Get Your Kicks on Route 66! Flagstaff to Needles

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After breakfast on Sunday morning we left Phoenix destined for Flagstaff, where our official Route 66 road trip would begin. It was a very scenic two and a half hour drive. Once we reached Flagstaff we had lunch and also stopped in at the Visitors Information Centre before heading for the open road.

Our first stop was Bellemont where the now abandoned Pine Breeze Inn sits, which was used in the Easy Rider movie. We weaved our way between the I-40 and the old mother road and continued on to Williams. It was such a buzz to see the iconic streets and buildings of the now historic Route in this town, still so full of colour and life. From Williams we continued on to Ash Fork, just west of which begins the longest unbroken stretch of Route 66 (which goes through to Topock). Our next stop was Seligman where we checked into the Stagecoach 66 Motel, our home for the night. A delicious pizza dinner from the onsite Pizza Joint restaurant and a movie to round out the day.

Monday morning began with browsing the streets of Seligman, so many of the little souvenier and tourist shops recognisable from postcards, adverts etc. Decked out with Route 66 themed items and merchandise, lots of them also had classic cars and motorbikes (in varying states of disrepair!) parked out front. We spent a couple of hours wandering in and out of the various establishments before heading to the Roadkill Cafe for a late breakfast (delicious despite the name!)

Our journey west down the Mother Road took us through lots of small towns; Grand Canyon Caverns Village, Peach Springs, Truxton, Valentine, Hackberry, Valle Vista and then into the much bigger Kingman (where we stopped at Mr DZ's Diner for a banana split, ice cream sundae and popsicle float!) We then continued on toward the next notable town (Oatman) and came across a twisting route through some of the most amazing countryside we have seen yet (you can see where the inspiration for the "Cars" movie came from!) Through mountains and valleys, the views only got better and better (and slower and more winding!) We are so pleased that we had the opportunity to experience this part of Route 66, instead of just passing it all by on the I-40.

We passed through Oatman, a wonderful western themed little town, and had our path slowed by some wandering wild donkeys (burros here I think?!) standing in the middle of the road. They were very cute and finally obliged by moving aside so we could pass. Unfortunately we next came across a detour that meant we couldn't continue on Route 66 to Needles (the road was closed for some reason) so we followed Boundary Cone Road all the way to the Arizona border and into California. We checked into our motel before deciding to have dinner at a local place called Jedro's Wagon Wheel Restaurant (fabulous home style meals, exactly what we needed!) The end to an exciting day with only a few more ahead of us.

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