Day 3: Standing on a Crater in Winslow, Arizona

Today was our longest day on the road, which was partially remedied by the fact that we crossed two time zones (sort of). We left Shamrock around 9:30 and it didn’t take us too long to reach New Mexico and Mountain Time.

The landscape soon gave way to wide-open vistas of rocks, plateaus, desert, and tumbleweeds. The towns got further and further apart. And smaller.

We took a quick detour through Tucumcari, where we’d spent the night 18 years ago on our first cross-country trip. The main road is part of historic Route 66, so it was cool seeing some of the old motels and shops, some of which are still open. Others the ghosts of days long past.

We sort of crossed another time zone when we reached Arizona. Technically, it’s still Mountain Time, but they don’t practice Daylight Savings Time, so right now they’re the same as Pacific. Therefore, when we actually change time zones again tomorrow (Pacific), the time will still be the same.

Even after we crossed into Arizona, we still had many hours of driving to go. Marsha contemplated driving up to the Grand Canyon for dinner at the El Tovar, but it’s 90 minutes in the wrong direction. And they didn’t have any tables available until after 9:00 pm. Now she’s thinking about going there tomorrow instead of straight to LA. So much for the shorter drive tomorrow.

We were almost to Flagstaff when we kept seeing billboard after billboard for Meteor Crater, which is “the largest and best preserved meteorite crater in the world.” We were a little tired after all that driving, but decided to stop anyway. Since our goal is to just get to LA by Friday, we haven’t taken much time for sightseeing and diversions. So, we stopped to check out Meteor Crater.

They have a great little museum all about meteors, how the crater was actually determined to be from a meteor impact (and not a volcanic crater), and how they’ve studied it and used the data to identify other meteor impact craters. And reclassify some that were actually volcanic.

After we checked into the hotel (the nicest Hampton Inn we’ve ever seen; it reminds us of the Wilderness Lodge) and then drove to downtown Flagstaff for dinner. The main road there is also a part of historic Route 66, but the complete opposite of Tucumcari. It’s a thriving thoroughfare with a good selection of old motels still in business, mixed in with chain restaurants, a giant Barnes & Noble, and more.

We loved downtown Flagstaff, which is very quaint and filled with lots of great shops and restaurants. We had an excellent dinner at The Market Place, then checked out an old historic hotel (also a restaurant and bar) from the late 1800s that still had much of its original charm.

The thing that really surprised us, though, was the temperature. It’s been averaging about 99 degrees every day (it’s a dry heat), and cooling down just enough at night to be comfortable. But Flagstaff was borderline chilly. It had dropped to the mid-70s. Warm, but just barely. Especially after we’ve been sweating all day.

Tomorrow is the final leg! We’ll see if it involves a big detour or not.

Day 2: The Stars at Night Are Big and Bright

We are officially halfway across the country!

This morning we were a little slower getting up than we’d planned. We’d thought about going by the giant pyramid, but spent too much time looking up Disneyland tickets (next week!), and left the hotel later than we’d planned.

Leaving Memphis, we stopped for breakfast at McDonalds and were surprised to find one of the early ones with the arch built into the building. The inside was completely modern, but the outside was so cool I had to get out and take a picture. I kept expecting Michael Keaton to run out and urge me to buy a milkshake.

Traffic today went from good to great to nonexistent. Mostly just us and a lot of trucks. Today was our only four state day. We started in Tennessee (just barely), then drove through Arkansas where we experienced our only hiccup. I was in the wrong lane when the highway split in Little Rock and couldn’t get over because of the trucks. We went off in the wrong direction and had to backtrack a bit to get back on I-40. It was rather confusing, so thank goodness for GPS!

The rest of the day was smooth sailing. We marveled at the many windmills in Oklahoma (as we always do in this part of the country). Lots of flat farmland and the occasional hill. Just beautiful.

Last cross-country trip I noted in which states the farmers rolled their hay as opposed to baling it in rectangular blocks. Thus far, I’ve only seen rolls. But I also haven’t been driving the whole time either, which feels odd. Managed to work a full day again, though we hit our first patch of poor cell service. Tomorrow I’m planning some tasks that don’t require internet.

Our stop for the night was Shamrock, Texas. We’d thought about going to Amarillo, but thought it might be too far. Probably not, but we were still ready to stop for the night. We’d wanted to eat when we got here (steak in Texas!), but didn’t want to eat that late, so we just ran through Taco Bell. Not quite the same thing.

The billboards for Shamrock boasted their link to the movies (Cast Away), so we looked up their most famous landmark, the U-Drop Inn, which is a historic landmark from Route 66 and the inspiration for a building in Cars. It used to be a gas station and cafe (sadly, no longer an actual cafe), and was lovingly restored to be a visitor’s center. What I thought was most interesting was that they had old-fashioned gas pumps on one side (like the cafe, just for show) and Tesla charging stations on the other. How times have changed.

We’d rerouted our trip to the hotel just to see it. Turns out it was right next door to our hotel. We could have walked!