Day 58

I started today with a really hard, 55 minute run. I left the motel and ran about two miles east on Route 66, turned around and then ran up to the Lowell Observatory. I'm not sure what the elevation was but I can tell you it was a 10-12 minute maximum effort. I was totally gassed on the climb and pretty wasted afterwards for a couple of hours but it felt great and I'm happy that my form has come around. I'm now starting to think about some races this autumn.

We checked out and I went next door to Barnes & Noble for a coffee. I must confess I was being a bit of a magazine whore as well. You know the people who take three or four mags to their table, read them all and then don't buy any of them? That's me. Always has been. Anyway, it passes the time.

We got back on to 40W and started the drive to Vegas. After a few hours, hunger pains set in so we stopped at the Iron Skillet for a bite. The gimmick there was that all of the food was served in skillets. But it was only a slightly glorified truck stop and the food was pretty dodgy. I had a chicken omelet and I am pretty certain that there wasn't any chicken in it. I felt off the rest of the day and had a really upset stomach.

Our next stop along the way was Hoover Dam.

Hoover Dam is also referred to as Boulder Dam is located in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River. It lies on the border between Arizona and Nevada and is named after Herbert Hoover who played an important part in it's construction. He was part of a commission that was formed in 1922 to figure out how to divide and use the water in the Colorado River. The agreement drawn up between the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming was known as the Hoover Compromise. Construction began in 1931, took less than five years and cost 49 million dollars. Over 100 people died during the construction of the dam. The dam has four large intake towers, two of which are in Arizona and two that are in Nevada. The bridge over the dam crosses the border between the states as well as the time zone between Mountain and Pacific times. Clocks on the towers facing the bridge indicate the time in each of the zones. Behind the dam lies Lake Mead, named after Elwood Mead who oversaw the construction. It was deemed a modern civil engineering wonder of the US in 1955 by the American Society of Civil Engineers.











We arrived in Vegas around 4:00, returned the dodgy Dodge without a hitch and checked into the Luxor.

The Luxor was the first fully themed resort in Las Vegas and was built in the early 1990s. It opened on October 15, 1993. It has an ancient Egyptian motif and with over 4400 rooms is one of the larger resorts in the newer part of the Strip. The name refers to a city in Egypt that was the sight of the Valley Of The Kings.

When the Luxor first opened it had a river that flowed around the casino and guests could ride a ferry boat to inclinators. The main part of the resort is shaped like a 350 ft, 30 story pyramid covered in black glass. The majority of the rooms are located along the entire length of the three pyramid walls. Because of the unique shape, normal elevators can't be used, so they use inclinators, which travel up the building on an incline of 39 degrees and take the guests to their floor. The river flowed in the hotel for two years but was removed in 1995 for several reasons. Guests were complaining that the ferry was too slow and the resort decided that it wanted to cater to a more upscale clientele, so the river was removed. There is also a myth that people were seeing the ghosts of three workers who died during the construction of the hotel whenever the ferry passed through a dark tunnel.











The hotel is easily one of the most recognisable on the Strip. Out front is an obelisk that contains the name Luxor in blue letters and there is a massive recreation of the Great Sphinx of Giza.











The tip of the pyramid has a spotlight that points directly up into the sky. It is the brightest beam in the entire world and is visible from anywhere in Vegas at night time. It can also be seen from an airplane at cruising altitude in Los Angeles. The beam is powered by 39 lamps and costs more than 50 dollars an hour to operate.

After relaxing for a few hours, we decided to go for a stroll down the strip and look for somewhere to have dinner. We ended up in the Harley Davidson Cafe. In true Vegas fashion, the place is larger than life. I had a hero sandwich and a Sin City ale, which were both very good. Thankfully, my stomach was getting better and I was able to eat again.









Walking back along the strip, I was overwhelmed by how big everything is in Vegas. Even McDonalds.









We arrived back to the Luxor and were both fairly wrecked, so we decided to chill out in the room for a while and watched TV until the lads arrived.

We got the call and went down to the bar to have a couple of beers. The lads were in flying form and very eager to play some poker. I had taken a turn and wasn't feeling the Mae so I went up to bed when the boys made their way to the poker room. It was going to be a long weekend and I needed to rest.

Day 57

Flagstaff is described as a funky, vibrant town full of college kids. I won't deny there are a good few college students but as far as funky and vibrant I'm not so sure. The city (or more accurately town) is at 7000 feet elevation and provides lots of cool mountain air. There can be differences in temperatures of thirty degrees in summer so you need to bring you jumper when you come here.

I woke up with the intention of going for a run but it was pissing rain so I had to knock it on the head. Of course by the time I showered and got dressed the sun came out and it was warm again. Typical.

We drove into the center of town, parked up and found a little local joint called Downtown Diner. The food was great - I had a very good dish of scrambled eggs with cheese and chorizo. I also threw in some tabasco and pepper for good measure. The coffee was OK - blick as usual. But the staff were a bit irritating. Especially some guy who was waiting on the table next to us. He seemed to be unable to take no for an answer when someone was ordering food. They would state what they want and then he would ask do you want any extras with that, or do you want juice, or do you want more coffee, or do you want tea instead, or do you want some water, or do you want extra toast, or do you want a muffin? This went on and on and on...

After breakie we had a stroll around town but there wasn't really that much to see to be honest. I was a bit underwhelmed.

We decided to go to the Lowell Observatory to have a look. We just missed the start of a tour (which you have to pay for) so we had a sniff ourselves.

There is a tree there that was supposedly planted for George Washington and remained there until 2001 when it had to be cut down for a reason which I don't know. But the stump is still there and there is a big sign next to it with significant dates through the years and you can try to find the corresponding ring on the tree with the color coded date on the sign.



There are also good views of the San Francisco Peaks that rise to an elevation of 12,600 feet.



There is also a mausoleum that was built for Percival Lowell by his widow. He was the astronomer and mathematician who the observatory is named after.



There is a small observatory dedicated to John McAllister who apparently must have been some boffin that loved the night sky.



We were happy out just walking around when the tour guide came up to us and rudely reminded us that there was a fee to just be on the grounds. Unimpressed we left and drove back down to the entrance, where the views of Flagstaff were really good.





It's just as well we left because another storm rolled in. We decided to spend the afternoon in the cinema so we went to Harkins Theatres to see Transformers. I was really impressed by it. Despite some bad reviews and complaints that the actions scenes are so chaotic and fast moving that you can't discern what is happening, I thought it was great. The effects were incredible and I think they were done the way they were to put you right in the middle of the action. I mean, if you are standing next to a fifty foot machine that suddenly turns into a car or starts fighting with another machine you aren't going to have a breeze what the hell is going on. I also thought the film held together pretty well. But since Speilberg was involved, it did have it's 'Hollywood' moments throughout as well as a good few scenes featuring the American flag sprinkled in for good measure.

We went back to the hotel, freshened up and then walked into town for the evening.

We went to Beaver Street Brewery for some rub-a-dub. I tried a few of their microbrews but just couldn't find any of them that I really liked. But the wood fire pizzas were amazing. We sat at the bar, watched some baseball and tried to talk to the barman. He was having none of it. He would say a few words and then move on. Not very engaging.

We left there and walked across the street to Altitudes where the barman was really chatty but in typical Wednesday night fashion there wasn't a soul in the place. We drank our beers and legged it back to the hotel.

Once back, we chilled with a bit of TV before hitting the scratcher. The usual shows were on - Seinfeld and Family Guy. Quality!

Day 56

I had a horrible nights sleep. The room was warm and a bit too small and I was convinced that there were bugs sharing the room with us. No, I am not on drugs but I have gotten a lot of mysterious bug bites during the last couple of days and the itching kept me awake.

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.