Just east of Flagstaff, AZ there’s a large hole in the ground. It’s almost 1-mile wide and over 700′ deep. It’s quite impressive. But how it was made is even more interesting. It’s a crater, created by a meteorite about 50,000 years ago. Our short story to view this cater actually started on the evening of day 5, when we showed up at the gate at exactly 5:05 pm, only to find out it had closed at 5:00 pm. The lady guarding the gate would not let us in. Nope, not even budge, even after my pleading with her, which turned into some begging, then ended in a bit of ranting. I whined to her that we had just driven over 2,000 miles “just to see the crater.” Her response, “I understand your frustration, but we’re closed and I cannot let you in!” Tyler sighed and said, “let’s just get out here.” I wanted to spin rubber-peeling donuts in their parking lot and speed out of there, but Tyler’s Hybrid Prius wanted nothing to do with that and simply drove quietly away. Fortunately, we were staying only 40 minutes away, so, this morning we back tracked a bit and visited the crater-quietly paying our fee, quietly viewing the natural landmark, then quietly leaving the site without a single comment! I still think they knew who we were this morning and had a special meteor security team watching our every move!
As we headed west toward Las Vegas, we took a quick detour and traveled on the historic Route 66 through the town of Seligman, AZ, including a great lunch at the famous Road Kill Café, where their motto is “If you kill it, we can grill it.”
Our last stop before ending in Vegas for the evening was Hoover Dam. We were fortunate to get on one of the last tours of the day, including seeing the Powerhouse and getting the opportunity to go into the dam (about halfway down-about 350′). Many of you reading this blog have probably visited this engineering marvel, but it was a first for Tyler and I, and when you see it for the first time, and learn how it was constructed, it’s truly amazing!
As I sit and type this blog, Tyler is in the casino doing his best to increase our travel budget a little. We’ve a great evening checking out the strip, catching a few street performances and, well, you know what happens in Vegas……….! We head into CA tomorrow. To date, we’ve motored 3,256 miles since leaving Pottstown. Almost there!
