We Got Our Kicks, and Plenty of Great Pics

The second day of our journey took Munchkinhead and me Bakersfield, California, where we stopped the night before, to our destination of Flagstaff, Arizona.  On I-40 and Hwy 58, the drive between Bakersfield and Flagstaff is about 6 hours.  We took 12 hours; we didn’t take I-40 or Hwy 58 much at all.  We took the old Route 66, at least where we could, and National Trails Hwy.

Arizona has maintained Route 66, highlighting it as an historic scenic route.  Although the Route overlaps with I-40 in some places, it is still separate through all the downtowns which Route 66 passed through back when it was the main thoroughfare.    The towns, even if very small, are still there and functioning.  In one area, there’s even a town who’s main street is designed to look like an old western town.  And there are still Burma Shave ads along the side of the road.  I was so excited to get to see real Burma Shave ads!!!

Route 66 in California is a whole ‘nother story.  The road is in bad shape, very rough, lots of cracks and pot holes.  The former towns along the route are now empty shells, disheveled buildings with half-collapsed frames, graffiti covered bricks, piles of old tires and rusting vehicles of yesteryear.  Even though there are frequent ramps leading to and from nearby I-40, there is nothing for miles and miles.

The scenery however, was magnificent in both states.  Arizona’s high mountains through which Route 66 winds round and round, up and down, narrow road, sharp turns and the most amazing views looking down into the valleys.  Munchkinhead and I had a lot of fun looking across to roads we could just make out across the great abyss and predicting if we would later be on that road.  We often were.  We stopped at many of the turn-offs to take pictures.

California’s Route was flatter than Arizona’s, with soft hills Munchkinhead called “roly poly hills,” flanked on either side by large mountains in the distance.  In some places, huge, jet black rocks, protruded from the cactus covered ground.  We took  pictures of these so Alfred could tell us what they were and how they got there. 

One really nice thing about Route 66 in California, we were pretty much the only car on the road.  (This was certainly not the case in Arizona.)  Being the only car on the road, we were able to stop whenever we wanted to take pictures, including pictures in the middle of the road.  (see above)

We were also pretty much the only car on National Trails Hwy, a windy, two-lane highway running roughly the same direction as Hwy 58 in California through some large hills/small mountain areas.  It was a very good thing that we were pretty much the only car on the road because Munchkinhead was driving!