Song inspiration for the day:

Route 66. (Chuck Berry, 1961) 

Travel my way, take the highway that’s the best,

Get your kicks on route 66…

If you ever plan to motor West,

Waking up at 3:30am EST is not start time in Arizona, but if you stare at the ceiling long enough 5:30am Arizona time arrives, daybreak, making it the perfect time to start wandering Route 66 in Winslow.  We meandered Main Street, took in ‘Standin’ on the Corner’ from every angle, window shopped storefronts bragging 66 this-n-that, spun off in the direction of Mojo Coffee Company & Roasters sporting pickle gear as google said Winslow does pickle.  After coffee of course.

Today’s smooth roasted blend was exceptional, and we wondered how, just how could coffee be so outta-this-world?  More on that soon, but before we could leave the friendly owners at Mojo’s, we had to try a homemade muffin, made from scratch, topped with cinnamon, blueberries and sugar, clean eating be damned, a proper buzz readied us for what lay ahead.

We found the pickleball courts, test drove pickle at high elevation and noticed — operators still make the same unforced errors, hit the same spin, make the same decisions right n wrong, and thanks to huffy puffy elevation tire in no time.

Well before reaching Flagstaff, a sign for a chance to stare down a meteor crater created 50,000 years ago in the Route 66 corridor, seemed like a grand opportunity.  Is it possible that aliens arrived in a spaceship masquerading as a meteor, and gifted the indigenous peoples living in high elevations with the most magical roasted coffee beans?  We arrived at the Crater Center, and watched a 10 minute movie on the origin of this meteor, how the scientists discovered it’s je ne sais quoi and nothing was revealed about the roasted coffee.  Our pictures of the crater do it no justice, but it is a mile wide and needing binoculars just to see bottom.

Our final stop is Williams Arizona, which takes the Route 66 centennial celebration seriously.  We visited stores, clothing shops, old cars, old gas stations, art co-ops, along with thousands of other tourists. All of the hotels in Williams are booked, and fortunately our co-Pilot was savvy in booking our stay well in advance.  In Williams, touted as the last Route 66 city to be bypassed when Interstate 40 stole the show, may be that history now needs a rewrite — Williams is thriving along Route 66 thank you very much.

Thanks for traveling with us along historic Route 66 — more excitement lays ahead tomorrow…

Photo Journal: Winslow AZ

Photo Journal:  Meteor Crater

Photo Journal:  Williams AZ

Peace, luv, out
Jane -n- Jill