Soak in that vibe. Route 66 from Holbrook to Gallup is a great little ride.
Simple and straightforward. The easiness of it all allows you to sag back into
the seat and just purr along the open road. As you travel east away from
Arizona the sun index and glare start to reduce which allows for comfortable
summers day cruising.
Gallup Doughnuts, Mushy Goodness and Thick Milkshakes
All along the Rte66 you come across little towns. One
similar to the next in their friendliness, simplicity and linear design. The
towns, which stretch no more than two buildings away on either side of the main
road, are normally over within a few miles. They must be so dependent on
tourism in this little places. I don’t believe roadkill safari’s or 18 holes of
endless bunkers is any source of income.
Each town has a specialty of some kind: “Best in the World”
this that and the next thing. From our experience: Gallup has the best
doughnuts (Donuts) east side of New York State, Albuquerque has some monstrosity dish of
cheese, chips, mince, nachos something-or-other that is not to be missed and
the milkshakes… oh man the milkshakes along the Rte 66 stretches are awesome. Even
the ones in the gas stations are amazing.
Airbnb attempt number two.
Right. The last attempt at using Airbnb almost cost us
thousands of dollars in damage and shredded a muscle in my neck. We took our
time with this one. Contacted the lady, asked about access routes, asked about
her definition of the word “Rural” and decided to give it a go. Glass walled
yoga studio ,on the banks of the Colorado River, that has been modified into a river side bedroom of a sort. We are
here for the adventure right? Well sleeping in a glass walled cubicle on the
side of a river next to some random person’s house seems pretty spot on. Just
hope the Hills do not Have Eyes.
Before I get to this Airbnb story there is something I must
share. As you travel along through Arizona and New Mexico you will get miles
and miles of nothingness. I mean seriously expansive zones of just a few
rolling hills and arid bush as far as the eye can see. Then, out of nowhere and
for no apparent reason, there will be a cluster of caravans. Not a truck stop
or a RV park. A little cluster of thirty or forty year old wheel‘less caravans
parked in a clump on the bank of a hill. Normally about half a mile off the
main road. What on earth are these people doing there? There isn’t work for 50
miles on either side, there is no natural history, no tourist attractions or
anything. Just arid bush and sand. And heat. Lots of heat. What are they doing
there? I mean, other than their cousins…
It made me think of that scene from Breaking Bad where they
park their lab caravan off just in any old place on the side of the road. I
never thought that was a real thing. I was curious to pop into one of these
settlements, just to see for myself, but the South African in my head had visions
of waking up without my kidneys in an old zinc bathtub with some dude fiddling with his navel while staring at me…and they won’t have ice
I don’t think.
Anyways, we arrived at the Airbnb location with a few hours
of daylight left. Met the owner of the
house, got the dirty eyeball from her huge turkey, dropped off our bags in the
cube and took a seat on the grass in front of the river. Waiting. Waiting for
something to go wrong. Our last AirBnB experience had made us quite nervous. We
kept thinking “Airbnb is going to stuff us again. Guaranteed something is about
to go stale”. It never did. The experience was fantastic. The cube was well
built with a cosy old-school fireplace and a beautiful view of the Colorado River.
Literally 10 feet away.
The river was at full supply level as they were
transferring water from one catchment area to another in the west side of New
Mexico somewhere. The river was pumping at full speed. The amenities were exactly
as posted on the app, the views were not photo shopped images from Bali and the
host went out of her way to host us as a fully trained concierge would. AirBnB
got its mojo back.
Wonderful evening under the stars, river in full flow,
couple those huge 1.2 liter Budweisers and a chill in the hot tub.
Fantastic stuff.
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