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Day 14 - Sat 22 April 06
Up at 07:00. The shower was fun, you step into a cubical and there are two old fashioned ceramic levers, with no markings. One for hot one for cold? Nope. One for temperature one for flow? Nope. By rotating the levers in a random manner I managed to get a good shower, but then couldn't turn the damn thing off! It took me at least a minute to arrange the levers into a state to stop the water, whilst being pelted with either freezing cold or boiling hot water.
Breakfast downstairs in the coffee shop and then out to find Avis - found them but they don't open until 09:00 on a Saturday, so took a wander around an almost empty Flagstaff and it's a very pleasant place.
As I walked down town I came across the town square, and I knew that I'd seen it before, but I've never been to Flagstaff! Then I remembered that I'd visited the Flagstaff website and they have a webcam on the square! I checked out of the hotel and headed off to collect the car, but I spotted a sewing shop which was perfect as my bag has started to split. So a needle and thread was purchased. The paper bag I got had "Bernina" which is the name of the train (and the pass it takes over the Alps) that I took in Switzerland back in February. The sales guy knew all about this and it seems that Bernina is also a brand of sewing machine!
I picked up the car and headed for Sedona some great scenery, but all the view points are chargeable. Sedona is an interesting place surrounded by high red rock outcrops. I popped into Safeway to get provisions, then it was onwards to Meteor Crater. You can see the uplifted rim from the road in. The hole is really impressive, but smaller than I was imagining - the wind here is really strong, it almost pushed me over.
Back into the car and off to the Petrified Forest, and the Painted Desert. A weird place where there are fossilised trees and the are just so complete, even down to the bark, and chippings. The Painted Desert has rock strata with a lot of pastel colours. After that it was a long drive through a lot of nothing to get to Chelly and overnight in the Thunderbird lodge. Ready for an early start tomorrow.
NextView my route through the USA here
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