Didn’t rush out the door because I figured traffic wouldn’t be terrible…I was right! Mostly. 15/40 junction out of Barstow got crowded.
Car and road to Barstow.
I made a couple major detours today. The first was intentional on Oatman Highway which is the original Route 66. There were literally jackasses, err mules, everywhere. Also known as Sitgreaves Pass. Gloriously beautiful drive, but road surface could use some help.
Rejoined I40 outside Kingman and after stopping for quick lunch I hit the road to find out that there’s a massive accident with a 170 minute to Flagstaff time at 125 miles out. I bail just before at US 93 and head south for the end-around through Prescott. This is an inadvertent kill two birds with one stone, as I have two sets of Aunts/Uncles that have retired to Prescott and I’d only seen one's new digs. So, I get the benefit of the beautiful drive along US 93 and then up the winding AZ 89 (done before in the dark in my M4, reverse direction) and then seeing both of them. Some slow poke that won’t pull out ruins a good chunk of it, but still fun.
Then it’s AZs 89, 69 and 169 back to I17 for the drive up the mountain to Flagstaff. Why not do 89A and go through Sedona, right? I wished I had but it was late and I was hungry and tired and 11 hours of travel didn’t need to be 11.5 or 12 given the Sedona Friday night buzz that was inevitable. So, what was supposed to be under 500 miles was over 600, but oh well! Finished off with amazing burger, brews and ice cream!
