Route 66 2015

Day 14: Albuquerque (New Mexico) – Holbrook (Arizona)

We had planned a nice hike for today too. We didn’t follow Route 66 entirely between Albuquerque and Gallup. We made a detour via El Morro National Monument. This was an important place in the history of the USA. There is a pond at the base of the rock. So people migrating to the west knew there would be water. The indians already came here in the 1200’s. The rocks at the base are filled with petroglyphs and texts.

We hiked the trail that took us to the top of the rock. The park ranger, Jaremy Maybee, told us to follow the trail in reverse order. There was bad weather heading towards us and this way we would get to the ruins on the top the fastet, and back down should it start to rain. We were lucky, no rain! We could hike the whole trail.

On the top we had an amazing view of the surrounding area. The park isn’t very known, but definitely worth visiting when travelling through New Mexico.

By the time we were back at the car it was already 1pm, and we were hungry. We meant to stop in the next town for lunch, but there was only one town before we reached Gallup and there was no place to eat.. So we continued to Gallup, where we had lunch around 2.15pm.

In Gallup we stopped at the El Rancho hotel. This hotel is a classic along Route 66. Many western actors stayed here when they were shooting movies in the surroundings. A little further we saw a 3rd Muffler Man. This giant didn’t have anything in it’s hands and stood on top of a car shop.

We didn’t have planned stops between Gallup and Holbrook, since we had already visited Petrified Forest last year. We tried to follow the original Route 66, but for the last miles we had to take the interstate before arriving at Best Western Arizonian Inn.

Day 15: Holbrook (Arizona) – Needles (Californië)

The first day we didn’t need our sunglasses. When we went to the restaurant for breakfast it was raining a little bit, but when we were ready to go the rain stopped. First stop was just a few hundred meter further, the Wigwam Motel.

We had lunch in an authentic diner in Williams. When we started driving again, it was raining.

It was still raining when we arrived in Seligman. So we just made a quick stop for photos and some souvenirs. We were lucky and met the legendary Angel Delgadillo in his barbershop. 

The stretch of Route 66 between Seligman and Kingman is Jelle’s favorite part off Route 66! 140km of relaxed driving.

The road from Kingman to Oatman, a winding mountain road, is also fun to drive, at least when it isn’t raining.. Rain was pouring down and we could see lighting on the horizon. Luckily it stopped raining halfway up the mountain. It was dry when we arrived in Oatman. In this authentic western town burrows roam the streets. They are the offsprings of the burrows that were used in the mines. When the mines were closed, the burrows were released on the mountain.

Suddenly all shops started closing. In one store they told us that a thunderstorm was coming. We still had to drive some kilometers to Needles, so we decided to leave Oatman and start driving. The drive from Oatman to the interstate seemed to last forever. Lighting was coming close, too close.. Jelle also received a warning for floods on his cellphone. And yes, we already saw a lot of warning signs saying “Flash Floods”! We were very happy when we finally reached our hotel, Best Western Colorado River Inn.

By the time we had checked in and put everything in our room, the rain stopped. Just in time, because we were going to Laughlin. This is a mini Las Vegas. We went to the Aquarius Resort. Once inside the resort it is just the same as Las Vegas, an enormous casino!