Monday, October 7th, we had time to sleep in a bit. We checked out of the most awful hotel ever. The maintenance man was at the office when I turned our key and the hairdryer and got a receipt. The front desk clerk who checked me in two days prior was at the desk. I assured him his night clerk and the maintenance man were valuable employees and both helped us. I assured him he should appreciate these two men and keep them well treated.
Claude got us on I-40 going west. We drove thru Carl's Jr at the Love's Travel Plaza for a biscuit for breakfast and we were off toward Holbook, Arizona.
We made a stop in Grant's, New Mexico to take a picture of the Buick in a giant Route 66 logo. A car was in the Arch already. I asked the couple if they wanted me to take their picture with their car. The man handed me his camera and spoke with a very heavy Spanish accent. Their license plate was from Texas. I asked if they were from Texas. She told me the were from Spain. They went to New York City first. Then Chicago and were driving Route 66 to California. You meet nice people when you travel.
Next to the park was a post office. Claude parked under a shade tree while I finished our post cards. Then got them in the mail. Sitting under that shade tree with a lovely breeze was delightful. Absolutely delightful.
Westward we drove to find the Continental Divide.
In my mind, we would be in a mountain pass with a pullover and a sign or Monument. Not so. As you get to the exit for Thoreau, New Mexico, there is a sign on I-40 alerting you that the Continental Divide is a mile ahead. We took the exit and got on Route 66 and back-tracked a bit to a very non-descript monument. It explained we were 7295 feet high. At this point, all water falling on the west side flows to the Pacific, while all water falling on the east side flows to the Atlantic. There you have it.
I noted Route 66 highway signs with New Mexico on them. Claude saw one and pulled up for me to get a picture. This may very well be my favorite shot of the Route 66 Highway signs ever!
Gallop, New Mexico was our next stop to see the El Rancho Hotel.
This is an old attraction that was a hangout for stars in its heyday. We understood the lobby had great memorabilia to see. Inside we went.
I loved this wall mural with the history of this area.
The guest rooms all have names of movie stars.
Upstairs was a four wall gallery of signed head shots of stars thanking the owners. I loved the chair made out of steer horns!
As we entered Arizona, I realized my mistake. We would change time zones again. Arizona does not recognize Daylight Savings Time. We were not sure what time it would be. We'll, they are the same time ad Pacific Time is now. We had an extra hour in this day. We were now 3 hours earlier than Kentucky time. We were headed to Holbrook and there is nothing there.
We decided to drive on to Geronimo's Trading Post to see the World's Largest Petrified Tree. There was a tour bus in the parking lot. These people were all from Italy! It turned our Geronimo's was closed. We had hoped to kill some time shopping in Geronimo's. We did get some fun pictures. Petrified trees lined some walkways. Neat rock formations above and behind the building. A little desert plant in bloom. It was a nice stop but we would have enjoyed going inside. Lots of these places close on Monday because they are open Saturday and Sunday. Monday and sometimes Tuesday become their weekend.
Back to Holbrook to see if we could check in an hour early. We past the Wigwam Village. I had hoped we could spend the night here. Alas, they were completely sold out. The very first Wigwam Village was built in Cave City, Kentucky. It is still there. We might have to try that one out for fun.
The lady at the desk assured me it was no problem. They start checkin at 1pm, not 3pm. Yeah!!
We went to Butterfield Stage Co. Steakhouse for dinner. I had spaghetti. It tasted like it was made from fresh tomatoes. So yummy. Claude enjoyed a nice steak,
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