Route66: Arizona

Albuquerque, NM – nowhere, NM – Holbrook, AZ – Flagstaff, AZ – Prescott Valley, AZ – Phoenix, AZ

Waking up next to the Rio Grande in Albuquerque. A quick dip in the pool at 9am at 25C degrees.

Cruising through the desert along canyons and passing by dust devils. The landscape is breathtaking. Before we are leaving New Mexico a little more serious off-roading on pre-1937 Route66… it feels once more like being in the middle of nowhere: especially, when the only road is all of a sudden blocked by dirt. Bummer.

Also the cows were wondering… what the hell is going on…

A little deeper in the desert, more off-road and trying to avoid going through Native American villages… uff, made it. We are seeing asphalt again. Back on track.

Seeing many trains with hundreds of wagons & containers being pulled by 4 or more locomotives, carrying all kind of things from west to east.

Passing lava fields, the Red Rock State Park and the Continental divide.

Next stop: Arizona. More Wild West and the Navajo country.

The Painted Desert & Petrified Forest is the only national park in the country with a portion of Route66 within its boundaries.

The process of the fossil tree started about 270mio years ago!

Sleeping in a Tipi, a hotel chain set up in the 30s. Incidentally, the rooms are shaped like tipis, not wigwams.

Wild West in Holbrook: „Bucket of Blood Street“! I can only imagine what happened here back in 1887… cowboys fighting in a saloon. 2 Mexicans getting shot… They are looking for a new saloon owner – anyone interested?

A quick stop in Flagstaff before leaving the classic Route66 for visiting our dear friends, who moved to Arizona.

At 7,000 ft (2100m) elevation Flagstaff is the highest city in Arizona and experiences all four seasons. Flagstaff gets around 100 inches of snow per year, making it one of the snowiest cities in America. We drove alle the way up to snowball, one of the famous ski resorts. Nice, green & refreshing up there.

Expect the unexpected… What a scenic curvy drive. Amazing! We haven’t seen that much green in days… cannot get enough of it. Those views!

Twice today above 7000 ft. So many beautiful hair pin curves. First up, later down. Wow! Dreaming of sitting on a motorbike… excellent curves and good practice.

A modern car for a change: Dodge Challenger – still my favorite car. Look at the cool design.

Seeing our friends after a very long time again. Having dinner in a saloon who’s “pleasing Americas toughest customers” (including us. Lol) on the Whiskey Road. Super delicious and such a fun night.

A very good reason for a little detour of Route66 ♥️

Tracing my German great aunt Ilse who immigrated in the 60s to the USA and lived in Prescott, Arizona. She already knew many years ago that driving 40mi for the best steak is absolutely worth it. It’s in the genes. Haha.

Moving south by adding another off-Route66 destination: Phoenix. It’s getting hot in here. 4am: 33C degrees. 3pm: 46C degrees. That’s the first time I’m grabbing ice for my coke in the hotel!

Cactus everywhere. Cactus with arms are likely 50-70 years old. At least one of us can keep up with the heat.

Trying to escape the hot air with a sunrise flight. The flight a success. Escaping the heat not so much.

360degree view of Arizonas mountains. Stunning.

6:24am: a survivor toast in the dessert after successful landing.

We are less than 500km away from the Mexican border.

The west is wild! We are wowed by Arizona’s landscape. Incredible and hard to believe it’s true what we have been seeing in the past couple of days! Those colors… orange, brown, green, and the daily blue sky… it’s unreal!

Day 12 on our road trip and we are loving it. We’ve done about ~3500km and another time shift. We are now on Pacific time. That’s one hour more adventure. Yeah!