Holbrook, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ (Day 9)

The morning started with a car wash, because the van is covered in dust and the back window was hardly able to be seen through. You just don’t realize how much grit and grime that you pick up on a trip like this. After the car wash, we headed over to this mural on the side of a restaurant….

See it? Well, I jumped out to take a photo and as I was getting ready to take the photo, Tony walks over to get in the picture. At the very same moment I saw him, I heard gravel and looked over to see that the van was moving! Mom and Jon were in the backseat, but the van was coming at me. I ran, ran as fast as I could and grabbed the door to see mom grabbing the steering wheel and trying to get her foot up to the brake. I just managed to get my foot in and hit the brake and then saw Tony running too. It all happened so fast. Guess he will double check now that the car is in park before jumping out! No harm, no foul, though, but that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh about it now!

The next stop before breakfast was to the Jackrabbit Trading post. It wasn’t open yet, but we got to see the famous HERE IT IS sign and we got to climb up on the giant Jackrabbit! Jon loved that. The sign was in the movie Cars, but instead of the Jackrabbit, it had a picture of Lizzie and it was for her antique shop.

Then we found breakfast in Winslow at a nice little diner, it was good, and Jon learned to stick a spoon to his nose!

The next stop was the one that Tony had been waiting for the whole trip, I believe. It was to the corner, so that we could stand on it. If you  have ever heard Take it Easy by the Eagles, then you know the one. “Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona…” The mural behind the statue even shows the girl in the flat bed Ford and low and behold, we looked and there sat the truck, too! We checked out the gift shop and grabbed us some goodies before posing for more photos and then heading on down the road.

The next stop was just a jump off the interstate to see the Meteor Crater (just from the outside, at $16 a piece, and seeing as though Tony and I went there 8 years ago, we decided just seeing the size was ok. Then we jumped off again to see the Twin Arrows. This places was long ago closed, but everyone pretty much knows about this place. There are tons of places on the route that pay homage to the arrows, so Jon was expecting to see the real ones.

After that, we drove the 2 hours up to the Grand Canyon. Jon doesn’t remember going there, because he was 2 the last time we were there, and Mom had never been, so we HAD to! You cannot be this close to it and not! We checked out the Visitors Center and then took a little walk back to the rim. As we got to the side, Mom was taken aback by the beauty. Words can’t describe it. It really puts life into perspective. Our lives are simply moments in the life of the planet and seeing this place proves that more than anything. We are small, even though we think we are not. I must say, this visit to the rim was much more relaxed for me. With Jon being 10 this time and not just a toddler, and not to mention the presence of railing in the place we visited this time, my fear of heights was much more manageable.

Tonight we stay in Flagstaff and tomorrow we head to Kingman along a one of the longest stretches of the route. It is really hard to believe that in three days we will be reaching the end of the mother road. That’s only half of our trip, however. The way back will be more adventures!