Day 385 – Leaving early for Flagstaff

The general consensus was that Lake Mead is too hot.  So, we left a day early to go back to the cool elevation of Flagstaff.

It seams funny to say but, there is almost nothing of interest between Lake Mead and Flagstaff.
Flat open road with a few elevation changes to keep the trip exciting.
The rig doesn’t do well climbing long hills with the Jeep in tow and the tractor trailers don’t do much better.  There is a lot of jocking for position that goes on while traveling up and down all the long hills.

On the way up the hills we gradually slow down to about 45 mph.  Some trucks are empty or carrying lighter cargo and pass all the heavy trucks on the climbs.  Then we get to the top and start rolling at highway speeds again down the mountains.  We hit 70 and 80 mph coming down the mountains with engine brakes ON to keep the speeds under control. This avoids us from burning out the mechanical brakes.

The posted speed limit for most of the trip was 80 mph but, I typically don’t travel at speeds over 70 mph.  The rig feels more manageable at lower speeds and thats important if you need to change lanes quickly or if the traffic comes to stop quickly.  The motorhome doesn’t like to stop quickly and I’ve had a few scares that made me think twice about my life.  

If you have to stop, it will stop but, everything in the rig gets reorganized in the process. Plus, you have to deal with the smell of burning brake pads that comes with bringing 20 tons to a commanding stop.  

Sometimes you come around a corner and the traffic light is RED or there is some traffic backed up and I’ve had a few chances to really put the brakes to the test.  I like to keep those opportunities to a minimum so, I drive a little slower most of the time. I also leave lots of room between me and the guy in front of me and always give others the right of way.  It’s been working out very well for me.

So, back to the journey….. We drove 3 1/2 hours to Flagstaff and I loved seeing the signs as we got closer to our new home town.  (FLAGSTAFF 130 MILES).
We stopped off in a small town, called Seligman, for gas and lunch only to realize that we were on Historic Route 66.  There was an old barn with pictures of Mater and Lightning McQueen from the movie “CARS” painted on the side. 

There are so many rustic small towns that you would never know existed as you fly by them at 80 mph on I-40.  I’m glad we got to see this one.  It was a nice break from a long day of driving and the people here were so nice.

As we approched Flagstaff, we caught site of the San Francisco mountains.  These are the tallest mountains in Arizona and I found out that it used to be the home of a volcano.  The Flagstaff local ski resort “Snowbowl” is in these mountains now and only a 30 minute drive from our new home.  I don’t know very much about everything “Flagstaff” yet but, I will find out more as I live here.

We love Flagstaff and all the beautiful places up in nothern Arizona.  Route 66 runs right through town as well as freight trains that roll though each day with 60 to 100 cars “click clacking” there way by.  There is something very special about this town which I just can’t put my finger on.  There are tons beautiful restaurants and eclectic shops, as well, which makes this place fun to explore.

With all that said, we are just happy to be home right now!

We close on our new home July 30th and we have some mixed emotions about the sadness of ending our trip and the excitement of moving into our beautiful new house.  We really enjoyed the constant excitement of seeing new places every few days and getting to explore and hike all over the US.  We will definitely miss that and having a house to spread out into is something we can’t stop thinking about.