Route 66 Day 12 November 2, 2019
This is how I spent the day on my son's birthday. It was November 2nd where I was (Happy Birthday Ben), but in Australia, where they are 16 hours in front of us, and it was already November 3rd!
We were packed and ready to hit the road early in the morning. It wasn't the usual flapping around because we'd had such a lovely and leisurely day yesterday. We were calmly ready to walk out of our hotel room and start the day's drive in an orderly fashion. Our car is now carrying quite a few extra cases, but it was no problem for us. We had to organise a bell boy to come and collect our bags and take them to our car - that was different! Then we had a delicious breakfast. I had a yummy omelette. Everything here is served with mountains of cubed potato mixed with various herbs and spices. It's very delicious, but just too heavy for first thing in the morning. Our cars were brought to the ground level of the car park with our bags already packed into them by the valets. All we had to do was pile into our car and we were off for another wild adventure!
Jenny was driving, so I happily snapped photos. The first challenge was to get out of the central Cathedral roads that twisted and turned through quiet streets past adobe houses and shady trees. Once we got through the morning traffic we were out on the open road again and on our way to our first stop - TeePee Trading Post.
The Trading post was set against a background of beautiful rock faces. Although quite challenging to capture with my camera, there were animal statues up on one of the rock ledges.
We were on Route 66 (Arizona has the longest stretch of the historic highway still in use today) which makes these kinds of business viable. On one side of the road were the businesses. This section of the road seemed to be quite busy with trucks whizzing past. On the other side of the road was the railway line, with several freight trains shunting forward and backwards with their huge loads of cargo.
Each shop along the strip of Route 66 on which we had stopped had a different speciality. We were in Hopi Territory (Hopi is a contraction of Hopitu meaning 'peaceful ones' or Hopitu-shinumu, 'peaceful all people' - their own name.) They speak Shoshonean dialect and occupy six pueblos on a reservation of 2,472,320 acres in north east Arizona.
The Indian TeePee was filled with all sorts of tradition Indian art, and some curious snacks too!
Jenny and I couldn't resist hamming it up in one of these photo shells. A couple of the "Men in Black" as they became known, joined us.
Then we got back on the road again, this time heading to a place I have always wanted to see ... the Painted Desert (and Petrified Forest) National Park. It was named by the Spanish who called it Desierto Pintado due to the beautiful colours we were about to see. We were in the Arizona desert which stretches from the Petrified Forest National Park into the Grand Canyon National Park and runs roughly along the Little Colorado and Puerco Rivers.
It cost our car $25 to enter the park. You don't mind paying this kind of money when you see how beautifully maintained the park is.
The Painted Desert extends over 7500 square miles ( 19,425 square kilometres) across north-eastern Arizona. Petrified Forest National Park lies at its heart. As we drove we saw colourful sandstone rocks called the Chinle Formation. It is thought that they were deposited from 227 to 205 million years ago during the Late Triassic Period and have 20 million years of Late Triassic and fossil history recorded in them. There was a lot of information throughout the park about the supercontinent Pangea which apparently broke apart during the time the painted desert was formed. This led to the eventual creation of our present continents.
It was hard to stop snapping pictures.
The vegetation was quite different to what we see in our desert.
Rabbit Bush
Bristlecone Pine (I think)
I read about Bristlecone Pines in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl. I looked up Wikipedia to see if there really was such a tree in the way Roald Dahl had written about it, and there was!
Bristlecone pine covers are long-lived and highly resilient to harsh weather and bad soils. One of the three species, Pinus longaeva, is among the longest-lived life forms on Earth. The oldest Pinus longaeva is more than 5,000 years old, making it the oldest known individual of any species.Despite their potential age and low reproductive rate, bristlecone pines, particularly Pinus longaeva, are usually a first-succession species, tending to occupy new open ground. They do very well, however, where most other plants cannot even grow, such as in rocky dolomitic soils in areas with virtually no rainfall. Bristlecone pines grow in scattered subalpine groves at high altitude in arid regions of the Western United States. Bristlecones, along with all related species in class Pinopsida, are cone-bearing seed plants commonly known as conifers; the name comes from the prickles on the female cones.
According to the information provided on the Park's information boards, the current era is now being called the New Pangea. This is because during the Triassic Era all the continents were joined together as one landmass called Pangea. Since that time they have now scattered across the globe. Now our continents are joined together again by our intricate trade routes. Humans are spreading plants, animals, and diseases from one continent to another at a rate unobserved for millions of years. Though trade routes are vital for our wellbeing, they are influencing the health of native species even in remote places. Roads, rails and flight routes accelerate the spread of exotic species, while at the same time they hinder the movement of native animals trying to survive and adapt to changing climate.
A couple of interesting facts about the railway line -
1. The native Plateau Striped Whiptail Lizards have new competition from New Mexico Whiptail Lizards that were first found in the park near the train tracks in 1998. They are both female species who reproduce by cloning. It takes a single female to start a whole new population.
2. Studies of radio collared pronghorn - a deerlike North American mammal with a stocky body, long slim legs, and black horns that are shed and regrown annually - show that they do not cross the railroad tracks even when fences are removed. It is as if they are trapped on islands.
Jenny and I drove from vantage point to vantage point enjoying the incredible scenery. One of the most fascinating was Newspaper Rock - a reference to the stories that had been left on the large rocks below the viewing place. The marks on the rocks are called petroglyphs and they reminded me of the symbols I had seen on some paintings done by Tasmanian Aboriginal artists. There were over 650 images pecked, carved or incised into the boulders. The petroglyphs were created by the Puebloan people living, farming, and hunting along the Puerco River between 650 and 2000 years ago. They represent ideas rather than a language and many point to the rich cultural history which continues today. The concentration of the glyphs around Newspaper Rock suggests that many generations of ancestral Peubloans contributed to the messages on the sandstone bluffs. According to contemporary American Indians, the petroglyph themes include family or clan symbols, territorial boundaries, important events and spiritual meanings. The movements of the sun, moon and stars are also charted in a special group of glyphs used to manage ceremonial and agricultural calendars. These photos do not do any justice to the petroglyphs I've just described. There were telescopes installed at the sight and I was able to view them. Without the telescope, this what the rocks looked like:
I was amazed by the way the bird was able to collect 4 or 5 slivers of bread, pile them up and then scoop them up in its beak before flying away.
This was the scenery as we drove around to the Petrified Forest part of the National Park. There are a lot of jets flying overhead. In the early morning they leave streaks across the sky.
It's barren and harsh landscape. The wind roars over it most of the time.
For much of the drive we were on our own. We wanted to call into every place of interest, but we began to realise that we were running out of time ...
. 
. 
... and then we saw one of the cars ontaing people from our group so we started following them.
It felt like everytime we rounded another corner, we were in a completely different set of scenery.
Finally we arrived at the Petrified Forest which is known for its fossils and its fallen trees. They look like trunk offcuts, but they are solid stone.
The information plaques around the park answered our burning questions about the formations. One explained that it depends on environmental conditions, like burial rate and the mount of silica in the ground water, as to how long it takes for wood to petrify. The initial stages may only take decades, but it takes millions of years for the silica's molecular changes to result in the colourful crystalline quartz.
It was time to head off for lunch, and Alan who has been making a 360 degree movie was running so that he wouldn't get left behind!
Americans say that if their moms and dads travelled Route 66 back in its heyday, they most certainly ate at Jo and Aggies Cafe, where we stopped for lunch. It is an original Mother Road Cafe and I decided to eat an all American meal - a cheeseburger and a glass of root beer. They did a good job of it! A stop at the restroom before heading off again revealed this information:
When we had all finished, we took off to the Wigwam Hotel which had been highlighted in the movie Cars. We only took a quick drive through the motel's carpark so we could have a look at the unique motel idea and the old cars ... and to take a couple of photo's ...
...and then we continued onto our next spot. A stint on the Interstate Highway (the I-40) was included in our journey, until we reached the Jack Rabbit Trading Post which was started in 1949 by Jim Taylor and his wife. He leased the business for most of the years he had it. The current owners are Cindy and her husband Tony. Cindy's granddad bought the Jack Rabbit in 1967 - the year I was living in America as a 9 year old. He was a politician who was just getting out of the Senate, and as a parting gesture he helped get the access ramps off the I-40 installed right near his business. In 1969 Cindy's parents, Phil and Pat Blansett bought the Jack Rabbit from Cindy's Granddad. They had the store for 26 years until Cindy and her husband Tony bought it in 1995.
The Trading post is pretty isolated, and the road is not in good shape!
The Jack Rabbit is situated right across the road from the railway line. After having a look around at all the souvenirs, buying some "rabbit milk" in a can, and an ice cream...
... I went across the road and watched the freight trains. It reminded me of my days living out at Forrest, on the Australian Intercontinental Line when I was 4 years old. Back in those days the tea and sugar train would come and visit once a fortnight and everyone would get dressed up so they could board it and do their shopping.
. 
Meanwhile back at the Jack Rabbit, I was watching a train headed up by four diesel engines pulling well over 150 trucks. I couldn't help myself, I just had to wave to the engine driver just like I did when I was a little kid. My effort was not in vain, because moments later a loud honking train whistle filled the air ... and it thrilled me, just like it did when I was 4. It made my day!!
And to top it all off, I had a ride on the Jack Rabbit
That was pretty much the adventures over for another day! Back in the cars we headed to our hotel for the night. We made one quick stop for some fuel and I thought it was interesting that Biodiesel was available for sale.
Across the road there was a memorial for the 9/11 tragedy
Winslow, Arizona was not far and it seemed entirely appropriate to listen to the Eagles song Take it Easy as we made our approach.
We had the privilege of staying at the La Posada hotel in Winslow. Winslow was bypassed by the I-40 in the 1970's. The Santa Fe railroad was using the building of the La Posada as offices. After the bypass they closed the offices and abandoned La Posada in 1994. They announced plans to tear it down, but fortunately it was saved and it now caters for fans of Route 66, The Eagles and fans of fine dining. The Turquoise Room Restaurant is hailed as one of the southwest's finest restaurants, providing a "mesmerizing interpretation of Arizona food" and a price to match. It is said that 90 trains per day pass this hotel, yet inside its thick adobe walls, you hear nothing.
As much as Jenny and I love fine dining, we needed to get downtown and do what everyone does when they come to Winslow...
We unloaded the cars and after getting the keys to our room, and opening the door, we stood mesmerised by the space, the beauty and the king sized beds ... one each!! And you should have seen the bathroom - just gorgeous!!
It would have been easy to kick back and do nothing for the rest of the evening, but instead we dumped our stuff in our room ...
It's almost dark, but we still got a photo of the
It's a very interesting corner, and it's what's keeping Winslow alive! Winslow achieved national fame in 1972 because of the Eagles song. There are photos of some of Winslows famous residents, memorial plaques for people who have donated towards the upkeep of the corner ...
... and of course the obligatory gift shop filled with souvenirs!
Sign of the day!
Christmas Decorations are up already! My Mum would have loved this shop
After wandering around the town, we finally decided to wind down and headed into this boutique beer bar.
Not only did we find some fabulous tasting beer.... (I highly recommend the Mother Road Tower Station IPA) but we also met some lovely people.
. 
We had a wonderful time talking to a lady called Melissa who lived in LA but had grown up in Winslow. She was back visiting her mother for her 80th birthday.
We also met a lovely Scottish couple who were visiting their son and daughter-in-law (who just happened to be Australian) and their new grandson who lived in Denver. They were doing parts of Route 66 before calling over to Denver.
It was a really fun day, and it didn't take long to fall off to sleep ... in fact I'm quite sure I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow!
We were packed and ready to hit the road early in the morning. It wasn't the usual flapping around because we'd had such a lovely and leisurely day yesterday. We were calmly ready to walk out of our hotel room and start the day's drive in an orderly fashion. Our car is now carrying quite a few extra cases, but it was no problem for us. We had to organise a bell boy to come and collect our bags and take them to our car - that was different! Then we had a delicious breakfast. I had a yummy omelette. Everything here is served with mountains of cubed potato mixed with various herbs and spices. It's very delicious, but just too heavy for first thing in the morning. Our cars were brought to the ground level of the car park with our bags already packed into them by the valets. All we had to do was pile into our car and we were off for another wild adventure!
Jenny was driving, so I happily snapped photos. The first challenge was to get out of the central Cathedral roads that twisted and turned through quiet streets past adobe houses and shady trees. Once we got through the morning traffic we were out on the open road again and on our way to our first stop - TeePee Trading Post.
The Trading post was set against a background of beautiful rock faces. Although quite challenging to capture with my camera, there were animal statues up on one of the rock ledges.
We were on Route 66 (Arizona has the longest stretch of the historic highway still in use today) which makes these kinds of business viable. On one side of the road were the businesses. This section of the road seemed to be quite busy with trucks whizzing past. On the other side of the road was the railway line, with several freight trains shunting forward and backwards with their huge loads of cargo.
Each shop along the strip of Route 66 on which we had stopped had a different speciality. We were in Hopi Territory (Hopi is a contraction of Hopitu meaning 'peaceful ones' or Hopitu-shinumu, 'peaceful all people' - their own name.) They speak Shoshonean dialect and occupy six pueblos on a reservation of 2,472,320 acres in north east Arizona.
The Indian TeePee was filled with all sorts of tradition Indian art, and some curious snacks too!
 |
| This is Norm standing in front of an Indian statue. |
Jenny and I couldn't resist hamming it up in one of these photo shells. A couple of the "Men in Black" as they became known, joined us.
Then we got back on the road again, this time heading to a place I have always wanted to see ... the Painted Desert (and Petrified Forest) National Park. It was named by the Spanish who called it Desierto Pintado due to the beautiful colours we were about to see. We were in the Arizona desert which stretches from the Petrified Forest National Park into the Grand Canyon National Park and runs roughly along the Little Colorado and Puerco Rivers.
It cost our car $25 to enter the park. You don't mind paying this kind of money when you see how beautifully maintained the park is.
The Painted Desert extends over 7500 square miles ( 19,425 square kilometres) across north-eastern Arizona. Petrified Forest National Park lies at its heart. As we drove we saw colourful sandstone rocks called the Chinle Formation. It is thought that they were deposited from 227 to 205 million years ago during the Late Triassic Period and have 20 million years of Late Triassic and fossil history recorded in them. There was a lot of information throughout the park about the supercontinent Pangea which apparently broke apart during the time the painted desert was formed. This led to the eventual creation of our present continents.
It was hard to stop snapping pictures.
The vegetation was quite different to what we see in our desert.
Rabbit Bush
Bristlecone Pine (I think)
I read about Bristlecone Pines in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl. I looked up Wikipedia to see if there really was such a tree in the way Roald Dahl had written about it, and there was!
Bristlecone pine covers are long-lived and highly resilient to harsh weather and bad soils. One of the three species, Pinus longaeva, is among the longest-lived life forms on Earth. The oldest Pinus longaeva is more than 5,000 years old, making it the oldest known individual of any species.Despite their potential age and low reproductive rate, bristlecone pines, particularly Pinus longaeva, are usually a first-succession species, tending to occupy new open ground. They do very well, however, where most other plants cannot even grow, such as in rocky dolomitic soils in areas with virtually no rainfall. Bristlecone pines grow in scattered subalpine groves at high altitude in arid regions of the Western United States. Bristlecones, along with all related species in class Pinopsida, are cone-bearing seed plants commonly known as conifers; the name comes from the prickles on the female cones.
According to the information provided on the Park's information boards, the current era is now being called the New Pangea. This is because during the Triassic Era all the continents were joined together as one landmass called Pangea. Since that time they have now scattered across the globe. Now our continents are joined together again by our intricate trade routes. Humans are spreading plants, animals, and diseases from one continent to another at a rate unobserved for millions of years. Though trade routes are vital for our wellbeing, they are influencing the health of native species even in remote places. Roads, rails and flight routes accelerate the spread of exotic species, while at the same time they hinder the movement of native animals trying to survive and adapt to changing climate.
A couple of interesting facts about the railway line -
1. The native Plateau Striped Whiptail Lizards have new competition from New Mexico Whiptail Lizards that were first found in the park near the train tracks in 1998. They are both female species who reproduce by cloning. It takes a single female to start a whole new population.
2. Studies of radio collared pronghorn - a deerlike North American mammal with a stocky body, long slim legs, and black horns that are shed and regrown annually - show that they do not cross the railroad tracks even when fences are removed. It is as if they are trapped on islands.
Jenny and I drove from vantage point to vantage point enjoying the incredible scenery. One of the most fascinating was Newspaper Rock - a reference to the stories that had been left on the large rocks below the viewing place. The marks on the rocks are called petroglyphs and they reminded me of the symbols I had seen on some paintings done by Tasmanian Aboriginal artists. There were over 650 images pecked, carved or incised into the boulders. The petroglyphs were created by the Puebloan people living, farming, and hunting along the Puerco River between 650 and 2000 years ago. They represent ideas rather than a language and many point to the rich cultural history which continues today. The concentration of the glyphs around Newspaper Rock suggests that many generations of ancestral Peubloans contributed to the messages on the sandstone bluffs. According to contemporary American Indians, the petroglyph themes include family or clan symbols, territorial boundaries, important events and spiritual meanings. The movements of the sun, moon and stars are also charted in a special group of glyphs used to manage ceremonial and agricultural calendars. These photos do not do any justice to the petroglyphs I've just described. There were telescopes installed at the sight and I was able to view them. Without the telescope, this what the rocks looked like:
This plaque says: This property has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior 1976. Newspaper Rock Petroglyphs Archeological District.
We felt like we were being followed. Everytime we returned to the carpark there were a couple of crows the size of your average chicken, waiting for us. I had some plain tortillas, so I tore a couple of them up and fed them to the birds.
I was amazed by the way the bird was able to collect 4 or 5 slivers of bread, pile them up and then scoop them up in its beak before flying away.
This was the scenery as we drove around to the Petrified Forest part of the National Park. There are a lot of jets flying overhead. In the early morning they leave streaks across the sky.
It's barren and harsh landscape. The wind roars over it most of the time.
For much of the drive we were on our own. We wanted to call into every place of interest, but we began to realise that we were running out of time ...
. 
. 
... and then we saw one of the cars ontaing people from our group so we started following them.
It felt like everytime we rounded another corner, we were in a completely different set of scenery.
Finally we arrived at the Petrified Forest which is known for its fossils and its fallen trees. They look like trunk offcuts, but they are solid stone.
The information plaques around the park answered our burning questions about the formations. One explained that it depends on environmental conditions, like burial rate and the mount of silica in the ground water, as to how long it takes for wood to petrify. The initial stages may only take decades, but it takes millions of years for the silica's molecular changes to result in the colourful crystalline quartz.
It was time to head off for lunch, and Alan who has been making a 360 degree movie was running so that he wouldn't get left behind!
Americans say that if their moms and dads travelled Route 66 back in its heyday, they most certainly ate at Jo and Aggies Cafe, where we stopped for lunch. It is an original Mother Road Cafe and I decided to eat an all American meal - a cheeseburger and a glass of root beer. They did a good job of it! A stop at the restroom before heading off again revealed this information:
When we had all finished, we took off to the Wigwam Hotel which had been highlighted in the movie Cars. We only took a quick drive through the motel's carpark so we could have a look at the unique motel idea and the old cars ... and to take a couple of photo's ...
...and then we continued onto our next spot. A stint on the Interstate Highway (the I-40) was included in our journey, until we reached the Jack Rabbit Trading Post which was started in 1949 by Jim Taylor and his wife. He leased the business for most of the years he had it. The current owners are Cindy and her husband Tony. Cindy's granddad bought the Jack Rabbit in 1967 - the year I was living in America as a 9 year old. He was a politician who was just getting out of the Senate, and as a parting gesture he helped get the access ramps off the I-40 installed right near his business. In 1969 Cindy's parents, Phil and Pat Blansett bought the Jack Rabbit from Cindy's Granddad. They had the store for 26 years until Cindy and her husband Tony bought it in 1995.
The Trading post is pretty isolated, and the road is not in good shape!
The Jack Rabbit is situated right across the road from the railway line. After having a look around at all the souvenirs, buying some "rabbit milk" in a can, and an ice cream...
 |
| What do you think was in side ... baby rattle snakes? Noooo ... baby rattles!!! |
... I went across the road and watched the freight trains. It reminded me of my days living out at Forrest, on the Australian Intercontinental Line when I was 4 years old. Back in those days the tea and sugar train would come and visit once a fortnight and everyone would get dressed up so they could board it and do their shopping.
. 
Meanwhile back at the Jack Rabbit, I was watching a train headed up by four diesel engines pulling well over 150 trucks. I couldn't help myself, I just had to wave to the engine driver just like I did when I was a little kid. My effort was not in vain, because moments later a loud honking train whistle filled the air ... and it thrilled me, just like it did when I was 4. It made my day!!
And to top it all off, I had a ride on the Jack Rabbit
That was pretty much the adventures over for another day! Back in the cars we headed to our hotel for the night. We made one quick stop for some fuel and I thought it was interesting that Biodiesel was available for sale.
Across the road there was a memorial for the 9/11 tragedy
Winslow, Arizona was not far and it seemed entirely appropriate to listen to the Eagles song Take it Easy as we made our approach.
Well I'm a-runnin' down the road, tryin' to loosen my load
As much as Jenny and I love fine dining, we needed to get downtown and do what everyone does when they come to Winslow...
Take it easy, take it easy
Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
We unloaded the cars and after getting the keys to our room, and opening the door, we stood mesmerised by the space, the beauty and the king sized beds ... one each!! And you should have seen the bathroom - just gorgeous!!
It would have been easy to kick back and do nothing for the rest of the evening, but instead we dumped our stuff in our room ...
Lighten up while you still can
Don't even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand, and take it easy
We headed straight out again because there was something really important we had to do before the sunset.
 |
| Here we are with Lick, as everyone calls him, on our way to that famous corner. Every business in town takes advantage of the words in the song. |
Well, I'm a-standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see
It's almost dark, but we still got a photo of the
huge Route 66 sign in the middle of the intersection!
It's a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford
Slowin' down to take a look at me
It's a very interesting corner, and it's what's keeping Winslow alive! Winslow achieved national fame in 1972 because of the Eagles song. There are photos of some of Winslows famous residents, memorial plaques for people who have donated towards the upkeep of the corner ...
... and of course the obligatory gift shop filled with souvenirs!
Sign of the day!
Christmas Decorations are up already! My Mum would have loved this shop
After wandering around the town, we finally decided to wind down and headed into this boutique beer bar.
Not only did we find some fabulous tasting beer.... (I highly recommend the Mother Road Tower Station IPA) but we also met some lovely people.
. 
We had a wonderful time talking to a lady called Melissa who lived in LA but had grown up in Winslow. She was back visiting her mother for her 80th birthday.
We also met a lovely Scottish couple who were visiting their son and daughter-in-law (who just happened to be Australian) and their new grandson who lived in Denver. They were doing parts of Route 66 before calling over to Denver.
It was a really fun day, and it didn't take long to fall off to sleep ... in fact I'm quite sure I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow!
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