Day 19: Goodbye Sedona

Slide Rock and tourists notwithstanding, Sedona is just simply beautiful. Our path took us through the Coconino National Forest and into Oak Creek Canyon. the view is simply breath taking. We walked the tourist path, and got some wonderful pictures!

From there, down the mountain into Sedona. It's a very tourist driven, but the shops are a lot of fun, and the bronze statues all up and down the street are beautiful. Hazel found The Orchard Hotel, and we instantly made the decision to stay an extra day. I spent every moment I could sitting on our balcony watching the changing colors on the mesas. The Orchard is such a cool place. Real glasses in the bathroom and bed room, sliding screen door so you can turn off the air conditioner and enjoy the evening breeze. Trust me, we didn't use this feature much, but is was very pleasant last evening. Lauryn was great, and we thank her for a great stay.

The first evening, we decided to do some laundry (guess who was out of dry panties), and met the owner of The Laundry Basket, George. What a great guy! We learned that The Laundry Basket is the result of George making some major life-changing decisions. George mentioned that since we were already off our path, we should go to Jerome, AZ. What an amazing place. Unfortuantely we were unable to any pictures of the town, but take my work for it...it is amazing. First of all, the town is experiencing a re-birth. Many shops line the streets, and I think that's where all the hippies have gone to grow old! This little town is literally built out of the sides of the mountain! I don't mean that they found a flat place in the area for a nice little town, I mean each building is built sticking out of the side of the mountain! If you rolled out of bed in the middle of the night, you would just roll down the side of the mountain. It is just incredible! We didn't get any pictures because the streets were so narrow, and there really wasn't any place to stop and snap. It was too hot to park and walk around, so we just wove our way through the place in wonder and awe!

From Jerome to Seligman where we were presented with our very own Official Route 66 License by Linda Howard, owner of the Ruty Bolt (http://www.rustybolt66.com/). She has a wonderful store with many, many items we have not seen in other R66 stores along the way. There are some great manaquines on top and in front of her store. The flat boys had a ball posing with the girls, real and staged!

So, we're back on track and back on the mother road! Wanted to give a big hello to our friend Wombat (http://therealwombat.wordpress.com/tag/route-66-in-007/). He's out there doin' the mother road as well. He makes a lot more stops than we have so far, so give his blog a look and let him know you're friends of the Women Road Warriers from Indiana!

Love from the Road,
Penny S. Head

Out of Sedona

As much as we loved Sedona, we packed up and left today. Sedona is not part of the Route 66 trip, but it was so close to Flagstaff that we decided to take Route 89A and check out the beautiful Red Rocks. It is well worth the side trip.

Today we took 89A around the Mountains into Jerome. Again, not part of the Route 66 trip but what the heck we are already off the path. Jerome is phenomenal, a whole town build on the side of mountains. Jerome has a rich history of copper mining and when the copper mines where closed the town was all but abandoned. Today it is growing and draws a lot of tourist. It is so different from all of the other towns we have encountered in Arizona. No way could I ever live in this place, if you fell off of your porch it would kill you! If you ever get a chance I would recommend that you take the opportunity to visit the old town!

Now, let me tell you about the mountain drive. It was so exciting, we were climbing up the mountain zigging and zagging, great hairpin curves, uphill, downhill and sheer drop on the drivers side. Baby was a blast to drive on this road, at the top most point we were at 7500 feet. Remember, what goes up, must come down, and we did. Penny did great, she hates heights, but did well, we had the top down on the car and the temperature was wonderful. This was the most beautiful part of the day to me, it was also the most exciting and therefore fun.

We got of the longest portion of Route 66. It is 150 miles of straight two lane highway, the temperature was still below 95 degrees so we kept the top down. That was a mistake......it is not feeling so good now! Much of this part of the drive was interesting but not beautiful.

We went thru this little town called Seligman, Arizona. Very fun, several of the local places have really gone out of their way to create a fun place to stop and buy geegaw's. We went to a little DQ like place, (not DQ) we had hot dogs for lunch....Bob hot dogs...short and fat. Not the John hot dog which is long and thin. Their description not mine. The guys taking the orders where very very funny! Stop here if you get a chance!

We continued on, top still down..........not a good idea, did I tell you were are sunburned! LOL

Tonight we are in Kingsman, Arizona, tomorrow we go thru the Mohave Desert. Our guide books says fill the tank and take plenty of water. We will also ride with the top up!!!! We should be in California tomorrow night!! YEA!

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

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