Saturday 5 June 2010

40th: Day Ten - Williams

The sunset over the Colorado river last night in Needles was impressive. Needles has very little see, but we did have a great meal at a local restaurant. I think that everything came with beans.

This morning, I began the day with a swim in the pool and then we started on the journey to Williams across the border in Arizona. The 179 mile journey continued across the desert and we went mile after mile without seeing a single building or sign of life (it was still very hot).  After about 50 miles for some reason, a few signs promoted land for sale. Now let me get this right, there is no water for plants or people, no power or telephone and it can reach 120 degrees in the summer - why would I want to buy a few acres?

On route we saw a couple of small tornadoes which were impressive. We passed one town called Kingman that was quite large with some factories and quarries, in the middle of the desert. A strange place to live I'm sure.

We stopped in a small town called Seligman and had lunch in the fantastically named Roadkill cafe.  I had no roadkill for my lunch, but did have the largest lemonade ever served.

Without quite realising, we had been driving up hill for dozens of miles and very slowly the terrain changed from burned desert to forest as we exceed 5000 feet.  We rode into Williams on Route 66 and reached a height of over 7000 feet just as we got here. Williams is a lovely little town with a touristy feel based around the old west. There are plenty of shops, bars and restaurants. There is a restored train line from Williams to Grand Canyon village, but the price was crazy, so tomorrow I will be driving the 70 miles to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

We drove up the mountain a little but couldn't get to the ski resort, but you can see forests for miles and the air is very clear, despite the temperature still exceeding 80 degrees.

This evening, we walked into the main town from the hotel (about 1.5 miles) and had a huge meal. The amount of food that is piled on plates is obscene. On the way back, we could see the stars so clearly. At home, the light pollution is so bad, you see a few stars, but here it's the full blanker, if not the duvet.

2 comments:

  1. Once stayed in Williams. it's definitely the best place to stay for the Grand Canyon and the motel owners were from Nottingham.

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  2. This is total road trip fodder!!! i love this! I wonder if they actually had roadkill at the roadkill cafe?! And a blanket of stars...! sounds divine!

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