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Published: August 5th 2007
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After our time in Vegas we set off in search of a little slice of Americana in the desert. We were following hot on the heels of some personal heroes of mine - Calum, Fran & Dangerous Danan. Yes, we were taking a little trip down 50's memory lane with a cruise down good ol' route 66.
It's a fair treck out of Vegas into the desert and if you don't make it out of bed very early then it can be fairly late before you get anywhere. We only got to the start of our stretch of Route 66 at about lunchtime. We were beginning in Kingman and travelling as far as Williams. This is part of the longest intact section of the original still left and is a little like a timewarp. There are old Caddies and Chevies everywhere and all the music is old skool too after we found a radio station that only played the golden oldies.
Route 66 is great. Probably the most chilled out drive we've done on our trip. Just a shame we had a roof. Started off with lunch at a diner once frequented by Chubby Checker. Could have been straight
out of Happy Days. We made loads of stops along the way to check out cool cars, cool old garages and shops and generally chill out (Fairly hot out in the desert).
Got to Williams in the early evening and just as we entered town it started to rain. Movie rain. By the time we had gone the single mile to our motel we were driving through 3 inches of water. A little like England at the moment. Checked into our motel (I got soaked walking the 3 yards to the office) and then we headed out for a bit of scran. Found ourselves another top eatery with some very fine beer on tap before retiring for the night.
The following day we were off to the Canyon. It's about an hours drive straight north of Williams and is spectacular. Can't really describe it too well and I'm not sure whether the photos will actually do it justice but you can let me know. It's much bigger and more vast than you can possibly imagine. Enormous. We spent about 5 hours trekking, viewing (and yes, a little shuttle bussing too) to see it from loads of different vantage
points. I made some daring sorties out on to some of the overhanging rocks. Check out the photos and you can see how Mrs Deane made me look very brave on some top notch photos. If you're ever in this part of the world then it is more than worth the trip. On the way back towards Williams we stopped in at the Discovery centre and watched their IMax film about the canyon to top off our trip.
Back in Williams, I finally got Id'd. Twice. I must still look quite youthful after all. First in a dingy bar and then at an offy buying a bottle of cheap Californian plonk. I feel much better now and must look younger than Mr Cooper who failed to get id'd when in New York.
We had already booked an extra night in Williams and with good reason. There was a rodeo on. Not only that but they put on a comedy gunfight performance every night in the main street. Williams is a great little town. We both fell asleep looking forward to the rodeo with dreams of becoming the next Clint Eastwood and Calamity Jane (sorry Mrs Deane, don't know
any other cowgirls).
Rodeo Day. And I needed my strength. All you can eat pancakes first (with a side order of some crispy bacon to go on top). Feeling suitably stuffed we headed over to the Bob Dean (good name) Rodeo arena for the 29th Arizona Cowpunchers Reunion Rodeo. Only 5 bucks to get in and the place was packed. It's billed as being done by real cowboys for real cowboys and it looked like we were the only tourists in the joint. I suddenly wished I had donned my Wranglers, leather chaps, big silver buckle belt, check shirt and stetson. Mind you, I may have looked a little camp.
Rodeo was as good as you can imagine. About 10 different events including Bronco riding, wild horse racing, wild steer milking, under 12's steer riding and steer tying. Brilliant fun and the fact that we had a downpour the previous day only added to the fun.
The bronco riders were good even if only a handful stayed on for the full 8 seconds and the kids were unbelievably good on the steer riding. Stars of the future. The funniest event was the steer milking. One guy rode
after a cow on horseback and roped him, a second guy held the cow down while a third milked him (perhaps it was a her cow actually) and then ran over the line with a cup of milk. One team managed this in a staggering 14 seconds. All good fun and very bizarre for a couple of Mancunians.
After the rodeo we were back on the road on the way back West. Stayed a night at Kingman on route.
Early doors we were up and off to the West rim of the Canyon. Previously we had been to the Southern rim but we wanted to try out the brand new skywalk. Now, we have a few issues with this place. It falls outside the National Park system and as such is a real rip off. Here begins my rant...
(and you're lucky you aren't hearing the wrath of Mrs Deane on this subject)
The west rim is tricky to get to. 1 hour and 45 minutes on pretty much a one way track including 14 miles of gravel (bumpy rubbish road). Once there you realise that you can't just go on the skywalk for the advertised
25 dollars. You have to buy a package. The cheapest is 75 dollars. Each. Like chumps we paid up as we had just endured a near two hour trip. First stop was the Skywalk. Can't take your camera on... Can buy photos for about 20 dollars. Have to hire lockers - extra cost. Don't get me wrong, the skywalk is decent enough. Not a knockout but probably worth 25 dollars.
Anyway, next stop was Guano point on a different part of the rim. Great view of the Colorado river but the canyon views aren't as good as the South rim. Final stop was the Hualapai Ranch which was actually quite fun. We got some all you can eat food, they put on a little cattle run, a mock gunfight and I got to lock Mrs Deane in a prison. We then went on a quick wagon ride and then, probably the highlight of the place was meeting Norman.
Norman is a celebrity. A celebrity cow. He was the calf that appeared in City Slickers along with that loser, Billy Crystal. He looks a little bigger these days. A lot bigger. They obviously feed him well on the ranch.
To sum up. If you are going to the Canyon, make sure it is the South rim. Far more spectacular and not a tourist rip off. Also, beware. They are in the process of building a 700 room hotel and casino at the west rim to put the final nail in the coffin.
Anyway, it was time to head back over to LA. We just had time for one little detour. So, off we went to London Bridge. This is the one that some crazy yank paid $2.5m dollars for in the 60's and transported over brick by brick to Arizona. It loks very nice too and it's surrounded by an Olde Englishe pub and an 'English' village that looks remarkably like an American attempt at an English village.
After that it was road trip time. We made it as far as Barstow in the evening where it was 109 degrees at 7.30pm. Nice.
Bye for now,
Clint Eastwood and Calamity Mrs Deane
Beer 174: Corona, Mexico, Bottle, 4.6%, 8.0, very nice beer to go with our Mexican
Beer 175: Fat Tire, USA, Draught, 5.2%, excellent beer - almost like an English one
Not a bad view
Beer 176: Pancho McGillicuddy's Shady Lady, USA, Draught, ?%, 6.5, a little watery
Beer 177: Blue Moon, USA, Draught, 5.4%, 7.5, really wanted to dislike this but it was actually very nice
Beer 178: Michelob Amber Bock, USA, Bottle, 5.2%, 8.0, An excellent tasty beer
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