Burkifornia ’16 – Day 7
This morning we got up early, grabbed breakfast at Denny’s and left Holbrook, AZ – one of many towns we’ve seen that embraces the history of Route 66, “The Mother Road.” We were heading off Route 66 for an excursion to the Grand Canyon. After all, how could we travel this far across country and not see it?
We had to pass through Winslow, AZ to get to the Grand Canyon so we decided to make a stop to see the Meteor Crater. We stopped… then left without seeing a thing. “Why?” you ask. I’ll tell you: No Dogs Allowed! Allegedly local health ordnance prohibit animals on this outdoor site. There were quite a few travelers who were very upset about it and my daughter didn’t want to see it without me, so back to the car we went.
The ride to the Grand Canyon was beautiful and long. Once we made the turn onto Route 89 to get there, we started seeing pine trees for the first time in a while. The previous hundred miles or so was all desert and rock formations. This area was much greener and we had to travel through the Kaibob National Forest to get to there. I wish I could say I was so distracted by the beauty that I missed the turn off to route 64, but I can’t. Simply put, I missed it and drove 32 miles north before stopping to ask how much farther I had to go. Yes, I had to ask, cell phone based GPS requires a signal to work. When we finally did get there we were very surprised to see… forest, not a canyon, but forest. I never pictured the Grand Canyon to be so wooded around the rim. All the photos I’ve seen show open land. When we got our first glance at the canyon it was WOW! That was all either of us could say. We got lots of pics and stopped at many different lookout points – but could not get over the pure immensity of the site. WOW!
After a few hours of viewing the canyon from different sites, we slowly made our way to the south exit road and got back on route 64 south to head to our next stop, Kingman, AZ. We bypassed Flagstaff, AZ on this trip because we came from east (Holbrook) went north the see the Grand Canyon, then south and west to Kingman. However, we did notice that all of I-40 from the New Mexico line was, for the most part, straight, flat, and surrounded by desert and rock. However, west of Flagstaff, it was wooded, curvy, and up and down in elevation.
We arrived in Kingman, AZ around 7:30 PM to find another beautiful town that has embraced the Route 66 history that it grew up around. What a great little town – we look forward to seeing more of it in the morning. We had dinner at a very cool place called, Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner. The food was excellent, the atmosphere was nostalgic and fun, and the staff was very warm and friendly.
Tomorrow we plan to see more of Kingman, then head out to California. We can’t wait to see Oatman, AZ. We’re not sure where we’re going to end up tomorrow. It’s a toss up between Barstow or San Bernardino, CA.

It’s pretty obvious that I’m really enjoying this time with my daughter, isn’t it?