Laughlin to Flagstaff

We woke up relaxed the following morning. We only needed to get as far as Flagstaff, and that is only a few hours away from Laughlin. We have a friend who had said we could stay at his house, even though he was going to be out of town. After breakfast my husband called our friend's contractor to arrange for picking up the key. It was about 9:45 when Bobby called and we had done nothing to get ready to leave. No problem, says the contractor, but I’m only available until 2:00. It took an hour to get everything repacked and ready to leave, so we pulled out of Laughlin, NV around 11:00. Time’s a little tight here. Pulling out we took a wrong turn, and we somehow ended up on historic route 66 rather than the interstate. This part of route 66 is really pretty, with a 35 mph speed limit, lots of 15 mph switchbacks, and steep drop offs with 1950’s style “guard rails.”

There was no way we were going to make it to Flagstaff by 2:00. We stopped once or twice for pictures. At one spot the view was nice, but it wasn’t until my husband walked up a little incline that we realized how appropriate it was that we had stopped at that particular pullout. Hidden from the road, and only visible once you had walked past and turned around, lies a memorial to “The Alaska Mountain Man.” What are the chances?

We finally hit the Interstate and with it, mind blowing wind gusts. We pulled into Kingman, and called the contractor back. Well, he says, just get here by 4:00. I won’t be able to take you to the house, but we can meet and I’ll give you the key. We pulled into Flagstaff at 3:45. Thank goodness he was close, and we were able to find our friend’s house easily. We stopped at a grocery to get food for the evening, and only when we got ready to eat did we realize that our friend, a true bachelor, only had one plate! We spent the evening relaxing and watching tv. It felt nice to be "at home" after a few days on the road.