we climbed the steep hill we caught a glimpse of the Grand Canyon in the distant, despite it being far away, it still looked impressive. Continuing on our journey, we managed to spot some of the old 1920's roadbed alongside the current 66 and we began to see the famous Burma Shave advertising signs as we pasted through Seligman.

Passing through many small towns who's heyday had long passed we headed east to Williams and up into Parks in the Pines, a picturesque drive through forest and a chance to drive on some original 1939 concrete road. Arizona was proving great for sticking to the Mother road and soon we hit Flagstaff, nestled in the peaks of the San Francisco mountains.

We parked up and went for a fabulous lunch in Macy's European coffee house -somewhere we had planned to stop due to it being completely vegetarian - we shared an avocado BLT which was high and had ice coffee and honeyed lemonade.

 Feeling sustained and fortified we were back on the road again this time heading for Winslow via Winona. Unfortunately, this is where we managed to lose Route 66 and missed going through Winona, sorry Winona! However it didn't take much to get back on track and we cruised on in to Winslow, parked up, and 'stood on the corner in Winslow Arizona, taking it easy' while checking out the Statue paying tribute to the Eagles classic.

As we passed out of Winslow we saw the 9/11 Remembrance garden with a pair of girders from the World Trade Centre. We crossed over the Little Colorado River to briefly join the I-40 before getting back on 66 and pulling over to get a photo with the roadside Jackrabbit (if you haven't been to the Jackrabbit you haven't been to the Southwest), and brought a few postcards from the Jackrabbit Trading Post.

 Then all that was left was to continue past Joseph City and into Holbrook to our home for the night the Wigwam Motel. Where else would you stay, but an 1950's concrete tepee, these were inspiration behind Disney's Car's movie cozy cone motel. That evening we headed out to find some food and ended up at Tom and Susie's Diner, recommended by trip advisor, for sodas, salad veggie burger and some of the best fries we've had since we arrived in the States - crinkle cut chips!

 As we left we noticed that sunset over the desert looked amazing and photos had to be taken. Fancying a beer before heading back and Holbrook having no brew pubs in town, we headed to Safeway and brought ourselves our first PBR to take back ( hipster beer according to the MCLars Hipster Girl song) and headed back to our wigwam for the evening.

Days miles: 275
Total miles: 633