Day 10: Mexican Hat to Flagstaff

Slept really solidly, didn't even hear my Peek vibrating and chiming for at least 10 emails through the night. Woke with a start when someone banged on the door and called out something about coffee, I think. I grunted something and they went off to the next room.

Was soon on the road and before long I was going through Monument Valley. So much quieter this time, hardly any cars on the road and none of the roadside vendors were there. Saw a sign advertising a motel, saying "Stay where John Wayne stayed". This is, after all, the setting for Western movies.

Came across some wild (?) horses grazing amongst the snow. They weren't tame enough to come up and talk to me, but they didn't run away either. I also saw a very serious looking truck making a lot of noise climbing up the hills.

Saw some more rocks, funnily enough. Arrived in Kayenta after a while, and it's still a… well I don't want to be mean, but it really is the pits. Rather than being a dust bowl like it was last time, it was a mud bowl today. Mud mud mud everywhere. Even the petrol station had great puddles of mud, despite being paved. The car in front of me had an interesting and surprisingly uniform mud finish from top to bottom. And all these comments apply equally to Tuba City. Tuba City was particularly disappointing, as the Indian bead shop was closed. Trust me that the bead shop is the only thing in Tuba City worth seeing.

Downtown Tuba City.

Drove on, through a tiny town with a tight speed restriction. Slowed down to within 5mph and just as well as there was a highway patrol car waiting. As soon as I passed he roared out, sped past me and pulled over the red car that had only a few minutes earlier overtaken me — that was quite satisfying :-)

So that was exciting, then I passed some more interesting rocks…

…and then very welcome sight, ladies and gentlemen the San Franciscan Peaks, rising out of the desert.

The San Franciscan Peaks are part of a dormant volcano and stretch to over 12,000 ft. But more importantly, that's where Flagstaff is nestled. Just after I entered the city limits and had to slow down another highway patrol car roared out and flagged down the car beside me. I was doing more or less the limit, but I think it's a bit like outrunning a lion: you don't need to be going at the speed limit, just less than the car beside you :-) (Note: for a lion you only need to run faster than the person beside you, in case there was any uncertainty there)

As a total aside, guess what Truckee Area Regional Transit busses have on the side of them: TART. Yes, that's right, there are heaps of busses running around central Truckee with TART emblazoned on the side :-)

So I arrived in Flagstaff, found a motel for $30 a night with a very solid looking gas heater and headed on downtown. While unpacking a double stacker whizzed past the motel. I was pleased to discover that the rumours Flagstaff had "gone quiet" were unfounded and the trains still make a huge amount of noise for the 5 crossings through town. Flagstaff just wouldn't be the same without a near constant parade of train horns!

There must be at least 30 motels along Route 66 to choose from. This time mine is called the "Relax Inn" motel. Almost all seem to be run my Indians (i.e. from India), so much so that the occasional place advertises "American Hosts"!

The Relax Inn Motel, and my very filthy car.

Flagstaff has obviously had quite a bit of snow recently, as it is piled up everywhere. Mounds 2-3 feet high are pretty common. I saw no less than 4 pickups with snow plows on the front, and a dump truck with a train-sized plow.

Aspens in the snow / nicely plowed cycleway

The Flagstaff station and freight depot / San Franciscan peaks watching over the township.

While walking along another double stacker passed me, and then while I was loitering around the freight depot another whizzed past with a very shiny new looking ES44DC on the point.

Here are some photos of downtown Flagstaff, since I completely forgot to get any last time.

The beautiful ex Santa Fe railway station and the (old) freight depot

Across the street from the railway station, route 66 in the foreground.

Looking the other way, and Beaver St

Having a bit of time to kill I went for a walk up the hill, and can now see why the novelty of snow would wear off quite quick. Every second car was surrounded by a metre of snow and would take hours of digging to free. Parking spaces were very limited. The footpath was completely buried in places. Great sheets of ice were fairly frequent. And so on. It did however look very pretty.

Great fields of snow in the street / snowed in cars and a puddle that is going to be really fun come the morning.

Looking out over the Northern Arizona University, BNSF transcon mainline in the foreground.

As the sun set the place took on a lovely glow and it all seemed very peaceful.

Contrails catching the sun

 
Sun set on the transcon

Signals on the transcon as the sun sets.

Walking back it got pretty cold pretty quick, the weather forecast said it was -5°C, but it didn't feel that cold, more like 0°C. Felt like some good hot ribs for dinner so hunted around and eventually found Bigfoot BBQ again. Had a quarter rack ("ideal for lunch") which completely filled me up, and a pilsner. Forgot that at 7000 ft elevation alcohol has a much stronger effect so was feeling very calm by the end of the meal! That said, the meal was divine.

Had a look around the Blackhound Gallery and then walked back to the motel. I have lost count of the number of trains that have been passed the motel while writing this; but it would be at least 15! And they move quick out here, much faster than the traffic, so probably at least 50mph. Here comes another making its presence well known.

At one point Flagstaff had 100 trains a day going through, but I believe with the recession that number has dropped slightly. There has been no shortage of trains tonight though!

Tomorrow I hope to get some good telephoto shots of the station and east-bounds in the morning, and then either head out to Cosnino Rd or do a stake out at the station. So it's good to be back here in Flagstaff, although the change in pace from sleepy old Helper was a bit of a shock. On the plus side, with several trains an hour you can't really go wrong!