Off Roading

After another early start we let luxury behind and headed to the centre of Santa Fe in search of breakfast. We parked by coincidence at the visitors centre for Santa Fe. The boys checked with them about parking and about a very early part of route 66 that we wanted to find after Ben had seen it on an App he had downloaded.

We headed to Starbucks for coffee and a breakfast roll and then did some shopping in the lovely quirky shops around the square. Then came the real adventure, after reading abut this early part of route 66 it advised that you needed a 4x4 and that you may need to get out and place boulders in some of the ruts to allow the car to get over them. Well we had a 4x4 so we thought we would give it a try, the road started off ok and then became a dirt track. There was a local man on the side of the road who waved in hindsight he was probably telling us to not go any further you stupid tourists! Before we knew it, it had turned to a mountain pass that had huge ruts in it and massive boulders all over the place. We ended up stopping and agreeing that it was stupid to go any further I certainly didn’t fancy the call to the rescue people when we got stuck. So dad had to reverse the car down said mountain track while mum sobbed in the back thinking we were going to die! As you can tell we didn’t but I think we were all pleased to be back on the main road.

Next stop Gallup and to be more precise McDonalds for lunch. We then hit the shops, lots of shops very similar selling jewelry, beads, stones etc. By this point we were on a mission to get to the petrified forest before it closed at 6pm. We raced down interstate 40 and made it in plenty of time and at about 4pm (the clocks went back an hour which we didn’t realize when we were rushing!) we arrived. We made our way through and it was spectacular we even got to see sunset throughout the park.

Now in darkness we head to Holbrook the home of the Cozy Cones or Wigwam Motel whichever you prefer. Mum had been dreading this night from the start. Cone number 7 was ours, novelty doesn’t event describe what it was like to sleep in a concrete wigwam! We had dinner in Joe and Aggies café on historic 66 and then turned in for the night, tomorrow is a  busy day we’ll be standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, seeing the Grand Canyon and heading to Laughlin. 

Chillies at Santa Fe

The off roaring

The painted desert 

A piece of petrified wood 

Wigwam motel (cozy cones)