Day 17: Ridin' the Wild Hare

We left Holbrook, AZ yesterday and made a brief stop in Jackrabbit. This little town is about as big is it's name, but after seeing all the huge yellow and black signs encouraging us "RIDE THE JACKRABBIT" we just couldn't pass it up. Fortunately for us, this big ol' guy was pretty tame and didn't feel like hopping around very much in the heat. Even the Flat Boys had a good time riding while we shopped.

From Jackrabbit to Winslow. Hazel gave you the background for this great small town, so I can give you a bit of the color. Diane Patterson, owner of Roadworks (http://www.roadworksroute66.com/), has a great gift shop, and gave us a very warm welcome. She's such a nice woman, and loved hearing about our trip. She stocks lots of Route 66 items (the good stuff), as well as Eagles CDs, jewelery, scents of all kinds, books and art work. If you are looking for the "crap" type of trinkets, this is NOT the place. Diane's wares are unique and worth the stop.

Although we have not had that first problem with the police in ANY town we have stopped in (well, there was that incident at the El Rancho Hotel where the police told me to go inside), Hazel thought it would be fun to take this photo. Mom, it's OK. I was out back smoking a cigarette and there were some intoxicated guys out front. The police were just patrolling the area and thought it would be in my best interest to go inside.

I do seem to have a propensity for attracting cats, dogs, and people with stories to tell. We dropped in to a little coffee shop and there was a great big black cat to welcome us at the door. He loved me and spent some quality time in my arms. Down the street, we met a big, curly dog and his owner. The guy was celebrating his birthday and had consumed a vast quality of coffee and nicotine (and I'm thinkin' something a little more special). Hazel and I stopped to pet the dog, and the guy had a story to tell..and tell...and tell...to me (it's the human sacrifice thing that Hazel does so well).

Next stop, Meteor Crater! Our blog pictures just cannot do justice to this place we almost passed by. It is HUGE! It is simply called Meteor Crater, but should be called something like LOOK AT WHAT MISSED KILLING ALL MANKIND! You just can't imagine how big around and deep this is! This picture is me standing on the edge of the crater. Anyone that knows me, will understand the courage this took. Notice that I'm NOT holding on to the railing. There is pretty much nothing behind me...or below me! I'm so cool!

Hazel took this picture from an upper level of the observation path in hopes we could get some perspective. A large thunderstorm was brewing and the shadows you see are from those clouds.

Between our hike through the Petrified Forest the day before, and hiking up and down this observation trail around the crater, I was pretty worn out, but I'm still around and didn't keel over! I know our gentle readers have noticed the lack of Flat Boy pictures. It is incredibly hot out here, and carting my fellas around in this heat is just too much.

Our next stop was Flagstaff. From the sand and heat to the coolness of the national forest! Hazel and I are just dumbstruck at how quickly and how dramatically the climate and landscape has changed. This a beautiful town, and I can't wait to get out there and explore.

More to come, so stay tuned!

Penny S. Head

Standin on the Corner in Winslow Arizona......

such a fine site to see, it's a girl my lord in a flat bed ford......slowin down to take a look at me. A Classic Eagles Song, Take it Easy.

We went to Winslow this morning. I would highly recommend it...in the next two years they will be doing a lot of improvement with a big Route 66 Park, and restoration of some of the buildings.

We stayed in Holbrook, Arizona at the Holiday Inn Express. They had the new super beds, you know the big pillow tops with the wonderful down comforters. We decided to order a Pizza from the Pizza Hut right down the street, at 7:30pm we called placed the order only to be told they quit delivering at 7:00pm. To say we were shocked, 7:00pm, you gotta be kidding me! We want Pizza. We had fish sandwiches from Burger King, cause we were in our jammies and did not want to get out of the car! Yuck.

BUT...........we had the BEST nights sleep ever at this hotel. It was great, beds just like home. I highly recommend this hotel. I know that Penny loved them too, she was talking to me, about Ghost Hunters, then the next thing I hear is Penny snoring...I mean humming. I never met anyone who can fall asleep in the middle of a sentence!

Arizona has so much to see. We went to the painted desert, which was beautiful, the petrified forest where satellites follow you around to make sure you do not steal any of the petrified wood. I picked up a piece of wood, it was beautiful and Penny said I had to put it down because there was a $325 fine if you picked up the wood, moved the wood or stole the wood. So they must have satellites watching the entire time you are there, right? I threw my piece of wood down! Damn it.

Hazel at the Crater

We went to the Meteor Crater today, both Penny and I were not very interested really but thought we would take a quick look. Wow.....are we glad we did. It is unimaginable how big this thing is. Or how old it is.

Penny at the Crater

Oh well, we both loved the views.

Now we are in Flagstaff Arizona. It is hard to believe that this is still Arizona! It is so green, pine trees everywhere! No more dessert, no more heat. It reminds me a lot of Washington. Tomorrow we will explore Flagstaff and take a side trip to Sedona and who knows from there.

Baby, my Lexus convertible has been great on the road. We get a great many comments from people about the car, everyone loves her! But, packing her has become an art, with so little space and so much shopping to do over the miles we have had to be very creative. DHL is our best friend! If you are thinking of taking this trip we highly recommend taking Packing Slips with you, it makes life so much easier.

We Found more Giants!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I am off to do laundry, that is the other thing, we are limited on the amount of clothes we could bring so we have to do laundry often.

Getting our Kicks on Route 66............
Hazel M. Walker
Queen of the Road