We had a measly breakfast in the motel and then a quick swim before heading off on our way.
A right turn out of the Rodeway Inn carpark and we were on good 'ol Route 66. Actually, it's now called Central Avenue but most of the places along it still have old school signs. Nearly every hotel, motel, restaurant and coffee shop have one. There are old places with old signs, new places with old signs and old signs still standing after the old place has been torn down. It's quality. And it's nice to see after the disappointment in St Louis.
After driving a few miles, we settled on Buster's Coffee Shop for a bit of rub a dub.
It's a brilliant place and like the sign says, they serve breakfast all dog gone day! We both had the 66 breakfast, mine was with bacon, Paulo's with sausage. And I had the mother of all coffees. Now, if you have been reading this blog then you know that I like coffee. A lot. And usually, the stronger the better. I had one of the strongest cups ever today. Busters serves what they call Redeye - a double shot of espresso in a large mug of regular house coffee. Literally, it is having coffee with your espresso. It was good and afterwards I was buzzing from it!
We chilled for a bit, read some papers and enjoyed our meal. Well, Paulo did. I felt a bit edgy. The lads in the kitchen were playing Nirvana's 'In Utero' and as you can imagine with a belly full of rocket fuel I couldn't really relax.
There was an ad in one of the papers for Charley's 33s & CDs, so of course we had to go have a look.
I must say I was a bit disappointed with the place. The used section wasn't very well organised and the new CDs were very prizy. Plus I didn't really have the patience or interest in actually looking at what was there. Maybe it was just the coffee.
I chose a few to listen to and was introduced to the 'listening booth', which consisted of a table, a chair and a pair of headphones. The stereo however was about four feet away, so a staff member had to load the CD for me. How did I listen to it and change tracks? With the pointing wand of course! The lads had fashioned a 'stick' by taping two drumsticks together and you have to use it to poke the buttons on the CD deck to either forward the tracks or play and pause the CD. Hilarious! In the end, I didn't buy anything but Paulo diligently went through the entire alphabetised used section and (as he stated) found some gems.
Route 66 runs right through the center of Albuquerque so we drove into town to have a look around. It was great to see that they have kept some of the atmosphere from years gone by and recognise the road for it's historical significance.
A storm rolled into town so we had to duck into Nick's Greek cafe for a drink and to wait the storm out. Afterwards, we had a stroll down 66 and enjoyed all of the old school places and signs.
Then we drove out a bit further and had a look at the 66 Malt Shop. Unfortunately, neither of us were pecky or thirsty so we didn't go in although we both wanted to.
We also had a quick look at the historic center but it was seriously tacky. The area is set up like an old town in the west and all they sell is tourist souvenir junk.
As always, we had to move on so we got back on to 40W and drove all the way to Flagstaff. We stopped at a Subway along the way because it seemed like it was our only option for miles and miles.
The drive was great as the landscape was so scenic. The sky was incredible as well because there was lightning almost the entire way across Arizona and it made for a really atmospheric trip.
As we approached Flagstaff, we caught a radio program about the Doors and the release of one of their last concerts with Jim in 1971 on CD. There were some really interesting interviews with the surviving members of the band and they sounded fabulous live (despite Jim's drunken singing).
We checked in to the Budget Inn and chilled out watching Family Guy and drinking a six pack of Shiner Bock.
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