The Nissan dealer finished up the oil change and a small repair to the driver’s door window around 10:00 AM this morning.  The Murano got its first car wash since leaving on August 10th. Thus, we were able to put on the Route 66 stickers that we had obtained in the gift shop at the Painted Desert visitor center.  California to be added tomorrow.

The dealer was located very near to historic Route 66, so we did some “drive by shooting” of a few of the signs and buildings along the way out of town.  Joyce drove, Gary shot!

Joyce wanted to get a geocache at the visitor’s center located near the old train station.  Success!  Speaking of trains, have I mentioned how many we see out here in the West?  It seems like no matter where we are on Route 66 we see a train about every half hour.  All BNSF.  It is absolutely amazing how many trains there are to be seen and how long they are,  Most have at least 4 engines to pull the load, but today we traveled alongside one that had 4 engines up front and 3 more in the middle working really hard to move a train that had to be 2 miles long westward.  Warren Buffet must be really happy with the train freight business!

Okay, today was special in a couple of ways.  Number one was the amount of travel we did on the 1931 alignment of the route.  We had 3 stretches which today are considered primitive roads (can you say dirt roads?).  The first section was 4 miles long, the second 3.5 and the third 2 miles in length.  These were between Bellemont and Williams, AZ.  Glad to have AWD and higher ground clearance!  The high spot on the historic Route 66 was on the second of these sections.

In Williams we were out taking photographs and were greeted by a local named John and his brother Jim.  They offered some great advice for taking the old alignment to Kingman.  And boy were they right.  We saw our first Burma Shave signs along the way and had an uninterrupted 75 miles on the two lane road at 65 mph with almost not traffic.  Much better than I-40W!!  We passed through the Indian reservation and saw mostly open range.  It’s a really, really big country when you escape the east coast.

Another highlight was today’s lunch.  Joyce had been waiting for the chance to eat at the Snow Cap Diner in Seligman.  It was a real treat!  Cheeseburgers better than  Five Guys and the very best milk shakes!  Joyce had chocolate and caramel and I had chocolate and peanut butter.

We ate at about 3:15 again and so we needed little for dinner.  We also got some nice photos here and another successful geocache find.

Then on to Kingman, AZ where we arrived about 6 PM after driving 180 miles today.  To the desert tomorrow!