Route 66 Heading East!

Geri here.
After we left Phoenix, we headed north to Flagstaff, AZ, one of the many wonderful towns/cities along the Historic Route 66!
We saw many, many towns along what used to be 66, and we drove the actual road in Albuquerque and Tucumcari, NM, and Amarillo, TX. We also drove through a ghost town in Texas called Glenrio. Rumor has it one person does still live there.
We stopped for gas near Winslow, AZ. Cute!

So much history right along the interstate!

We stopped at a tourist trap... I mean destination, near the painted desert. 

We got petrified wood. It's so cool looking! 

I also met some new friends.....erm, well, sorta.

Then we went to the Petrified Forest National Park. We only went to the Painted Desert, because of time, but it was really awesome! 

We also saw the restored Painted Desert Inn, which was a stop on Historic Route 66.

And, before we left, I took a virtual tour of the petrified forest part of the park while Vickie explored the gift shop and picked up some lunch.
I was glad we got to make this unexpected stop.

On we went, and soon we were seeing plateaus of stone, some with caves. Then we entered New Mexico. 

We were in Pueblo dwelling territory. We stopped at the welcome center briefly, which is run by the Navajo.
A little while later, we came into Albuquerque. We stopped for gas, and drove for a bit along the Historic Route 66. You could tell, too!

The next functioning relic we saw was Clines Corners. They advertised for miles before we ever passed by.

Then we were getting close to our stop for the night in Tucumcari, NM.

Just at dusk, in time to see the awesome neon, we pulled off the interstate. It was like traveling back in time. 

We ate at Del's Restaurant, a local yummy diner, and then it was time to rest in the fully restored Blue Swallow Motel. 

The current owners have really made it accurate to its heyday, and cozy at the same time. We took so many pictures! 

Here is the room. It even had a working rotary telephone! Crazy.

They even had an old National Geographic, and an old auto newspaper in the room. Check out these ads:

The garages were even painted with Cars characters. Appropriate, right?

They had yummy muffins and coffee in the lobby the next morning, and we met the owners' pooches. 

We enjoyed chatting with them (the people, not the dog).

And then we were headed on toward Dallas! We were on Route 66 roughly for the first part of Texas. We stopped in the ghost town of Glenrio, exit 0. Four lanes, and no one in sight. A little cool; a little creepy.

We saw the Cadillac Ranch as we whizzed through Amarillo, TX. 

Soon, we waved good bye to Route 66. Hoping I will be back one day to see all that is left, and to see the end. I dug up this old picture from about ten years ago, when I saw the start of 66 in Chicago, Illinois.

We drove further east, through lots of farmland, rolling hills, and charming Texas towns. I felt like we were truly back in the South. The humidity was welcome to my dry, dry skin.

A few hours later, we were welcomed to Dallas by my dear friend and old roomie, Amanda. It was really good to see her after years! We were excited to meet her Aunt Sharon, too. We found Central Market, a foodie's paradise grocery store. It was pretty exciting to Vickie and I!

We found some fruit from Cameroon, yum! 

Tamarillo (we call it tree tomato), mango, and guava.