Our first adventure was to take the old route west to Ashfork, we hadn’t explored the east side of town yet. We are using Bob Moore’s book “A Guidebook to the Mother Road”. It’s a good thing we have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, Bob gets you exploring some out of the way, non-paved sections. But it is fun and really gives you a sense for what the original Okies may have seen and felt while traveling west. I’m sure that we will have traveled every piece of road possible in Arizona by the time we are to New Mexico. Thanks, Bob! Yes, we do all of the intrepid roadie trips also. One that Bob missed was from exit 151 (Welch Road), the junction of Forest Road 6 and Route 66 (east of the pavement), go north about 2 miles and then east 2.3 miles on the abandoned railroad track alignment to an abandoned tunnel which is in great shape. There is some graffiti and evidence of beer parties, but worth the trip. It is a single lane road and tight to turn around, short wheel base vehicles only. More detailed directions at the visitor center in Ashfork.

Abandoned railroad tunnel (east side) between Williams & Ashfork, Arizona

The next day we drove the Interstate into Flagstaff and followed the road to the center of town. There are some great old motels and restaurants here. We went to the Museum Club hoping for lunch (they don’t serve), but had a good look around since it was open for drinking and pool playing.

What a great place! I was wishing I could be there at night for a little fun and dancing. We ended up eating at the HoJo next door, the Crown Railroad Cafe. They have a great model train running on a track above head. They are known for their 66 kinds of omelettes, the sandwiches were pretty good too. There is a Route 66 Bar and Grill near the Harley-Davidson shop (west of town) that looked like a great place to go, unfortunately we had already taken care of our hunger. There are some great machines at the shop. Made me long for the rumble between my legs, the wind in my hair, and even the bugs in my teeth.

From Flagstaff we headed west back to Williams via Bellemont and Parks on the old road. Pretty interesting section to travel. We walked the section up to the old Spring house, nice walk. Thought we had found some land to buy, upon checking it out were sad to say it was not in our price range. Our hope is to find someplace to call home along Route 66, so we can become more involved in the preservation and such.

We spent one day wandering around Williams. We had lunch at Rod’s Steak House, good food and prices. We decided to eat out again that night and went to Pancho McGillicuddy’s, good atmosphere and burritos. Go hungry. Being so close, of course, we had to go to the Grand Canyon. It is such a beautiful place with spectacular views. I want to have my ashes scattered here. The serenity of the place was a bit spoiled by all the tourists there, usually this time of year there are hardly any. Worth the trip, regardless. We finally caught up with Paul Taylor, publisher of the Route 66 magazine. He is a very friendly guy, as is his wife, Sandi, and their daughter, Jessi. We had a great visit; the store is coming along nicely. The whole town is gearing up for April 25th, the grand opening of the magazine and a prelude to the Fun Run. There will be a sock hop at Twisters, complete with Elvis’ tour bus. Should be fun.

Bob Moore, publisher, “Mother Road Journal” with one of his writers, guess who?

(This is exactly how Cheryl captioned the photo in 1997, she was so excited.)

We have been trying to stay at RV parks that we don’t usually stay at, this time we picked the Meteor Crater RV Park. We traveled the road into Flagstaff, hitting all stops in between. We made a side trip to Black Canyon. Very interesting stop. If you hike down to the ruins, beware, there are 240 steps that drop 185 feet (thankfully not at once). It’s amazing to see how people lived so many years ago. We really wanted to explore Two Guns, being Easter weekend, it’s not surprising that we couldn’t find anyone to guide us in. We were not the only people trying to explore, 4 cars came while we were there. A guide is now required. It looks as if they may be trying to spruce up the old place, looked as if MOUNTAIN LIONS had been repainted. There’s a great old bridge you can walk on in Winona.

Old bridge - Winona, Arizona (San Francisco Peaks in background)

The next day we drove the interstate to Geronimo to begin our journey west. The trading post here has some neat things, but is very expensive. We had planned on stopping at the Jackrabbit, but it was closed, Easter Sunday. There is a great stretch of road that runs from exit 264 (Hibbard Road) into Winslow, it is no longer possible to travel the whole length due to the bridge being blocked off. There are signs at each end advising that the road is closed. We drove down to the bridge and walked on it. It’s in good shape except for gaps in most of the joints. In Winslow we found most things closed, which we had anticipated.

We had an early dinner at the Falcon restaurant. Earl had been saving up for the chicken fried steak, the best according to him, I had roasted spring chicken. As usual, it was great. We were hoping to catch up with our friend Pete, but he was not there at the time, we’ll be back. Pete is such a joy to chat with. We tried to stop at Meteor City, but it too was closed. Bob Waldmire has started to paint the longest map of Route 66 here; it’ll look pretty good when finished.