Day 16 Route 66 - Gallup to Holbrook 185.9 miles


Advertisement
United States' flag
North America » United States » Arizona » Holbrook
June 21st 2012
Published: June 24th 2012
Edit Blog Post

After our big day yesterday we started a bit later this morning not venturing down to breakfast until 9.00am. Once we did head off it was east into town to photograph the giant muffler-man cowboy at John's Used Cars at the corner of Coal and 5th Streets!!

As we left Gallup we zigzagged to the north and south of Interstate 40 as we made our way through Defiance and Manuelito where the road climbs and clings to the sheer side of Devil's Cliff. As we rounded the cliff where boulders balanced precariously above us (with just a mesh fence to hold back any potential rockslide) we were treated to a grand panorama towards Arizona that took in Route 66, the railroad and the dry bed of the Rio Puerco squeezed between the rugged mesas.

After the impressive border crossing as we entered New Mexico, the Arizona State Line at Lupton was very boring. A teensy little green and white sign was the only official notification that we had reached Arizona. There was however, plenty of tourist tack!! We didn't go in to any of the shops, but we did photograph the plastic animals perched on the rocks above Chief Yellowhorse's Trading Post. There was a black bear and an elk in serious danger of rolling of the cliff! Someone needs to get up there and set them back on their feet!!

When we crossed the border into Arizona we made up for our late start because we gained an hour. Arizona does not participate in Daylight Savings Time so, despite the fact that it is on Mountain Time, it is currently the same time as Nevada and California (on Pacific Time) because they have turned their clocks back an hour for DST. All the other states in the Mountain Zone are currently an hour ahead of Arizona. It does my head in just thinking about it!!

From Lupton we crossed to the south side of the interstate for a short time before we joined I-40 for the run to Houck. We had to exit at Houck because its 'Fort Courage' allegedly utilised the set from the 1960s TV show 'F Troop'. As we both remember this show from our childhood we HAD to stop!! The set is looking rather the worse for wear these days though.

Our guide indicated that if we pulled off at Fort Courage we might as well drive the North Frontage Road to EXIT 346 because it '... is a nice, drivable dirt stretch that crosses the 269-foot Querino Canyon Bridge (built in 1930).' So we did. The bridge was impressive, but the canyon beneath had a lot of rubbish in it. It was hard to say if it had been dumped there or if it was deposited there the last time the last time the river was running???

Just along from the bridge a critter crossed the road ahead of us. We thought it was just a squirrel, but it didn't really move like a squirrel. When we reached the point it had crossed at we could see it sitting up on its haunches beside the road like a meerkat, but we knew it couldn't be a meerkat. Then it came to us - it must have been a prairie dog (since confirmed on Google)!

At EXIT 346 we rejoined the interstate to Sanders where we easily found the old 1923 bridge that first carried Route 66 over the Rio Puerco. No photo though because there was an aggregate stockpile down the road from it and too many trucks going to/from the stockpile to photograph the bridge safely. It was more difficult to hunt down the quirky diner. It started as a classic Valentine Diner, but has been combined with a trailer home (or two?) to create a unique café. Despite it being at the back of beyond we decided to eat there and enjoyed two very passable cheeseburgers.

Back on the interstate we passed Navajo before taking EXIT 311 for the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. In 1997 and 2000 we travelled through the Painted Desert on our way from the Grand Canyon to other destinations and it was quite pretty. It turns out though that the section nearest to the Grand Canyon is only the tail end of an inverted comma-like swathe that extends from the Grand Canyon National Park into the Petrified Forest National Park. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow - this end of the Painted Desert is spectacular!!

It was nearly 40°, but we had to keep getting out of the car to properly see and photograph the beautiful views! We were also scoping out the various viewpoints with the intention of returning later in the afternoon to take more photos with the sun sinking lower in the sky. After admiring the views from EVERY vantage point we stopped at the final viewpoint on the Painted Desert Loop overlooking where Route 66 used to run. There's not much of Route 66 left to see in this part of Arizona since the area was declared a National Park.

And then we drove over I-40 into the Petrified Forest National Park where we were blown away by still more stupendous views and the incredible specimens of petrified wood. We stopped at six of the ten viewpoints in the Petrified Forest before deciding that it was just too hot, dry and windy to continue. Yes, we wimped out and decided that perhaps we could return to do the three southernmost viewpoints in the morning.

We exited at the southern end of the park and took US 180 into Holbrook where we checked into the Travelodge. After cooling down for a couple of hours we returned to the Painted Desert via Route 66/I-40. Our guide book had warned that we would miss lots of cool stuff if we drove to Holbrook via US 180 from the southern end of the park. Hmmn, I think all we missed was loads of tourist tackiness - several rock shops and dinosaur statues which included a T-Rex eating a woman and a two-headed Dimetrodon amongst others!! No photos though as there was no hard shoulder to pull up on due to roadworks. What a shame!

At the entrance to the park, we found the same ranger on the gate ... and she remembered us from earlier. She probably thought that the Aussies were a bit strange coming back into the park on the same day? It was worth it though, the colours were definitely different with the less harsh lighting of the late afternoon sun. We took lots more photos!! The sun set at 7.40pm and the gates closed at 8.00pm, so after we took our last photo of the setting sun we headed straight back to the gate and drove back Holbrook.

After last night's fine dining experience we went to dinner at Denny's tonight. Mainly because it was late and it was only about 100 yards from the Travelodge! It was an interesting experience. Our waitress was really ditzy, but quite entertaining. She had no idea what beers and wines were available so had to go away to check. When she came back and told us what was on offer, Bernie ordered a Miller (Genuine Draft) and I ordered a glass of cab/sav ... and she came back with a Miller Lite and a chardonnay!!

As she poured the first couple of drops into my glass I pointed out that a cab/sav should be red. Oh, sorry she said and took the chardy away and came back with a mini bottle of cab/sav, but no fresh glass. At least she asked me to drink the mouthful of chardy in my glass before she poured the red into it!! There was something about wrestling with the beer cage too, but we really don't know what that was about? Maybe the beer is locked up so that the staff don't pilfer it? Bernie suffered through his stubby of light beer and then ordered a second beer - the MGD this time please. Oh sorry, the waitress said I think the MGD is horrible so that's probably why brought you a Miller Lite the first time!! Anyhow, confusion with the drinks aside, the pot roast was pretty good.


Additional photos below
Photos: 15, Displayed: 15


Advertisement



Tot: 0.056s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 13; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0266s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb