KirstenL4W

Today, Mister and I got up a bit early (for a Saturday) to head down to Prescott, AZ. He had some work to do there, and today was the best day to get it done so we decided to make a road trip out of it. Things started out as an ordinary trip through the boring desert, though it was nice going over the Hoover Dam before all the tourists got there. We got down to Kingman and saw an electronic message board stating that I-40 east was closed due to a crash. Darn, because we needed to go that way.

We stopped at a truck stop to fill up on junk food and get something to drink, and we asked a bit about what was going on with the crash on the freeway. Another customer said there was a truck on fire and the freeway was in fact closed; he recommended following Historic Route 66 to Seligman and rejoining I-40 there. He said it was 2 lanes but fairly straight with a 60pmh speed limit, and only about 30 miles extra. (Side note: here in the wild west, there are not a lot of options when a main road closes down. We were lucky that there was an option at all.)

Though it was a bit longer, it turns out that Route 66 was a pretty nice drive. And we got a bit of a time traveling feeling: we saw Burma Shave signs along the road! I was definitely wishing we had brought the camera with us, but Mister and I are planning on doing a more leisurely drive on that road at some point. And here’s a side note from the KirstenL4W history files: My Dad’s business, Salem 66 Auto Sales, was named because he started out in a rented Phillips 66 station in Salem, NH. Phillips 66 can no longer be found in the northeast, but Salem 66 lives on, currently in Pelham, NH.

We rejoined I-40, then headed down AZ 89 towards Prescott. I know that northern Arizona is a bit more lush that the Vegas area is, but I was surprised at exactly how lush. Except for the hilly terrain and the mountains in the background, it looked a lot like the midwest. It was refreshing to see something other than rocks and brown scrub brush. Once we got to Prescott, Mister did what he had to do, and we turned around to head back. We stopped to gas up and have lunch at Dairy Queen, which I love, before heading back to Vegas. Another KirstenL4W history sidenote: Ever since I was a little kid, my dad has owned a 1968 Ford Fairlane convertible. There were no cruise nights then, so we only ever took it out on Sunday evenings in the summer down to the Dairy Queen. Dad still owns the “ice cream car” today.

On the way back, Mister and I were treated so something we don’t see very often here in the desert: rain. Lovely, cool, beautiful rain. I had to be careful driving on the freeway because of so much water, but other than that it was nice to actually get some use out of my windshield wipers. Usually I just replace the dried-out, never used wiper blades every year. Mister stated that because of the rain, he was more relaxed than he had been in a long time, and then took a nap. All in all, it was a very, very nice drive.

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