4/14/2010

April 13, 2010 – Travel to Holbrook and Route 66

Our travels today took us from Cottonwood to Holbrook, Arizona. 

Approaching Flagstaff – the snow on the San Francisco Mountains:

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We traveled up to the Colorado Plateau – above 6000’ – can you believe it!  The plateau is really a geological wonder that covers Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.  (I will spare you info from the internet this time – :-)) but it is amazing.  There are some little towns here and many cattle farms/ranches.  And they do have winter here – we passed many areas with snow still on the ground!

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Interstate 40 has replaced much of Historic Route 66 in this area of Arizona.

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This is Twin Arrows – there was also a trading post here.

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This is the Two Guns Trading Post – also not in business. 

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Meteor Crater Trading Post – still  in business.

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The Wigwam Motel – also still in business (Folks, this is a destination!):

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Just imagine what life was like without interstates.  Many of these areas depended on folks traveling on Route 66.  With the interstates, some businesses have survived, some not – how sad.

We initially stopped in Winslow - remember the Eagles song “Take it Easy” and the lyrics “Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona….”.  Well, this is the place.   But we decided to move on instead of staying here – we will either come back in the next few days or see it next season.

We continued on to Sun Valley, AZ and are staying at Route 66 RV Park.  Here is the view from our front window:

04-13-10 C Sun Valley

From what I understand, this was a stop on Route 66 and had a great restaurant and gift shop as well as a motel.  We could see that part of this area had a fire and was left go.  The new owners are now trying to upgrade the RV park and get the motel up and running again.  (Not sure about the gift shop or restaurant).  So we do have a full hookup spot at a reasonable price (Escapee Discount – they are also a Passport Park).

Once we set up, we headed to Holbrook and onto the Historic Route 66 that goes thru the town.  We stopped at the visitor center and the Historic Courthouse where there was a wonderful museum.  The courthouse contained the jail where we were told that Geronimo was behind bars here.

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We picked up some brochures on the area and hope to do some sightseeing over the next few days.

On our way back to the MH, we stopped at the local American Legion and had a great time meeting folks and finding out some things to see.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 162 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona:  Cherry Street; 12th Street; SR-89A; I-17; I-40; Sun Valley Road; Quartzsite Road    

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