Route 66

Friday, Oct. 3rd...slept in...sort of...the Grand Canyon train that leaves from the Williams Depot started their whistle blows about 5 am. But we managed to continue sleeping between blows and didn't get back on the road until 8:15 am.

Moving between Route 66 and Interstate 40 we had so many opportunities to visit wonderful God Made sites but the lure of Alburquerque kept us on the road east most of the time. We did take time to visit Meteor Crater and also a very short stop to see a few petrefied trees on the edge of the painted desert in Geronimo. We decided we needed a week in Arizona in the future to really see the wonders of this state.

Passing Joseph City gave us cause to wonder why as huge smoke stacks belching smoke from the burning of coal to create power created polution in this scenic area. They were very tall smoke stacks but would rather have seen wind machines.

Arrived in Gallup about 1:30 pm and topped off the gas tank; yes we're still averaging between 50 and 60 miles per gallon. Gas prices are ok at $3.40 per gallon. We've lost an hour as we entered Mountain Time after passing over the Continental Divide; but still managed to arrive in Alburquerque by 5 pm. Just ahead of our friends who'd stayed overrnight in Flagstaff. Checked in; got the "lay of the land" before going to dinner together at Cracker Barrell located just across the highway from Hampton Inn. Ray & Donna headed out to purchase chairs that they forgotten to put in for our adventure tomorrow. We decided to purchase the park & ride tickets online instead of attempting to drive to the Balloon Park. After several turns around the hotel to work off some of our delicious dinner, we were off to bed with alarms set for 4 am.

From Alburquerque

From Alburquerque