We stopped in Navajo and tried to find the old Navajo Motel that 1 have a postcard of. It’s no longer there, it has been razed some time back. The foundations remain next to the new Texaco station. Too bad, it was a nice looking motel. Our next exit was Hwy 191 towards Chambers. We headed north and caught the road and headed east again towards Sanders. Here we tried, in vain, to find the old Log Cabin Trading Post that I have a postcard of.

LOG CABIN TRADING POST - Sanders, Arizona
40 miles west of Gallup, New Mexico on Highway 66
Entering Navajo Reservation

We crossed under the freeway and headed south. Here we checked out a great old 1923 two pony bridge. This bridge crosses the Rio Puerco. The road continues on for about twelve and half miles, it is dirt and looks like a very interesting stretch to follow. There were a couple of local vehicles speeding down this road and we didn’t want to chance any rock chips so we will have to save this for another time. We can go further down the freeway and see where this road comes out though. So this is what we did. We exited at Allantown Road and turned south. Another great old bridge here. Upon closer inspection we can see why they built a new bridge and closed this one from 1923. There are wooden planks across the top and they are rotting and falling through. Back to the freeway to Hawthorne Road where we turned south and then east following the old road all the way to Lupton. Here we crossed under the freeway to where all the Indian tourist stuff is. It was time to head for home. We did stop at the Painted Desert on the way. It was close to closing so we didn’t tour the whole park. Really wanted to check out the Painted Desert Inn, but it was closed.


Happy Easter! Today we’re treating ourselves to brunch at the restored La Posada Hotel in Winslow AZ. We will eat in the Turquoise Room. Brunch is served buffet style and has a very wide assortment of food. The main meat is your choice of salmon, spring lamb, ham or prime rib. The chef here is wonderful! The food was scrumptious!

So glad we did this. It’s a little pricey but you get plenty for your money. Winslow really needed a nice restaurant. We were so full that we had to walk around the grounds to let our food settle. Noticed for the first time that there are tennis courts on the property, not used though. They are currently working on the grounds and the tulips and iris are in full bloom, looks great. We checked out the depot and just wandered around for some time. We then cruised through town. All the shops and restaurants along Route 66 were closed, really quiet.

La Posada Hotel - Winslow, Arizona (This was without a doubt the best Easter Cheryl and I ever spent together. Very seldom did we dress up, but did on that day.)

We headed out of town and stopped at the Jackrabbit trading post, here It Is! Being Easter it was also closed. Can’t blame them, they have small kids and they were out enjoying the day of fun. We continued eastward into Joseph City. We wanted to check out Ella’s Frontier and see how it was holding up. Not too bad. Someone has put a bunch of clothing and trash inside, maybe a homeless person has taken up residency. The walls are starting to lean. The campground next door is a sad reminder of a busier season. It would take quite a bit to get this place up and going. We explored some more in town and then headed back to Holbrook. Here we took my postcards and went hunting. Found quite a few of the old places but many are gone. Tomorrow we will move to the Meteor Crater RV Park.

We got set up in camp and tried to figure out what we were going to do. Decided to make it a short day today. We cruised over to the Meteor Crater Observatory for some photos. The road over to here is deteriorating more each time we visit here. Then we headed up to the Meteor Crater. We haven’t been there for quite some time and decided to do it again. It’s still a pretty interesting place. Seemed to us there was a new viewing platform, could be wrong. We spent a couple of hours there and then went home.

Next day we headed into Winslow. We had two goals today, look up a couple of friends and locate some old postcard buildings. We decided to do our sleuthing before seeing the friends. We had a bit of luck but needed some help. This is where one of the friends came in. We called our good friend Pete Krestedemas, he used to own and operate the Falcon restaurant. Which is where we met him, even though it is closed. We had a great visit and Pete told us some great news. The Falcon is being reborn! We met the new owners and let me say that they will be a welcome addition to the road. They are in the process of cleaning the place and doing a bit of remodeling. They have previous experience in the business and have an American/Mexican menu planned. They hope to be opened the first part of May. Sure do wish we were going to be able to get there when they do. Guess we’ll have to wait until next year. Pete is extremely happy about this. While we were there his brothers George and Jim came in to see how things were progressing. These are such nice folks. Showed them my postcards and they filled in the blanks on my missing motels. Just made our day to be able to visit with Pete.

We checked out the rest of the other motels I wanted to locate and then went to visit our next friend, Diane Patterson. Diane owns the Roadworks store across the street from the “Standin on the Corner” park. She’ll usually play some Eagles tunes when she sees folks in the park. She has a really great selection of stuff in her store, very reasonable prices too. We picked up a few trinkets for relatives. Then I spotted my birthday present. A shiny silver charm bracelet. It’s pretty’ cool. What a great day!

We moved from the Meteor Crater RV Park back to Williams. We are once again at the Railside RV Park with an instant phone hookup. We’ve been laying low and getting caught up on paperwork. We’ve been to Flagstaff a couple of times and have cruised on Route 66 then, we will do some serious exploration there on Sunday.

Today we went looking around Williams. We were in search of motels and businesses that I have postcards of. We checked out a few places and then went into Twisters for a cherry coke; they make a mean one here. Our friend, Dave Pouquette, was here and we visited with him for a bit. Showed him my postcards since he’s lived here most of his life. He helped me by telling me which cards were what now. It was a great day of then and now. Williams has not torn down hardly any of their old motels or businesses. Only two motels have been razed. Tomorrow we will head for the Canyon.

Grand Motel - Williams, Arizona

Old Sun Dial Motel - Williams, Arizona