Day 18: This is my story and I'm sticking to it!

Well...I just don't know what to say. I was going to post this evening and defend myself, but really, I just can't! I tried to blame yesterday on the altitude, too much sun, heat, whatever, but hey...I'm a klutz! Hazel is laughing again, and I hope to hell she wets the bed. She's already gone through 3 pair of panties and I'm not doing the laundry!

Yesterday got off to a great start and I was looking forward to going to Sedona. Should have gone to the Grand Canyon. So, here's my side of the story, and unfortunately, it's not a whole lot different from Hazel's. I'm just not going to add pictures...she was laughing so hard that fortunately, she didn't get many.

Slide Rock was full of happy people wading and swimming and walking. So, in we go to cool our tired feet. WHAM! On my ass with a "what just happened" look. This old couple was very sympathetic and after watching me slip and slide around, offered this advice. "Honey, do what the little kids do, crawl to the edge on your hands and knees." Good advice, and the old guy offered me a hand to get on dry ground. Time to put on shoes and take a walk. Hazel, who has been walking 30 minutes a day, made it clear that I needed the practice. So off we go, over red rocks, dodging jumping, splashing people. We took the high ground and I was feeling pretty good.

Time for another stop to watch the kids fling themselves off the ledges into the deep water. It was very nice sitting on the warm, red, FLAT rocks and just dangle my feet in the water. Refreshed, we moved up stream. Hazel the pathfinder was way up ahead of me, so I took the low ground to catch up, stepped in a puddle, and SPLASH, up to my knees in red water! Just like the poor coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons, everyone else steps in the same place and walks across water....I sink in up to my woo hoo.

OK, we move a little farther up the slope to get away from the water...and to keep me safe...and I'm feeling good. Got my feet under me, and navigating the rocks and sand like a pro. We have to move down hill a bit, and WHAM! I'm spitting out sand and trying to figure out how I ended up face down on the rocks (dry rocks by the way). My toe is throbbing, my hand is bleeding, my knee is bleeding, my elbow is bleeding, my pride is bleeding....ouch! Hazel is laughing so hard she has to cling to the rocks to keep from falling! Did she offer to help me up? Oh no! Not MY best friend. She's peeing her pants!

Close to the water again, so she suggested that I just go ahead and sit in the cold water to keep from swelling. I've got to admit, my toe, knee and elbow did not bruise (too much anyway), and it was only my right hand that made contact with the rocks. Had to scoot on my butt to get up and out.

We needed to get back to the car before I became the first person to die at Slide Rock. She did help by handing me my shoes. Right shoe on while using Hazel for balance, turn to sit on a rock to put left shoe on. Reached down to sit on the rock, and I'll be damned if a prehistoric thorn bush didn't just grow out of the crevices of the rocks. Pierced my finger...left hand. OUCH (again)!

After much laughter and more wetting of the pants. We started making our way back to the car. We're just about there now, and at the shallow end of the creek. Mother's and their babies are sitting in the warm sand in the shade of the big rocks, so Hazel figures this is a good time to take a break and enjoy a nice warm rock of our own, and cool down. I turn to sit on a really big rock, and the next thing I know, I'm looking up at my knees and flailing my arms! My head is embedded in the sand, and Hazel is peering down at me with tears (of laughter) in her eyes. The young mothers AND THEIR BABIES, are hysterical! One woman did catch her breath long enough to ask if I was all right. Am I alright?!?!? Hell, I didn't even know what happened! WHY was I on my back, and where was that damn rock!!?!?!?! Thanks lady.

We dragged my wet, red, sandy butt back to the car. Wet denim full of sand is a great exfoliant and I have the smoothest thighs in Arizona.

Couldn't get in the car with those clothes on, so I had to find clean clothes and change in the Porta Potty! Some little kid started knocking on the door and asked when I thought I would be done. I gathered my dignity...and wet, gritty clothes...and flung open the door. Evidently his mom saw something in my face because she gathered the little guy behind her and backed away.

Guess we should have put on those bathing suites.

Resting and recouperating in Sedona,
Penny S (slippery when wet) Head

Lost in Sedona

We left Flagstaff yesterday. I have to say it is very unlike any other part of Arizona, it is so green, while most of Arizona is desert Flagstaff is mountains and forest. It is a lovely college town and we enjoyed the stay at the Fairfield Inn. We had breakfast at a local place called the Village Kitchen, I promised Penny I would find her a place that made pancakes! Thank gawd they did, and she said they were good.



We left Flagstaff on 89A. What a wonderfully beautiful drive down and twisty curvy mountain. Here are some pictures that I took at one of the parks at the top, it is about 7000 feet here. These pictures do not do it justice.



This is a picture of the roads we were about to drive. I got to try Baby (lexus sc 430) out on the curves and it was great, she handles curves like nobodies business and we did not fall off the mountain. Speaking of falling.............

I saw this sign as we were going down the mountain...........so I thought I would stop and we could take another walk. We are getting a lot of walking in, way more than the 30 minutes on my treadmill. When we pull into our parking place it is about 95 degrees out and the car next to us has a dog locked in it. Penny, the saviour of all animals and nature took the license plate number and gave it to the guard at the front gate, who called for rescue. What kind 0f idiot leaves a dog in a car when the temperature outside is in the high 90s? By the time we got back to our car it was registering 108 degrees.

We walked down this path and came to this site. Look at all of the people sliding down the rocks in this river. What a blast, how fun, it's hot and the water looks soooo cool, and it was such a long walk to get here. And guess what we have bathing suites.........in the trunk of baby, a mile back. Damn, poor planning, look at all these people in bathing suites, except us.

OK, so here is the story, and if you ask me to tell you this story I won't be able to because I cannot stop laughing....ok ok, let me get myself together here. So here is the story, Penny loves the water and she will take every opportunity to get in the water. So here is the wonderful water running over these beautiful rocks. Now, sun, shallow water, and rocks equal slick algae. So, I said be careful just as Penny fell went down on her ass in the water in a denim skirt (skort). I was standing carefully trying not to fall, all the while laughing at Penny as she kept trying to get up on the slick rocks. Soon she was on all fours crawling to banks. finally a gentleman went over to help her as I was tippy toeing carefully to the banks.

So, I decided that we should just sit and watch everyone (wish we had our bathing suites) jump off the ledges into the water. Penny steps into a puddle that went to her knee and almost fell again. We decided to walk further up the river, here is Penny on her ass again. So I made her sit in the cold water to help her knee, toe and hand. "Just sit there for awhile." Ok, time to get up and get started again, she reaches down to get her shoe and gets stuck by a thorn, now her hand is bleeding! I may never ever get her back to the car.

Off we go, back to our car, on the trek back down the river, I see two or three nice round rocks near the water. I thought it would be a good place for us to rest, sitting on a rock with our feet in our water resting. I look over at Penny and she is on her back in the red, red sand and water, feet in the air, looking like a turtle turned on its back!!! How the hell did you do that? What happen? She did not know, she just fell backwards, looking into the sky! I laughed so hard that I wet my pants! I still can't stop laughing.

Needless to say, it was a long long walk back to the car and if you think for one moment I let her sit in my car with this outfit on you have another think coming. She changed!

We drove down the road to downtown Sedona. Here is the problem, we are still here. We have only driven 34 miles in 2 days. We may never ever leave Sedona. Did we say that we were going to be home September 07? It may be "08"

Look where we had to eat breakfast this morning, can you imagine!

Route 66? Where is it?
Hazel M. Walker
Queen of the Road

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

Day 15: Never Under Estimate the Value of a Multi Tool

Although the El Rancho Hotel is an interesting place, it's old. Hazel was getting ready for her morning shower and the cold water knob fell off in her hand. She tried to screw it back on, but to no avail. The World's Best Assistant (that would be me) never leaves home without at least one multi-tool, so I reached into my bag of many things and was able to provide a wrench!

Since I'm tooting my own horn this morning, while in Grants, NM we made a short pit-stop. Hazel was taking her bathroom break and I my nicotine break. I saw this really big crow sitting on top of one of the gas pumps, and knowing how much Hazel wants a crow of her own, I thought maybe I could lure it down with a piece of beef jerky. NO...I didn't have a clue what I was going to do with it if I was able to get a hold of it. Big Bird watched me in that disdainful way only crows have, and shifted his gaze to the chunk of jerky I tossed on the ground. He looked at me....looked at the jerky...looked at whatever it was he had on top of the gas pump. He reached down and picked up his current treasure and THREW IT AT ME! The damn bird THREW chicken bones at me!!!!! Guess my beef jerky wasn't to his liking!

New Mexico if full of Prairie Dogs and we kept seeing them running around and trying to cross the road. When we stopped for gas, I wanted to get a picture of them. So, armed with Carmel Sweet and Salty Chex Mix, I walked out behind a gas station (potty break again), and thought I could entice one of the little bastards up to the camera. They were running all over the place...everywhere except around me! We decided to take pictures of the Giant Arrows instead.

We made the trip through the Pained Desert and the Petrified Forest yesterday. It was over 100 degrees when we started our drive, but cooled down to lower to mid nineties by the time we got out to do the "brief hiking trail" in the Crystal Forest portion of the tour. The views are simply stunning, and amazing how it changes from footstep to footstep. The colors are just amazing! I remember that as a kid this was stop on a family vacation. I was very disappointed at that time because I was expecting Crayola colors. The flat boys enjoyed the views as well, but it was pretty hot to be carting their floppy butts in and out of the heat.

One of the designated stops is called Newspaper Rock. It says that you can see the pytroglyphs on the rocks, and of course we looked and looked. I was expecting to see big ol' rock paintings. Well, there are rock paintings, but they aren't big and fortunately the park has provided telescopes for viewing. There is even a great big sign showing what the markings look like so you now what you are looking for. Ol' Eagle Eye me, finally found what we were looking for. There's a spiral looking thing, a squiggly looking thing, some horseshoe looking things, and two people looking things. One of the people looking things had a tail (??) OK, it wasn't a tail at all, but with little kids standing around...well it was just better to leave some things unsaid. Until Hazel saw it. "Anatomically correct rock paintings...who knew?" Of course all the moms and dads went back for a 2nd look and all the kids were going "what's she talking about?" Hasty exit.

Speaking of hasty exits. The Queen of the Road is getting packed and ready to get going this morning. I still need to get my tanned body (did I mention that I am turning a beautiful shade of bronze...on one side) up and moving.

Love from the road!

Penny S. Head

We're back.....did you miss us?

We took a little break to hang out with some friends in Albuquerque. Gail and Ted are very dear friends of mine, Gail is a BNI Executive Director here in New Mexico and they let me hang out with them during the Balloon Fiesta quite often. Ted loves to tell you the history of New Mexico, and he is a Music Collector. Ted and Gail used to perform in a band across the country and they owned a talent agency until recently, needless to say Ted has a massive collection of music and stock Penny and I up with music. We want to give a shout out and a Thank You to Ted and Gail!!

Currently we are in Gallup, New Mexico. Lots of Indian shops to buy stuff, lots of old 66 signs and old motels all along the route 66 road. We are staying at the El Rancho Hotel, and old hotel that is famous along Route 66. Many stars have stayed here including my favorite, Humphrey Bogart. There are a lot of international guest here to. We have met the Italians, a gentleman from Japan on his second Route 66 trip, and then the French Group. We have met a great many international visitors along Route 66, people from New Zealand, Venezuela, Italy, Netherlands, German, Spanish and French. It has truly been an international experience.

The scenery in New Mexico is both breath taking and sad. The beautiful Red Mountains, the piles of old lava, the breath taking sunsets are not to be missed. But the poverty, many old trailers, run down homes, and closed businesses are sad.

Most of Route 66 runs along the side of US 40 it is wonderful to stay along the frontage road and see the sites, but it is very moving to see how US 40 and major interstates destroyed the small towns and businesses along Route 66 especially when you realize how close the two run along side each other. Beautiful old Art Deco style building abandoned, outstanding neon signs no longer blazing, entire towns abandoned and only now starting to restore themselves for the Route 66 visitors. I cannot recommend enough to anyone that they take the route 66 trip and stay on as much of the old road as possible. The history and stories you will learn are amazing.

One of my favorite places in the last two days has been Midpoint Cafe. This is a little Cafe exactly at the Midpoint of this trip. What a great place, lots of old antiques, like a Hoosier cabinet and kerosene stove. Great staff who love to talk to you, give you information and help you in anyway they can. Check out this sign............this is the place you have to decided, go forward or turn back!

NOW........let me tell you about an exciting part of Route 66 that many people choose NOT to take. It is an 18 mile pre 1930s Route 66, dirt and gravel road through dessert. We met several people at the Midpoint Cafe. We all left about the same time. There were two women about the same age as Penny and I, from Virginia, driving a convertible Jag. They got to the dirt road and turned back, deciding to take the interstate. We passed them as they were turning around. Penny, Baby and I decided to take the road..............I know you are shocked that I would take a little Lexus SC 430 with high performance tires across the desert on dirt and gravel. (some of you will not be shocked at all).

It was a GREAT part of the trip, we drove about 20-35 miles per hour and kept stopping to look at things along the road. Penny said that I needed to stop there were apples along the road, I stopped, looked at her and said "Yea, they must be falling from all of the Dessert Apple Trees that we see along the road!" How the hell could there be apples along a dirt road in 102 degree heat? We stopped next time she saw some, they were gourds, we have in our car. Next we were driving along the road and Penny yelled....stop stop.........back up.......I did. Here is what she found, and this is what ended up in the back seat of Baby.

There was a second one, with teeth on it down in a little ditch. She wanted to go down and get it, but I could hear little rattles all around it which I am certain were rattle snakes sleeping in the heat. So I did not think it was a good idea for her to walk off the road to get a second skull. Therefore, only one hitched a ride in the back of my car on MY PILLOW! That Skull is now being shipped home to Mike.

We crossed the Continental Divide last night, today we will cross the boarder to Arizona and we promise we will blog again tonight. Now, I am off to shower and shop!

Getting our Kicks on Route 66

Queen of the Road

Hazel M. Walker

Day 14: And We're Back!

We got back on the road after lunch today and have made it to Gallup, New Mexico. Gail Williams (Hazel's friend in NM) suggested that we stay at the El Rancho Hotel, so here we are. This hotel is a lot of fun, and a Route 66 Treasure. It was built in 1937 by the brother of D.W. Griffith (the father of motion pictures), and many great movie stars have spent quality time here. We'll take some pictures tomorrow and post them. The hotel has a cattle ranch decor...longhorn steer horn chairs, wagon wheel headboards, dual curved staircase to the 2nd floor, and wonderful Zuni rugs on the floors. We are staying in the Spencer Tracy room. Each room is named after a movie star, and autographed pictures of the celebrities that have graced these halls hang on the walls. Hollywood's best like Humphrey Bogart, Lucille Ball, Jackie Cooper, and Rosalind Russell fill the hallways.

So, what have we been up to? Well, we left Amarillo on the 12th and made a brief stop at the Cadillac Ranch. If you blink, you will miss this, so keep your eyes open. The Cadillac Ranch is a row of big ol' land yachts planted on their noses in the middle of a field. Visitors can walk through a break in the barbed wire fence, across a collapsed lawn chair (to get over the mud puddle) and walk round the 10 cars. Evidently spray paint is encouraged as there were several spent cans on the ground, and all the cars have been personalized.

The cars were OK, and fun, but the best part was the Venezuelan Harley Riders! I thought it would be great idea to get a picture of one of the flat boys with this group of Harley travelers. I didn't know when I first spotted them that they were "not from around here." They were just getting ready to hit the road when I asked if they would take a have their picture taken with my dad. The "leader of the pack" was agreeable, but when I pulled flat dad out of the car, he just didn't know what was going on. He explained that they didn't speak English, and I explained that it didn't matter. He was so good looking that I was having a hard time trying to talk without drooling!

Adrian, Texas is the midpoint of Route 66 and the Mid Point Care and Gift Shop sits there. Our EZ66 Travel Guide told us that this great cafe is the home of the ugly crust pie and Fran would welcome us with open arms. We got to meet Fran and Brady, the son of the Ugly Crust Pie maker, and told them our story of the flat boys. They were delighted to meet our guys and pose with them. The food was wonderful and we got a bunch of stuff to bring home. AND we me the Milano Italians! Woo Hoo. Hugs all around.

We decided to take the "Dirt" option to San Hon. This is an 18 mile stretch of Route 66 that is just dirt. No pavement....just red dirt. Baby didn't go very fast, but I'm so glad we did this. We had to avoid the cows on the road, and found several places with these little round gourds growing wild (no, they aren't apples....apples don't grow in the desert), and best of all, I got a skull for Sara!

As we were leisurely driving on the dirt, I made Hazel stop and back up...I saw a wonder of nature. Well, it turned out that there were two cow skulls, one on each side of the road. I was so excited to find desert bones for Sara I just jumped out of the car to get it. While I was pulling the dead head out of the dirt, Hazel was getting pictures of the flora on the other side of the road. OK, she really was laughing her ass off, but didn't want me to see it. The skull I picked up is in great shape, but didn't have a lower jaw, or any teeth. The other skull had a few teeth, and I was going to get that one instead, but Hazel explained to me that the noise I was hearing was not the rattling of dry brush, but the gentle rattle of rattle snakes. It was time to move on.

We arrived in Albuquerque Sunday afternoon and gave Gail and Ted Williams a call. Gail is the Executive Director for that BNI region and had invited us to spend the night with them. They have a wonderful adobe home! We ended up spending 2 night with these truly wonderful people, and I can't wait to see them again! We had dinner at a Brazilian restaurant that was just the best dining experience. They have this enormous salad bar with quail eggs, 2 kinds of beans and rice, and about a million other things. THEN, the wait staff comes around to your table with huge skewers of grilled pineapple, fillet, sausage to die for, shrimp, pork...I lost track. They bring you plates of fried bananas, cheese puffs, bread...it was fantastic! Downtown Albuquerque is beautiful and we had a wonderful walk (waddle) after dinner.

Ted and Gail are the best, and their little dog, Shoy made us feel so much at home. Ted burned some CDs for our road trip, and Shoy gave me the puppy fix I needed. Great food, great company, great conversation (Ted and I talked like long lost buddies the entire time), and great music. What more can a weary woman road warrior ask for.

Still gettin' our kicks on Route 66

Penny S. Head