Route 66 (part 4) Flagstaff to Kingman.

Flagstaff is a nice town situated at the 6000ft above sea level so remains cool through out the year. We decided to stay 2 nights as there is quite a bit to look at but after 10 days of driving, fatigue started to set in. A lazy morning ensued and Kathy decided she was going to chill out for the day and catch up with stuff but with it being such a beautiful crisp sunny day outside, I soon got cabin fever and decided to go exploring. A short drive later bought me to Walnut Canyon. A stunning wooded valley, sprinkled lightly with snow and a twisted river valley. I handed over my 10 bucks to get in and descended via the stairs into the valley where a path took me to the main attraction which was the cliff side dwellings of the ancient Indian tribes called the Hopi. Here they had dug into the cliff faces to make houses. Along the rim top of the canyon they grew plants and from the valley they got their water. The cliff side location afforded them protection from the harsh winters, the hot summers and any enemies as they could not see them. They only left when a local volcano erupted about 12AD.
It was a beautiful location and a great walk.

Walnut Canyon overlook.

 I then got lost on my return journey and ended up in downtown Flagstaff. The town was neat and clean with some historic buildings but was not worth anymore of my time especially due to the steep parking charges.

The remains of a cliff side dwelling. 

   Back at the hotel, all the guests had left except for one other person so we had a quiet night in and done some planning for the next leg of our world tour.

Getting kicks on route 66. 

  Another stunning sunny day greeted us next day and the temperature was more agreeable than of late. We again had to pump our rear tyre up, juice up the clunge mobile and refresh our coffee cups to hit the route 66 adventure again. We cranked the radio up and watched the hills and desert roll by. We stopped in Williams for lunch then pushed onto Segliman which is a natty theme inspired town that's only fame is being on the original route 66 before it was desecrated by the highways authority and reduced to random patches across the states. Here was a multitude of tongue in cheek....even cranky eateries and souvenir shops with totally eclectic shop fronts to attract you into their dens of iniquity.

Just plain weird. Tina Turner is draughted in as security. 

 Equally  amusing was the coach loads of Asian tourists who thought it would be cool to sit in the middle of the road for photos oblivious to the passing traffic. We watched for a while hoping to see some carnage but traffic was too cautious and infrequent to grant us any roadkill.

This is where stupid Asians end up.

   We drove on after this but the road was bleak and had no stop offs, just good views of the mountains and the famous Burma shave signs to keep us amused with their witty anecdotes along the side of the road. Eventually we arrived at Kingman, another route 66 heritage enriched town and booked into our overnight stay at the Quality Inn motel. We had an upper room that overlooked the desert and it had a pool but it was just not warm enough to brave a dip. When we got to the room we had the privilege of a room that time had forgot regarding maintenance and found the phone and lamp did not work and the fridge door did not open. But not to worry as Catweasel was on Reception, straight from redneck central training college, who had trouble deciphering my native language of English so deflected our request to Boy Wonder. Boy Wonder sorted the phone quickly but the problem of a blown bulb in the lamp did cerebrally challenge him and it took a detailed explanation , repeated 3 times to explain it was not the lamp at fault but the bulb needed changing. Once the penny had dropped , with a thud, Boy Wonder fixed the lamp but I advised him he needed to watch extra episodes of Eastenders and a viewing of the film 'Snatch' was recommended so he could brush up on his English and watch a really bad Irish accent from an American actor. Job done.

Hmmm.......nice beaver!