Day 2 (10/16) Flagstaff to Amarillo (609 miles)

In the morning, got to see what Flagstaff looked like in daylight. Lots of tall pine trees, very hilly (someday we'd like to see it again, as a prelude to visiting the Grand Canyon, a very short distance away). And sleet and rain pelting us as we ran into a Walmart and a grocery store to stock up on some picnic supplies (more apples, paper towels and plastic containers). We also took the time to have a nice leisurely breakfast downtown on San Francisco Street. By day's end we would really wish we had gotten an earlier start, but having a good breakfast and not killing ourselves getting up early every day was kind of important to us.





Mine was called 'Over the Rainbow', a scattering of fruit over strawberry filled crepes with champagne sabayon sauce. Bryan's was chicken hash made with sweet potatoes. Both copy-worthy ideas, and enjoyed with plenty of hot coffee in a charming brick wall/wood floor downtown cafe.



Shortly after leaving Flagstaff behind and outrunning the squalls of sleet, rain and snow, we pulled over to take a pic of the rainbow behind us.



Then we spent an hour or so at Meteor Crater. It was only 6 miles south of I-40, so why not? How many times would we be through this area to see it? We took a brief tour of the museum and poked around the gift shop and even found a few gifts for the kids (they met the criteria that they hardly took up any space).

Now that we've seen it, we don't need to pay the $15 admission fee to get in again. It's a big hole in the ground. A really big hole in the ground. Still it's interesting to think about the history of it and what the area must have looked like before a 150-foot chunk of iron slammed into the ground about 50,000 years ago. It kind of gave me the heebie-jeebies thinking 'what if this happened NOW?'

The pic doesn't give any indication of the ice cold cheek-flapping wind we were standing in at the crater rim. It was COLD and WINDY. It was the first of several days of me being dressed inappropriately. I really thought it would be warmer.

After that, it was time to make some tracks. We stopped for lunch at the Petrified Forest visitors' center, but we decided we didn't want to take the time to see that. We sliced up green apples, brie and apricot Stilton cheeses in the cab of the truck and munched on those while driving. The wind was absolutely buffeting the truck whether it was standing still or driving, so it wasn't nice to be outside.

We drove through more desolate areas of northern Arizona and New Mexico. Areas you do not want to have a breakdown or run out of gas. There is nothing but the road. I mean NOTHING. Maybe some railroad tracks. I thought the drive between San Diego and Tucson was desolate until I saw this country. I imagine these places look pretty much like they did a thousand years ago, or even more. We speculated again what the first white settlers must have thought while going through here. Rock buttes and scrub as far as the eye can see.

Albuquerque was the biggest city we drove through. It was kind of getting around rush hour, so I had a lot more traffic to deal with. It would be nice to go back and see the Balloon Festival sometime. That had taken place the weekend before.

It didn't occur to us we'd be going through not one, but two time zones that day. So we lost two hours. We got so screwed. Now instead of 7pm, it's now suddenly 8 pm. Around dark, Bryan had the good idea to call ahead to Big Texan steakhouse, our planned restaurant to see what time they closed. 1030. That gave us plenty of time. Or so we thought. That was until we ran into a traffic jam somewhere in the middle of nowhere west of Amarillo. There was some kind of construction going on because there was only 1 lane each direction. All the westbound traffic was moving just fine and dandy on the other side of the cement barrier. Our side? A complete standstill. And no way to see around the curve to get a clue what was going on.

We now have two hungry, tired adults (one with a very full bladder), a restless cat and no sign of traffic moving. Add to that a dangerously low gas tank. A couple of apples and hurried dash to the high grass at the side of the highway took care of a few immediate needs. Opening a stinky can of cat food didn't help at all. Ollie didn't eat any of it anyway, and an open can of stinky cat food in a small truck cab...not a good idea. Especially when opening the windows only lets in the strong perfume of cattle manure.

When traffic finally started moving again, we saw no sign of what the holdup had been. And as soon as we got both lanes back again, I put the pedal to the metal. We made a pit-stop like gas fill-up on the outer edges of Amarillo and continued on. Big Texan and our target Motel 6 was on the east side of town, so if there was anything of interest to see in the dark in downtown Amarillo, it went by in a blur, because it was 2210 and by God, we were eating steak dinner at Big Texan if I had anything to say about the matter. Cadillac Ranch was left behind somewhere in the darkness. It had been a possible photo stop for us to check out, but there was no way we were going to backtrack 15 miles to see it the next day.

We made it. I ran up the steps to the porch and went in while Bryan secured Oliver and the truck. A friendly bartender directed me past the giant tourist-attraction rocking chair and slot machines to the hostess stand and we were seated for dinner 10 minutes before the placed closed for the night. This became the pattern we followed for the next two nights (blowing into restaurants 10 minutes before they closed).





Not the best steak in the world, but it was very good, along with all the side dishes. And the beer we had with it. The place had an unbelievable amount of stuffed animal heads and wild West kitsch. Waitresses dressed in denim shorts and cowboy hats, the whole deal. It was everything we could have hoped for. We saw waitresses setting up buffet tables for breakfast the next day, so we decided we had to come back and eat the next morning.

After dinner, we followed the now standard check-in procedure at Motel 6 at the plexiglass-sealed night desk, and with great relief, called it a day.