Day 4, Flagstaff Trip

We did manage to make it to Flagstaff and check-in at 4:00 today - it was pretty hard stretching the 140 miles into a many-hour drive. We started with the Powerhouse Museum in Kingman and had to weave amongst the bikers and Special Car Show people and vehicles sharing the parking lot - another stress time for Ruthi (who doesn't like crowds).

The museum was great (once inside and up the stairs) - depicting the early days of the area, the wagon train travails, the depression era migration (Grapes of Wrath) by truck, and the 1950's Studebaker version of taking the family via Route 66. There were displays of 1950's diners and gas stations - made me think of how good it was to grow up in those days.

The GPS told us we'd be in Flagstaff by 1:00 so we decided to chance the bikers taking Route 66 to Seligman - I think most were already in Kingman - and it was nowhere near the beauty and enchantment of the previous segment (thus the lack of stress - there's always a tradeoff, somebody once said). But it was far more pleasant than the stretches on the Interstate.

We were up to arriving at 3:00 so we stopped in Williams (we'd enjoyed staying there one other trip) and walked the streets. There at least it seemed their economy was doing better (not quite as many closed businesses as I recalled) but still sad.

Then we were up to 3:59 - yippee!!! So back to I-40 and we arrived at our location in the nick of time (just kidding).

We have a "one bedroom deluxe" accommodating 4 people so Steve and Lorelyn will join us for a couple of days on their way to Steve's Plein Air painting class in Utah. Should be fun.

This condo has a wide screen TV and a Ruthi-favored fireplace (on/off switch), washer/dryer, full kitchen with dishwasher, whirlpool tub, private balcony and view of pines.

More later...