Day 8

States covered: 3 (TX, NM, AZ)

Oh my goodness -- we made it to Flagstaff today! We couldn't believe it! We did a heck of a lot of driving today (552 miles), but it was worth it. This seems to be an excellent place to stop, and we made excellent time. We're on track to arrive in Carlsbad on Sunday!

Our day began as the last few have, with a simple but filling continental breakfast at our hotel. There were muffins, danishes, bagels, fruit, coffee, and juice, and we sampled most things.

La Quinta Inn was actually at the east end of Amarillo, so as we got back on the road for today [at about 9:45AM, Todd driving], we drove through the rest of the city, or at least its outskirts. The city was not so nice and was pretty run-down. We were happy that our hotel was nice and that we didn't have to stay in the area any longer. Onward!

The west end of Texas between Amarillo and the New Mexico border along interstate 40 was pretty bleak. There was not much to see, but the scenery kept us entertained. Stephanie kept expecting to see mountains in the distance because visibility was so good, but then there just weren't any mountains! About ten miles out of Amarillo, we got to see the ten Cadillacs sticking out of the ground, which was cool. Unfortunately, Stephanie was not too nimble with the camera, so if our picture comes out at all, they will be barely visible through the back window of our car. Oh well.

Once we got into New Mexico, the landscape became much more dramatic and filled with ravines and rust-colored mesas. We stopped at the New Mexico visitor's center just across the border where Todd picked up a New Mexico/Arizona coupon book for hotels -- go Todd! :-) Stephanie did not enjoy the bathrooms at this stop and almost took a picture of them, but she figured that might be a bit excessive, even for us.

Along the road in New Mexico while Todd was driving, Stephanie noticed a set of railroad tracks running alongside interstate 40. Before long, there was a beautiful Burlington Northern Santa Fe train heading in the opposite direction! Stephanie took lots of photos of that train and of several others that we encountered along that leg of the trip.

Our master plan for the day was to get to Flagstaff, AZ, so we wanted to break up the long day's drive with a stop for lunch. Todd drove for about four hours before we were both starving and decided to stop at a Subway sandwich shop just outside of Albuquerque, NM. At Subway we must have had the best sandwich artist ever. He was fast and he made the best Subway sandwiches that we had ever had! At this subway the large drink was 44oz.! That's a lot of soda! Todd had a meatball sub, and Stephanie had a cold cut trio. Stephanie also splurged and got Mountain Dew, keeping in mind the long drive still ahead and the large caffiene content of the fluorescent-colored beverage. :-)

After our lunch stop, we filled up on gas. Todd was grateful that the station had 91 octane fuel, so it was a much happier trip than our fuel stops yesterday.

Throughout New Mexico and Arizona, we saw many, many signs for "authentic Indian crafts," including dolls, mocassins, blankets, rugs, etc. Once we finally got past one of them, signs for the next shop started appearing -- it never ended!

Stephanie took over driving after lunch. Todd was able to get many more photos of the trains that were running next to the road. We're hoping that at least a few of them come out.

We made excellent time today. We did 552 miles of driving, but the speed limit for almost all of the drive was 75 mph. [Yes, Dad, we really did travel at only 75 mph for the entire trip today.] Most of the roads were in excellent condition too!

When we got into Arizona, we started to see black rocks. Stephanie first thought that there had been a fire. Further driving revealed a tremendous amount of black rock, and signs along the road told us that there was a volcanic site nearby -- mystery solved! We also drove through the Navajo Indian reservation today.

We pulled into Flagstaff, AZ just before 6PM and checked into the Best Western Pony Soldier [not kidding about the name, really]. Our room is small but comfortable, so we're happy. Flagstaff is at 6900' elevation! There were snow-covered mountains as we drove into the city. Todd's AAA tourbook research revealed that the top of one of those mountains is the highest point in the state.

In the hotel there was information about the Crown Railroad Cafe restaurant, which we saw on our way to our hotel. Both our hotel and the restaurant are located on historic Route 66! Todd is excited that we can hear the train whistle from our room! :-) The restaurant was a lot of fun: there was a nice Santa Fe train running around the track all along the periphery of the place. It wasn't busy at all, and we got excellent food and service! Todd had the ribeye steak special, and Stephanie got a hamburger. Todd got cherry pie for dessert, and Stephanie got a sundae. Everything was wonderful.

We have a few Arizona puzzlers. One of them has to do with daylight savings time. Since the state of Arizona does not celebrate daylight savings time, what time does prime time TV begin when the rest of the country is celebrating daylight savings? Luckily prime time is normal right now, so we are not too confused.

This part of the country is amazing, and we are both looking forward to visiting this area again sometime in the future. We would especially recommend a visit to this area at this time of the year, since we have found that everything is well-maintained, the weather has been great, and nothing is crowded.

The other big news for the day was that all of our stuff arrived in Carlsbad from the movers. Amazingly, Steph's mom and dad managed to direct the movers to put all of our stuff somewhere in the house or the garage. [Thanks, Mom and Dad!] We are very excited to be reunited with all of our stuff, hopefully on Sunday. We expecially miss our TiVo! :-)

At this point, we are both happily full and tired from our long drive today. We're looking forward to a comparatively short car trip tomorrow as well as an exciting and scenic stop at Hoover Dam. We're also hoping to meet up with Todd's cousin Nicole in Las Vegas before we settle in for the evening tomorrow night.