Day Thhhhreeeeee

Hello everyone,

well i woke up at 4am this morning to a thunder and lightning storm in Sedona! i tried to take a picture or two but it was mostly sheet lighning and only a little bit of the forked stuff,
Ill post some great pictures tomorrow cos where im staying now doesnt have wireless, more about that later.

So i took a few more pics around Sedona, it had brightened up by the morning, stunning scenery here, thanks to the Crimson Penguin (ha ha) for telling me to go there.
I headed back towards flagstaff then and got back onto the I-40 (route66 doesnt exist in some places anymore)
I headed on out listening to the sountrack of Once upon a time in America (thanks Mr. El passo for those)
looking through the windscreen at the landscape of Arizona was almost like watching a western movie!~except movie screens dont have loads of dead bugs on 'em!
Then i passed a huge sign for 'Twin arrows" but to be honest the sign was bigger than the place, another old broken down stop on the road.
My friend Nev who travelled this route a few months ago left me a map of the area and on it she told me to go to a place called 'Two Guns" and go to a red shack at the very end of it and look in a bullet hole.
So i get to this place, it looks like the ghost town of a very small theme park from the 60,s.
I find the place, the shack and the bullethole and nothing in there but after a bit of looking around i finally see a piece of paper and a note from Nev saying Hi! Great!
Then i visited Meteor Crater which is a giant hole in the ground on this massive plain. its impressive! good job it landed in the middle of nowhere!
Im passing through Navajo territory now.
I passed through a small place called Jackrabbit and then into Winslow.
So like the eagles song "take it easy" i was 'standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona" took pic there and theres a few tourist shops that pump out that song from the shop 24/7.
they must really hate it!!
Later in the day i crossed the state line into New Mexico and in here now in Gallup at the famous El Rancho hotel.
this place is grrreat! its all old and creaky and loads of old movie stars have stayed here. theres a room named after all of them.
Im staying in room 204. Robert Mitchum room!
Anyway, better go, I got here about an hour ago and have to have a good look around.all the pics for this post to come soon

Shea.

Day 2.

Ok, im having trouble with the laptop tonight as it refuses to post pictures! Sorry bout that!
and i took a good few today!
Hopefully i will have it resolved tomorrow and i can add the pics later.


Well i started off in Kingman today,
even at 8am it was pretty hot, I started the day at Mr, d'zs diner,
I had something called Corn Grits, It looked like cereal but i couldn't really tell.


Then i headed for Peach springs, its Indian reservation land, a bit further up the road
i visited The Canyon Caverns,
the tour brought me down underground 200ft where there is no moisture in the air,
Its so dry and dark even bacteria can't even last 2 weeks!
There was a huge Fibreglassasaraus dinosaur outside too, It used to be a stuffed dinosaur park or something.
Pictures to follow soon!

Then i went to Flagstaff,
Nice town, it feels like a seaside town but without the sea,
I wandered around there and visited the Arizona Historical Museum,

i came off Route 66 for a bit then and headed to Sedona, further south,
thats where im staying tonight,
Its got these huge mountains that youve seen in a hundred movies that turn all red when the sun is going down. A bit like Monument valley, which is also here in Arizona but a bit too far for me to go this time.
they are amazing! I went up to a scenic point to get a few shots of the evening sun,
Got some good ones,
Ill try and get a few more tomorrow and they better post this time!!!

Tomorrow then ill be heading for Gallup i think,
Ive booked an old place called the El Rancho hotel owned by some old Indian chief (so it says anyway)! so hopefully ill be all up and running again for that!

Right ill talk to you tomorrow.

Shea.

day one

Hi Everyone and welcome,

Over the next 2-3 weeks I'm going to drive from L.A. to N.Y. Ive just spent a year at Dreamworks in L.A. so it will be good to see some of other less well known spots of America.

So here's my first post,
I actually set this up last night but immediatley forgot my password so here we go again.

I met my friend Grant at Barney's Beanery on Santa Monica Blvd last night,
Its a traditional ending spot for those who have travelled Route 66 all the way from Chicago.
But me being a bit backwards started there!

It was about 10.30 am before i left L.A. this morning, My lovely flat in Pasadena is all empty.
I had picked up the jeep yesterday and had it all packed up so i was in fairly good shape.
(the guy at the car rental place was flabbergasted that i was driving to N.Y. to drop the jeep off at a depot there!)

My first stop today was in Ludlow where i had some coffee and Apple pie (thanks Nev)
Its steeped in mining history, I was on and off the old route 66, in parts its a bumpy rough road,
and i was only going about 40mph in the rough bits while all the other traffic was whizzing by on the clean and shiny I- 40 freeway less than 100 yards away in places.

I stopped in a place called Needles and took a picture,
I just like the name!
I got to Oatman later on and it was a bit late in the evening so it was quiet enough,
I stopped to take a picture at the Arizona border but the batteries were a bit dead and the 10 second delay wouldnt work, it was cutting out at about 9 seconds which wasnt enough time for me to get out in front of the sign!Its charging up now though so better luck tomorrow.
It was also a bit dangerous with big trucks rumbling by.
I think i saw about 50,000 trucks today and trains half a mile long.

Ive stopped in Kingman for the night

I was listening to soundtrack music while driving through the Mohave desert and
thanks so much Paul and Kerstin for the 'surprise' cds,
The first song made me laugh so much Paul!

I've just been to 'Dennys' (for the first time since ive been here) for some food and tomorrow ill get to look around Kingman a bit.