What a great day !!

We drove down from Springfield through the Ozarks and arrived at Memphis at around 14:30 local time, a drive of around five hours as no interstate was involved. The weather was glorious all the way and we had a Wal Mart on the move lunch at 65mph or so :-)

Quite sad over here today as all the flags were at half mast for 911.

Memphis so far is brilliant, we have seen the march of the ducks at the Peabody (see the video) and we had a good look around Beale St. Yes we are off to Graceland tomorrow for the VIP tour (got to really :-)) We will then try and fit in Sun Studios and the Lorraine Motel as we are here for two days.

More tomorrow !!

P.S. I have adjusted the time of the blog to US time as things were appearing a day early under UK time.

Nothing Too Exciting

We travelled through Oklahoma, Kansas and part of Missouri today.

Not the most exciting day of the trip, but it didn't rain :-)

Bit of car trouble, looks like we have a slow puncture :-(

Off to Memphis tomorrow :-)

Wet Wet Wet

Very rainy trip on the run between Amarillo and Oklahoma City, managed to take a look at a couple of the towns and museums along the way. We also met a couple of fellow Brit 66ers as soon as we arrived in Oklahoma it stopped raining !!

Show Me The Way To Amarillo

C

Today's little jaunt took us from Santa Fe to Amarillo via Santa Rosa, Adrian (1/2 way), Tucumcari.

We were concerned about the bad weather but it appears we are following it so far :-)

The Route 66 museum and the Cadillac Ranch were the main items of note today.

Once again the scenery changed from state to state and the plains coming into Texas stretch as far as the eye can see.

Fiesta !!

We have spent the day in Santa Fe old town where it is the annual festival, it has been a riot of music, colour and food
A really enjoyable and relaxing day :-)
We may however need to change our plans as there is severe weather in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. More to follow !!

Down (New) Mexico Way !

We left Holbrook and the Wigwams behind and via the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert and Gallup amongst others we are now in Santa Fe. The Painted Desert is absolutely wonderful and one of the most unusual things we have ever seen !

The Pictures

1/ Shows the bed of the original Route 66 that has now returned to nature, you can see where it used to be by using the line of telegraph poles as a guide.

2 and 3/ Show the painted desert but don't do it justice !!

Now in Santa Fe for a couple of days.

Inside the Wigwam Village

Just a few shots of the inside of the Wigwam Motel and surroundings.

Small Town USA

Making our way from Flagstaff Arizona along Route 66 to Holbrook and the Wigwam Motel via Walnut Canyon National Monument. The Canyon was fantastic but involved a two mile walk and a climb of a few thousand feet out of the Canyon. We also passed the famous Jack Rabbit trading post and the meteor crater on the way to Winslow. Winslow still retains a lot of the old Route 66 charm. We ended the day at Holbrook and the Wigwam Motel. Tomorrow Santa Fe !!

And finally

We are getting used to driving the Yukon beast !!

The fuel consumption is really horrible, I don't event want to mention figures at this point.

Off to Holbrook and the Wigwam Motel for the night tomorrow.

Back on to Route 66

Todays target was to reach Flagstaff for our overnight stay, and also to dip in between the original Route 66 and the Interstate. We had a look at two of the original Route 66 towns, Seligman and Williams Arizona. Todays journey also meant we have now crossed three states and the temp ranged from 108 to 75 degrees. We also crossed the Hoover Dam, the dam has had quite substantial work carried out on it since our last visit and along with Lake Mead is an impressive sight.

The contrast between the desert of Nevada and the green of Arizona is stunning.

The Hampton Inn at Flagstaff is very nice, room very clean and tidy, free Internet and breakfast however what they didn't mention was the proximity to the railway !!

Will keep you posted on the sleeping front :-)

Viva Las Vegas

Off we go to Las Vegas, quite a few hours drive but well worthwhile.

The Luxor and the room were both fabulous, we got a free upgrade to a tower room !!

Walked our legs off up and down the strip, all the usual madness and bling are still there.

So many things have changed in he three years since we were last in in Vegas. The Trump tower is nearly finished and The Aladdin has become Planet Hollywood just to mention two.

On our second night we went to see the Beatles Love by Cirque Du Soleil show at the Mirage, it was superb. Here is a link to the site http://www.thebeatles.com/hub/love/site/

Some things Make You Think...

Whilst we were on Santa Monica Beach we saw something that brought things home about the war in Iraq. No comment required just look at the pictures...

This sentiment was also expressed by something we saw in a front garden.

The beginning or end of Route 66 depending...

On which way round you are making the trip, for us its the "wrong way round" as we want to end up in Chicago.

We begin our journey at the famous Santa Monica Pier on the lovely Santa Monica State Beach.

This is the typical Californian beach scene down to the Muscle section of the beach and the Schwinn bikes. What a great day temp over 100 degrees got a bit sunburnt !

Hollywood's Swinging

After Beverley Hills we took a look around Hollywood, only really had a quick peek as our schdule means we have to move on to...

Burned Up

We did however get burned away from the lights by a really sweet sounding Lambo :-)

No sign of Posh and Becks

We had a look around Rodeo Drive and couldn't find Mr and Mrs Beckham anywhere :-)

However we did see where all the money gets spent...

Santa Monica, Hollywood, Rodeo Drive and all ...

That stuff...

The Best Western Gateway on Santa Monica Boulevard was a really nice comfortable friendly Hotel. We used it as a base to explore the local area including Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

We have arrived !

Two lovely trouble free flights and we are here in the Best Western in Santa Monica.

We are off for a drive to Beverly Hills and Santa Monica Pier before the jet lag cuts in :-)

BTW we have a huge SUV a GMC Yukon, its massive !!

So near but so far away !!

Got to the Airport in good time, and we were offered the chance of moving to a direct flight to LA instead of changing at San Francisco.
After a lot of phone calls etc the offer was withdrawn due to catering problems :-(

Ah well, off to San Fran then !