Day 9 - Gallup to Flagstaff

Easily the best day of the journey so far. Crossed over from New Mexico to Arizona in the morning. The interstate has been built over much of route 66 in this part of Arizona and so there were a lot of dead ends today. However this was compensated by some of the sights along the way.

First was the Petrified Forest National Park. Less of a forest and more a lot of old logs scattered around but still impressive.

The dead ends often ended in ghost towns or 'authentic' Indian trading posts. I particularly liked Two Guns which had its own renovated interstate exit for a couple of old derelict buildings and little else.

Had to stop on the corner of Winslow Arizona for a photo.

Meteor Crater was very impressive. Land all around is flat so you can really appreciate the force which created this 50,000 years ago.

 

 

Finished the afternoon in Flagstaff but then drove down to Sedona for the evening (not on Route 66). I have visited before but never in the evening and the setting sun really brings out the colour of the rocks. Also the first decent cup of coffee since I left Chicago.

 

 

 

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Day 8 - Santa Fe to Gallup

A bit of a nothing day today. Dreadful morning trying to keep to Route 66 driving through Albuquerque which seemed to sprawl for miles. This afternoon was much better driving through some great landscape in New Mexico. Crossed the Continental Divide. The almost ghost town of San Fidel had the word 'Geezerville' written below its signpost and despite googling it I cannot see why?

 

Gallup is the last big town in New Mexico, very much into Navajo Indian country.

247 miles today vs 198 planned

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Day 7 - Amarillo to Santa Fe

Reached the mid point of the trip this morning just before crossing the state line into New Mexico. Breakfast at the midpoint cafe and several other route 66'ers had the same idea. Great place, newly renovated, very clean, friendly and a great little gift shop. First half of the trip has gone very quickly, but there are more planned diversions in the second half.

Easy to follow road today - much of it running parallel or close to Interstate 40 before turning north to Santa Fe on the old traditional loop of route 66. Along the whole of route 66 there are many ghost towns, where businesses closed and people moved away as route 66 was replaced by the interstate highways. Glenrio on the Texas / New Mexico border, pictured below is one such town

Santa Fe is a lovely old city and the Capitol of New Mexico. Hundreds of smart art galleries and the city plays up its Indian heritage. Loved the Indian Father Christmas's in the all year Christmas shop.

303 miles today vs the 229 planned. Not sure where my planning went wrong as not too many diversions or wrong turns today.

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Day 6 - Oklahoma City to Amarillo

A far more challenging day. The route 66 signposts almost all disappeared and where they were seen they were symbolic. The 'Here it is' route 66 map series was invaluable to guide me through the day. The sat nav is useful at times but cannot be relied upon to choose route 66 as the correct route, particularly if you program a destination more than one town / ghost town ahead. Parts of the road have fallen into bad repair and famously some parts were never paved. The below photo shows one such part and I even lost my nerve when I saw cattle grazing over the next section and turned back to find a safer route round this section.

Again many iconic route 66 sights today, although being Sunday most places were closed. Crossed into Texas at lunchtime.

everything is big in Texas -the tallest cross, although to be fair it is very impressive as are the gardens and monuments surrounding the cross

The Cadillac Ranch rounded the day off, near Amarillo. Great fun

333 miles travelled vs planned 251.

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Day 5 - Springfield to Oklahoma City via Kansas

Longest planned journey today of the whole trip - 311 miles although actually drove 354 miles making nearly 1000 since I started. Weather in the morning was showery but still very hot but improved as the day went on. Long stretches of route 66 were still intact although the road on some of the more 'historic' parts had started to disintegrate. Easy to follow. After Missouri the road briefly travels for a few miles through Kansas before entering Oklahoma.

It was day of some fairly iconic sights and the guy running the blue whale reminisced about both Billy Connolly and Karl Pilkinton's recent visits.

Generally unimpressed with Oklahoma City, although the memorial to the City bombings is simple and very moving.

 

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Day 4 - St. Louis to Springfield, Missouri

Back tracked a little this morning to see the Old Chain of Rocks bridge, by-passed by Route 66 a few years ago. Hire car is Jeep Patriot with a very dodgy automatic gearbox (might have to change the car tomorrow)

Again took a long time to get out of St.Louis as it did with Chicago. Big cities and even large towns pose a problem when you are trying to follow the route.

The road followed the service road of the interstate highway for many miles today but at times went 'inland' into the Ozark's. The Meramec caves were unnecessarily touristy playing up the Jesse James connection but still very impressive

The world's largest rocker but the shop was great.

Devil's Elbow - road still passable

Covered 316 miles today vs the 232 planned - wrong turns certainly clock up the mileage mainly because it takes some time to realise you have gone wrong.

Springfield is a largest town - pleasant enough - typically middle America

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Day 3 - Chicago to St. Louis

Early start in Chicago this morning. Took a little time to get out of the city but once out the route was quite easy to follow at least until after lunch when I had to do quite a lot of backtracking to keep to the plan. 316 miles today vs the 298 miles it says in the guide books. The road had long straight flat stages through cornfields (heartland of America) but at times diverted to pick up very old sections of the road which were little more than farm tracks - see picture above. I thought I would average 50 miles per hour but I was nearly 9 hours on the road today.

Highlight en route today was probably Pontiac which has very much put itself back on the map by playing up to the Route 66 experience but tastefully and not at all tacky.

Late afternoon I crossed the Missisipi river over from the state of Illinois to St.Louis in Missouri. Just had time to visit the Gateway Arch. Interesting a ascent in a number of pods which seem to ratchet their way to the top to get around the elevators going round bends problem. Great view from the top of the Cardinals baseball stadium. I was planning to go to a game tonight but they played this afternoon.

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