25.4.2012 – 25.4.2012  25 °C

After a fairly basic Starbucks brekky we checked out of Excalibur and hit the road for the Grand Canyon. First stop was to see the Hoover Dam (which is about half an hour from LV). The dam was built at the height of the depression and was built to regulate the water flow of the Colorado River. The dam was first conceived after a huge flood in the early 1900s that wiped out a California Valley that was a large producer of food (and of course home to many people). Apparently, the Colorado used to be very variable in the quantity of water delivered down into Mexico… too much one year and not enough the next… well, not enough to irrigate the western deserts to turn them into agricultural land. The Hoover Dam (originally the Boulder Dam and later renamed after President Hoover (depression president)) is a pretty mighty construction. A couple of interesting facts about the dam; 90 odd people lost their lives during construction, the Colorado River needed to be diverted in order to build the dam, if you used all of the concrete that is used in the dam and put it down as a road, the road would stretch from San Fran to NY and it only cost 42mil to build the dam. All in all it is an engineering marvel and was worth the detour to see the dam!

Our drive continued thru Arizona (the Colorado river is the state border between Nevada and Arizona) and the landscape actually got a bit greener… not much, but compared to the landscape from Death Valley to LV it is a bit greener! Most of our drive took us along the famous Route 66 (which used to be the main highway between LA and Chicago). The vast majority of Route 66 no longer exists (as a road marked as 66) but has instead been replaced by four lane interstate highways. A small part of Route 66 has been retained here in Arizona and this is the part we drove along today..

Well, the characters that live on Route 66 are all stuck in the fifties! Our first view of Route 66 was a turquoise and pink diner fittingly named “Mr D’s”. We stepped back into time and ordered a burger with fries and a vanilla milkshake… Well the hamburger is probably the best burger I’ve had here in the states and the vanilla milkshake was more icecream than milk so we had a top shelf lunch at this old fashioned diner! We stepped across the road to the 66 visitor centre and had the rest of our west coast tripped mapped out for us! Unbelievably, the lady behind the counter was an ex-tour guide in this part of the world and highlighted all of the scenic roads ‘we have to take’ on the rest of our trip!!! How often do you get that lucky??

Our drive continued thru this lovely greenish/ desertish landscape until we came upon this amazing gas station come general store… The guy who owns the station has decked out his whole place with old Americana memorabilia.. Plenty of old cars in the driveway, old gas pumps, old signs.. you name it and he had it at his place! Just awesome!!!

Route 66 ended in Williams (and the place where we were planning to spend the night) which is a town that is completely stuck in the fifties!! There is a few local diners, local pubs, old style motels… the quintessential Route 66 look is here in Williams! (I almost expected Elvis to step out and say g’day). Our day ended in an essential but fairly boring manner, dinner and laundry.. I guess you can’t party every night! With the day ending all I can say is that I certainly ‘got my kicks on Route 66’!

Song of the Day– Rolling Stones, Route 66