BACK TO ROUTE 66

Leaving the Grand Canyon, we rejoined the Route 66 and made Flagstaff the first stop. Karen and I had stopped here on our trip two years ago, where Karen had sampled the delightful Brown Cow beverage (half/half coke and ice cream). Chloe's desire was to also try this, so we stopped at the Galaxy, a very authentic 50's style diner.






This time Karen wasn't game to give the Brown Cow another go, deciding once in a lifetime would suffice! However, Chloe had waited too long not to take one for the team, as she puts it.





Leaving Flagstaff, Route 66 winds its way along the I-40, often switching from one side of the interstate to the other, mostly to call in at small forgotten towns, many of them now nothing more than ghost towns.

Another relic of a bygone era

One town still tries to push itself onto the interstate trade. For example the "World Famous" Falcon Restaurant is the highlight here!

Presently, we arrived at a small town called Winslow. At this point I need to digress and fill readers in on the famous (?) song written by Bobby Troupe sometime back in the 1940's, and regurgitated by Chuck Berry, amongst others in the 1950's. The song was written long before the interstate system was built, and was supposed to convey some feeling to Americans leaving the east to head to the rich state of California to seek their fortunes.

The song (haha! I've waited years to be able to say this) goes something like this:-

Well if you ever planned to motor west

Jack, take my way, that's the highway, that's the best

Get your kicks on Route 66



Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.

More than 2000 miles all the way

Get your kicks on Route 66



Well it goes from St. Louis down from Missouri

Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty

You'll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico

Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona

Kingsman, Barstow, San Bernardino



Would you get hip to this kindly tip And take that California trip?

Get your kicks on Route 66

Well get your kicks on Route 66



Winslow, unfortunately, didn't get a mention in Bobby Troupe's classic song, but about a generation later, it achieved its 15 minutes of fame by getting a line in The Eagle's classic Take it Easy



Well, I'm a standing on a corner

in Winslow, Arizona

and such a fine sight to see

It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed

Ford slowin' down to take a look at me

Come on, baby, don't say maybe

I gotta know if your sweet love is

gonna save me

We may lose and we may win though

we will never be here again

so open up, I'm climbin' in,

so take it easy



Sadly, yet another generation later, (and way beyond its 15 minute limit) that one line in the song is what Winslow, Arizona today survives on. Four souvenir shops have got every corner stitched up, and walking past the one on the South West corner, an infra-red beam is broken which causes that one verse to be repeated, very loudly, about six times over!

The 'corner' has been preserved for posterity, with a local owner (we think the whole town was owned by the one family) donating it to the 'people'. Even a flat-bed Ford is parked conspicuously nearby, although there's no sign of the girl!

After taking in the wonderful delights of Winslow, we headed to Gallup, crossing the state border into New Mexico. Although we stayed at the Motel 6 in Gallup, Karen and I did take time to have a few drinks at the beautifully preserved El Rancho Inn, another favourite haunt of hollywood stars in days gone by