Tonight I find myself in Gallup, staying at El Rancho Hotel. (This is not it.) Built in 1937, it has played host to many movie stars of times gone by. Each room is named for one star. I am in the Richard (Have Gun Will Travel) Boone room. Only William Bendix stands between me and Jane Fonda's room. Kitch aside, it is a very nice place with rustic railings, heavy furniture, and Southwest motifs everywhere.
If you want a true taste of old Route 66, the road east of Oatman serves up a hearty meal. Twisties galore, on a par with Mulholland Highway, but narrower and in worse repair. Fortunately, zero traffic in either direction. But, again, I can't imagine doing that road in an overloaded Model T.
Nor could I pass up a visit to the Meteor Crater. People can cast aspersions at traveling and spending money to see a big hole in the ground, but I thought it was worthwhile, certainly as close as I'll ever come to being in a moonscape.
I did find a nice laundromat after I arrived in Gallup, where I washed and dried my tent, sleeping bag, pad, etc. after last night's deluge, so everything's back to normal. It was a beautiful campsite, and the tent did perform admirably in keeping me dry, I could almost say it gave its all in protecting me. It's good to know the little tent is up to the task.
This afternoon, Bergy went topless. The temperature has dropped and the onnagain-offagain rain was mostly offagain. So after I visited Petrified Forest, the big sky country was just that, and just beautiful.
Tomorrow, it's off to Las Vegas, NM to visit friends Laura and Ron Harvey, and my soon-to-be friend, their dog, Fred Harvey.
Onward!
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