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For those of you who have never seen a Western, the title of this blog is a famous quote by John Wayne, and reflects the last 2 days of our trip which have been crossing the desert through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

After we left Amarillo we passed through Albuquerque and stopped off for our first Taco Bell. I can honestly say I’m not massively fussed about the Tacos, but the Quesadillas and Burritos are amazing and I can only hope that they continue to expand across the UK from the 2 locations they have at the moment. I love the city of Albuquerque, its modern and retro at the same time and the city has clearly spent a lot of time and money ensuring its beauty is top notch. Everything is decorated with traditional Mexican artwork and even the bus stops have neon signs on them (Google Albuquerque Rapid Ride).

We stopped over for one night in Tucumcari, New Mexico which is a small town that was once a thriving stopover for weary travellers, but since the Interstate opened a lot of its businesses disappeared. One that remains is the Blue Swallow Motel run by Terri and Bill, it is one of the more famous icons along the Mother Road which at night is completely illuminated in blue, red and green neons.

We arrived in Holbrook Arizona which is a small town that is literally in the middle of nowhere with nothing but desert through to the horizon. The next day we setup off for two side trips, and I found out that it is possible to stall an automatic car!

Our first side trip was to the Petrified Forest National Park which is a forest of trees that have been turned into rock (but they still look like tree trunks) all within the amazing setting which is the painted desert (see the latest pictures on the flickr feed). The second side trip was to Meteor Crater, a giant hole in the middle of the desert caused by a meteorite impacting earth 50,000 years ago.

We have arrived at our final destination on Route 66 (excluding Santa Monica which we will be visiting in Los Angeles next week), as from Flagstaff Arizona which is our current locaiton, we will be heading to the Grand Canyon and onto Las Vegas missing out the California section of Historic Route 66.