Day 8 – July 15, 2026 – Grants NM to Flagstaff AZ

It seems like this was the most active day yet. We got started a little early and probably was good.

We took Route 66 out of Grants and stopped for gas before we got onto the Interstate, I-40. We exited at the Petrified National Forest Park in Arizona. This park also has the Painted Desert as part of it on the North end. The Park is huge in that the trail road that takes you to the South Entrance is 28 miles long. Both parts of the park are very interesting with excellent landscape views that you will not find anywhere else. They have a large number of scenic turnouts and Kelso & I stopped at about 6 in the Painted Desert area. Not a lot of people in the park which was good, it made traffic very light.

We moved along to Holbrook Arizona.We saw the Wigwam Motel that has individual rental units that look like concrete cones. They had several vintage cars out in front. They are still an active motel all year around. We also had a chance to see the City of Holbrook’s Historic Route 66 Sign. It Crosses a space large enough to drive a vehicle between the uprights, but they had that blocked off.

We next moved to Winslow Arizona that the Eagles made famous in their Take It Easy song (big hit in the 70’s) with the lyrics ““Well, I’m a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona And such a fine sight to see.It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford Slowin’ down to take a look at me.” They have a whole corner dedicated to those lyrics with a statue leaning against a post with a sign on top, “Standin’ On The Corner”, They also have another statue a little ways away of Glenn Frey, the member of the Eagles that sang the song. They also put on the side of the adjacent building, Silver Eagles Wings, when you stand in front of it the wings come out on both sides of you at the shoulders and arched over the top is the song title, Take It Easy. They also had a red flatbed Ford parked on the corner as part of the display. The also had a small corner store across the street from the truck that I think sold souvenirs. There were people all around, There is no fee to experience this, and if you like the Eagles, it just makes it that much better. Kelso had a great time because there were lots of people and some of them wanted to meet him. We had some of the other people help by taking our pictures with my phone. I like the Eagles so this stop was well worth it. The town put the display up sometime between 1997 and 1999, according to a women that ran a Museum down the block and she was outside a needed a big dog fix. Kelso did not mind.

Ater Winslow we then went down the road to Meteor City area to see the Meteor Crater. The background is that 50,000 years ago, a huge iron-nickel meteorite, 150′ wide, hit the earth outside of the Flagstaff Area. I am not sure how all this was substantiated but I am pretty certain scientist could sample the crater and reconstruct what happened. It is very interesting but I found it unusual that this whole attraction is handled by a private company and the government is not involved. I think it was worth seeing.

The next stop was Flagstaff and I checked Google Maps for a Days Inn Motel. There were 2 that came up and I selected the one closer to the center of the city. When I got there, it was some other motel, higher level of comfort and cost. It appears they bought the Days Inn 4 years ago, remodeled, and have been open ever since. Nobody took the time to tell Google Maps. They were pet friendly but the rooms were about twice what I am paying at the Super 8 about 1/4 mile away.

I think Kelso enjoyed the day. He got out of the car at each stop and accompanied me. At some of the scenic turnout we even walked some paths a little.

The pictures below are West of Grants NM.