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"We ride together, we die together, bad boys for life..."
We survived the night. Can you believe it? We can't!
We made sure to get on our way and leave the s**thole of Holbrook, leaving them the butter knife as a present underneath Marc's pillow. We'd all bet our left nut that its probably not the worst thing they've found underneath one of their pillows. The first part of the day was spent on the highway; however, the sun was shining and it was a glorious day so we weren't phased one bit.
We pulled over in Winslow so that we could 'stand on the corner' and take a few pictures. We tracked down a Walmart to check out the guns, pick up a memory stick for the camera, and purchased a football. It's time to educate the Americans about the sport, starting with its name... it's not called soccer!
After taking an off road detour to a dead end, directed by a lady who looked like something out of the film Wrong Turn, our car was still in one piece. We got on to the right road and headed for a meteor crater - we survived you squirrel lady! Disappointed that we had to pay full price admission to just have a cheeky look at the meteor crater and then leave, we decided to move on and head into Flagstaff for lunch, via Winona.
Stopping off at Sizzlers for lunch and a monster buffet, we used the time effectively to check-in with the outside world using the wifi before hitting the road again. Two positive things have happened: we are only 487 miles away from Los Angeles, and Marc finally caught himself a Scyther in the Safari Zone after two days of trying on the road - big celebrations all round!
Taking a back route through the Kaibab National Forest, it was time to take a break from our off road adventure and enjoy a kick about with our football. Within minutes, we lost the bloody thing and what can only be described as a dirty mud puddle took it hostage. Marc put himself forward to collect it for a LAD point. We all agreed and enjoyed watching him head into this creature-ridden swamp: Marc achieved his goal and got the ball back - he did however, lose his flip flop in the process. After a bit of fishing, the flip flop was saved and football commenced.
Marc: Let's just say, I have no idea what was swimming amongst the chocolate swamp, but it did resemble multiple versions of something like the 3-eyed fish from The Simpsons. Combine that with quicksand-like-mud and finalised by nearly being sick from the smell of a random nearby poo, it was a very pleasant experience.
The current LAD points are as follows:
Nick: 3
James: 3
Chris: 3
Marc: 0
Driving down Highway 66' we passed through the towns of Seligman, Peach Springs, Valentine and Hackberry before making our way into Kingman. After a quick stop to pick up a souvenir, we swapped drivers and headed towards Oatman. This was not the journey we were expecting, as the sun started to set, we headed into the mountains for some very dangerous, tight driving. Every bend and turn literally could have been our last as we drove for about 15 miles through some of the most breathtaking landscapes of the trip. By the time we got into Oatman, it was dark... and it was not a town any of us were keen on staying in. It was however, in Nick's eyes, a town that you'd envision when picturing the Wild West; saloons, rusty buildings and the impression that a cowboy duel could take place at any moment - it was amazing!
Eventually we crossed over the Colorado River and headed into California. We had to stop at the state border as security was searching vehicles for any citrus fruits that may be smuggled in; thankfully for them, we weren't really interested in purchasing any lemons on this trip.
We made it to our stop off town for the night, called Needles. That makes it Mother Road 2-3 Boys on Tour - boom! We checked into a Motel 6 and headed to dinner at Denny's. It's more than likely that we'll be back there again for breakfast before heading out on the road to finish the Route 66 leg of the trip - nine days, what an achievement! Oh, and it's James' birthday, so we'd like to spend it in Los Angeles if we can.
8 states down, 1 to go... x
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