Day Five on IDroveTheMotherRoadRoute66

Last Updated: May 11, 2024.

Yesterday was a long day on The Mother Road.

Your peripatetic host Buzze A. Long was up early and pushed West on I-40 toward #Route66 in

Grants, NM.

Taking the east exit off I-40, I came into town while it is still twilight. Grants has a nickname, Uranium City, but maybe they don’t emphasize it anymore. I look for the Uranium Cafe. Is it still here? They had some good Mexican food. Mexican food in New Mexico has its own taste, different from what you get anywhere else, including Old Mexico.

Grants is pretty quiet so I have good opportunities to take some pix, do a u-ey, take more pix. I stop at a fast food on the west end of town and attempt internet access.

Nothin’ doin’. Like the last few places, can’t get on. However, I DO get a refill on hot tea. The employees are efficient and Happy Happy at this fast food.

Old Route 66 flows west through Milan. The current route number is NM122. I follow it for a few miles west of town but it appears to veer away so I come back to I-40 and head West to the

Thoreau, NM

exit. Then I find out that

Old Route 66 / NM122

is here, I could have traveled the whole way on it instead. Bummer, it looks like some nice country on that road. Next Time. The elevation here at TH’ROO is 7200 feet.

Forty-five feet later, it’s

Up and Over The Continental Divide!

Back on I-40, I headed West. Here’s a

Buzze Tip:

Westbound, get off at Iyanbito

to follow

Old Route 66 West to Gallup.

As I am going to meet my friend for lunch in Gallup, I kill some time taking pictures

and trying to get on the internet at a fast food on the west end.  No go. One thing serendipitous about Gallup is that as I wander east & west, I spy him off in the distance. Not my friend, but a

Route 66 Muffler Man!

I park and get some Muffler Man pix, then up 491 for my lunch rendezvous. We catch up on some of the gossip around Gallup then it is time to head West again. Picking up I-40, I’m off toward the Arizona Border.

I was never so glad to see the Arizona Border in my life! I’ve lived here for quite a few years now and it is always a good feeling to get back on my Native Soil. I-40 passes through the Petrified Forest as it heads west. I’ve been to it a few times so I take the Apache Blvd Route 66 exit on the east end of

Holbrook, AZ.

Under I-40 and into Old Town, then The Mother Road takes a turn right, past a restaurant that I’ve eaten in many times.

Then the Wigwam comes into view. I stop and get some pix just like the other tourists.

Further down the Pike is Historic Joseph City, Arizona.

After getting back on I-40, I head a few miles West to an exit I have been waiting for, for a thousand miles!

HERE IT IS!!   Jackrabbit Road!

I exited at Jackrabbit Road and went in to investigate. I had driven past this exit so many times and just assumed that the place had shut down long ago. No Way! It is open for business and I get so many pix that I am giving Jackrabbit HERE IT IS its own page on IDroveTheMotherRoadRoute66.

I stop and get a license plate and ice cream on a stick. Back on I-40 West,

Winslow, Arizona

awaits!

I could have exited one earlier here in Winslow, but come in just east of the park where the road splits. I used to come over to Winslow when I lived in Flagstaff. Winslow is nice in that each time I visit, it gets just a little bit better. A little cleaner, a new business, a little more lively. In fact, I’ve never seen it as lively as it is today. Watch out for the selfie sticks or you’ll get impaled. I wander around the crossroads near Standin’ On The Corner Park. Never has one song meant so much to a town!

I get a few pictures, some of them with The Original Selfie Stick ™, my left arm. Why buy another when you are carrying one around already?

After doing all my Route 66 Blog business in Historic Downtown Winslow, Arizona, I head over to Historic Wally World

to pick up a few supplies and groceries. The groceries are for my upcoming stay in Historic Flagstaff, Arizona, another one of my old home towns. I will be visiting friends and family here at a secret compound, in fact it is the house I lived in for five years. Looking forward to being HOME and visiting & resting up for a few days.

I’ll be bringing The I Drove

The Mother Road Route 66 Blog

up to date and having home-cooked food, some of it my own cooking, for few days.

So I roll onto I-40 west. My HOME is only about 45 minutes west of Winslow. 75 mph, I love Arizona!

I shoot past Two Guns

and then arch past Twin Arrows!

Here’s another Buzze Tip – Two Guns beats Twin Arrows. Every Time!

As I gain elevation on the run toward Flagstaff, I feel and smell HOME. The scent of Ponderosa Pine and Juniper takes me back to the time, a few years ago, when I lived in Flagstaff.

My home town is coming in sight.

If you think I’m happy you’re right,

( Happy To See The San Francisco Peaks & Mount Elden ),

Six days on the road and I’m a-gonna make it home tonight!!

With apologies to Dave Dudley, I’ll be R&R and catching up with

The Route 66 Blog

until after Our Nation’s Birthday!

Thanks for coming along for Day Five!

Yesterday on Route 66:

Next:   Hiatus in Flagstaff, AZ on Route 66

Tune In after the Fourth of July for the completion of the drive to Santa Monica.

Buzze A. Long, reporting from #Route66

Get Your Kicks On Route 66, and don’t forget Winona, Arizona

#IDroveTheMotherRoadRoute66