Friday, April 25th

OK, it is 10:45 am (12:45 pm EST) and I'm getting ready to leave the motel and move on westward to Flagstaff AZ. Other than that, no concrete plans for today. I'm sure I'll figure it all out in the car with my way too many guidebooks and maps. Speaking of which, this trip COULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED without the combination of a few good guidebooks, my turn-by-turn guide, the Harley-Davidson Route 66 Ride Guide, and my sister's Garmin Nuvi GPS. Oh yeah, and a girlfriend on the phone giving me turn-by-turn directions when it is too dark to read a map and I'm too tired to think (Thanks sweetie!). Not one source was 100% correct in getting me from place to place. I'm tired.

I made it to Arizona (Pacific Coast Time) and ultimately Flagstaff AZ. But first, Colleen convinced me that I needed to take my picture at Standing on a Corner Park in Winslow AZ. That was fun, even though it was dark. Motel 6 in Flagstaff did not have any rooms left w/WiFi, so I'm at some other hotel on Route 66. I crossed the continental divide today - easy to miss if not for the signs. I was expecting it to be all breathtaking, like feeling you are on top of the world. Nah. Let's see, what else happened today. Oh yeah, I checked out of my great hotel around noon, parked on old Route 66 (now Central Av) and ate at a really good coffee house/diner. Then I drove around Albuquerque, trying to get a tour of a brewery and see the skateboarding museum, but both of those were a bust. Instead, I got a good lay of the land and ended up driving almost all of the 18 miles that is the longest Main Street in America (so I am told). The temperature read 70 degrees, but is was almost chilly with the wind and lack of humidity. It was only hot in my black car after I get back after it's been sitting in the sun for a while. I also got to stop in a few places along the way. The car started misbehaving again just as I was getting out of the city and onto the interstate (I'm seeing a pattern here) and it was off again/on again the rest of the day. I finally made it here to my motel room just shy of midnight EST or 9 pm pacific time. Going to bed now (midnight pacific time) and got to check out in 11 hours, then it's 4 hours of driving to Las Vegas, where I get a small break from the road for a few days. Right now, it is in the lower 40's and dry (unlike the thundershowers you guys were having).