Day 9

17th May 2006

Gallup NM – Williams AZ
28577 – 28842 (265 miles)

Another fine day and we set off with the sun beating down, first port of call is gas and then onto the highway, old Route 66 has been overlaid or torn up. As we travel along the highway just to our right there is a herd of horses roaming free on the parallel road. We are still travelling over desert, and have been for the past couple of days.
The route takes us through the National Park of the Petrified Forest, as we stop at the entrance our first problem of the trip rears its head, one of the bikes has a serious oil leak it is coming out of the exhaust. Arrangements are made for later that day to get it looked at.

We are now free to travel through the park at our own pace for the next couple of hours; it is 28 miles long and is at a height of 5826 feet. We can stop and look at the views over the Painted Desert, walk around ancient ruins from the 13th century and look at the petrified forests, trees that have been turned into stone. You can see the features of the trees, its bark the age rings, most are just small chunks but there are also a couple of large logs.

Arrive at the meeting place to find that Stewart, the trainee guide has been forced off the road by a car and is nursing a bruised knee, the car responsible failed to stop, a felony offence here and could lead to a jail sentence. Once that has been sorted out, we are back on the road again.

We are now in Arizona and stop at Holbrook at the Wigwam Motel; you can sleep in the comfort of your own concrete wigwam. After a photo opportunity, we carried onto Winslow made famous by an Eagles song, and ‘stood on the corner in Winslow Arizona’ which is the junction of South Kinsley Avenue and East Second Street. A J. C. Penny store that was on the corner has burnt to the ground with just the storefront standing and remains in a very dangerous condition. The paintings on the storefront wall are great and make you take a second look.

Leaving the town behind us, we take a small detour while that bike with the oil leak goes onto to Flagstaff, we stop at Walnut Canyon where early cave dwellers once lived and farmed some 800 years ago. Again, this is a National Park situated 7000 feet up and the walk is testing to get to the caves, bring oxygen. We are off again but another small mishap someone has forgotten to take the disc lock off and takes a tumble to the ground, no injuries just embarrassment and some minor damage to an indicator. Bike picked up and we roll on into Williams around 6pm, quite an eventful day, the scenery has changed we are now in mountains with forests have replaced the desert it has been another warm day. Diner in the hotel have beef spare ribs and wish I had chosen the smaller 3 ribs as opposed the 5 rib, but get through them slowly.