Flagstaff

We left our Wigwam motel and headed west around 7am. After about a half hours ride we pulled into Winslow for breakfast. I recommend the Falcon Diner – a great feed to set you up for the days ride. I had cornbeef hash, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and lashings of toast and strong coffee! Tracee had the pancakes which also got her seal of approval. There was another reason for calling into this historic Route 66 town. I am a big fan of the Eagles band and Winslow inspired a legendary verse in one of their most popular songs - ‘Take it Easy’, so I just had to get my photo taken ‘Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona….’! The town has done it well, there is actually a corner in downtown Winslow (along Route 66) dedicated to the famous song. There is even a flat-bed Ford parked at the curb!

After Winslow we continued west another half an hour and then detoured south for about 10kms to another famous landmark – the Meteor Crater. I had seen pictures of this massive hole in the ground, but to see it for real is ‘mind blowing’ – to imagine the power and impact required from a giant rock falling from space to create a hole in the earth that is 700 feet deep, 4000 feet across and about 2.5 miles around its perimeter. The scientific ‘boffins’ estimate that this hole required a meteorite about 150 feet across, weighing several hundred thousand tons, traveling at 26,000 miles per hour, generating an explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT!

We made a fuel stop before rejoining the highway and then rode for another half hour before detouring north up Hwy 64. We rode for about an hour and stopped at Tusayan for lunch. It was only another few kilometres further north and we were at the Grand Canyon. We visited here during our 2010 tour and had it on our ‘wish list’ to come back. Like the Meteor Crater, photos do not do the Grand Canyon justice. To stand close to the rim of the viewing areas and look at a landscape of deep canyons, variety of colours and rock formations as far as the horizon, has to be seen in person to be appreciated. 

We had been experiencing cooler (but pleasant) riding conditions today, with the odd shower of rain. We soon dried out in between showers. However, at the Grand Canyon a thunder and lightning storm was starting to ‘fire up’ close to where we were, so we decided to jump back on the bike and make our way to Flagstaff - our stop for the day.