Day 15 – Route 66 at Williams

Starting to write this day´s travelog I realize that I might have a problem: there are only 10 external links allowed and I know I have way more than that. So let´s see how far I get, and maybe I´ll tag on an additional post to show you the overflow photos of this exciting day.

Just because I have a pair of photos that go together real well, let me start this day with the end of yesterday, which we spent in Gallup, in a nondescript hotel. We went for a short walk and encountered this truck, which seemed to watch the sunset just as we did. It reminds me of an old Indian sitting on a mountain and praying to the setting sun:



Then, next morning, we got to the airport just as the sun was rising and I had to shoot this photo just to prove that we were actually set to go that early.

It was just about 6 am, and Robert went to Fedex the XM weather antenna to Bob Heimberger, who was so kind as to loan as the antenna for the trip. Unfortunately we never could get it to work. The lady at the FBO took a long while figuring out the Fedex forms and so we didn´t actually get in the air until 6:45. I know this sounds like a lame excuse, but honest to goodness, that´s the way it was.

We weren´t the only ones taking off at this time of day, there was a beautiful yellow Boeing Stearman warming up its radial engine. This is the plane I would like to fly if I couldn´t have a gyro.



After only a couple of minutes flying Robert and I decided that we were going to choose that time of day from now on to start our legs. It was smooth, the sky belonged virtually to us, and the light was beautiful. Only downside: it was in the low 40ies and I was wearing every piece of clothing I had.

I know you guys are already getting tired of those desert pictures but I just can´t seem to get enough. Just scroll past them if you want.

Here is a dry river bed forking off to the south of our track, which is still green.



Just a couple of miles further and to the north of our route I noticed these red rock formations:



And just for good measure, here are two pictures – one of Robert and one of me – cruising along. We are getting better and better at flying in formation.





Once we saw a nice dry river bed running along our course, gone was our disciplined formation flying and down we went onto the deck, skimming the floor a mere foot or two above the ground. It was great fun following the turns of the dry river, banking steeply and enjoying the thrill of speed and the ground rushing past.



We landed at Winslow (KINW), where Brandon (“route66”) had depositet 10 gallons of mogas for us the previous day. Remember: we were supposed to be in Winslow already yesterday but were kept on the ground by thundershowers.

From Winslow the Barringer Crater (also known as Meteor Crater) is only a couple of miles due west and our course toward Flagstaff took us right over it. I imagined that I was flying over the surface of the moon. You can google it and learn some interesting tidbits about it. Here I´m just going to show you what it looks like from the air:



Robert was so thrilled he went down way low and I was afraid that he might fly into it.

We had planned to fly a little dog leg to Sedona, take in the view, gas up and then turn around to the north again and continue to Williams/Clark before the thundershowers started this day. Unfortunately they were already along pretty far in their developmental stage so that we weren´t sure that we could still fly on to Williams/Clark the same day. But since we really wanted to meet Brandon, we skipped Sedona and flew straight to Williams/Clark via Flagstaff.

There is a huge mountain looming close by Flagstaff which Google tells me is called Flagstaff Mountain. It reminded me of Mount Fuji for some reason.



It´s just amazing how quickly the scenery changes from barren dessert to lush forest green, the transition starting right before Flagstaff. We landed at Williams/Clark, which is only a short hop northwest of Flagstaff. Brandon had already organized hangar space and another 10 gallons of mogas. I called from the airport and he drove right out to pick us up and give us a ride into town.

It turns out that Brandon is a native of Williams and has run a restaurant there for 35 years. He has sold it since, but he took us to it and showed us the place, which has been remodeled in the meantime. There are about 5 or 6 antique fuel pumps there and I´m only going to show you one – pars pro toto. They are all beautifully restored and quite a sight. He claims that he has still a bunch sitting out back in his barn.



The interior of the place is quite catching to the eyes of a European tourist. It is quintessential American as the grill of an old car mounted over the bar proves.



Next, Brandon took us to his parent´s former hose, which is now a hotel. It was remodeled to represent an entire western town with Saloon, brothel, court house, jail, hardware store, etc. Each room has its own theme, and there is a museum sporting a collection of movie set items such as a gun John Wayne used in one of his movies, etc. Here is Jay (the manager) and Brandon in front of the office:



Williams itself is right on route 66 and quite a popular place for tourists. It is all about the West as we all know it from movies, around the late 19th century. Walking through the town I just couldn´t stop smiling to myself. For example, here is an old pickup truck (I know, that came a bit later than the 19th century, but it seemed to fit in nicely):



There was also a huge train halted at the train station with an elaborately painted side – the “Christmas Carol Train”.



It is a promotional tour for Disney´s new movie which starts in November. The train itself started its journey in Los Angeles and slowly makes its way across the country to reach New York just before the opening of the movie in November. There were huge crowds lining up to get into the train, where the “making of” was shown. In an especially set up theater next to the train they were showing the movie´s trailer in 3D. Outside, on the street, there was a group of Christmas carollers in aera costumes singing, well, Christmas carolls.

As I´m typing this, I´m sitting in an internet cafe. Just down the street, they are staging a western style shooting on the street at 7 pm, which is just 10 minutes off. So I´ve got to stop now and get some pictures of that.

Tomorrow we want to fly up to the Grand Canyon, stopping at Valle in between. We hope to be able to get up to the required 11,500 feet. It might be too late to fly on after the Grand Canyon, and we might have to return to Clark, continuing on our trip the next day.

– Robet & Chris.