[G2:1298 class=right]As I loaded up my equipment into the Femme Canyonero this morning, I admired the adventure scars it sustained as I sought out a humongous, centenarian skull yesterday afternoon.
Getting to [G2link:1294]the skull[/G2link], which was reportedly painted onto a rock by a 19th-century railroad crew, required a slow, 7-mile drive down a primitive road that, even in the daytime, somehow gave me the heebies. It was also unnerving in that the road had been carved by unknown forces to assume a ribbed texture that ran perpendicular to the direction in which one would typically follow a road, the effect on the driver being what one might expect if he stuck his head in a pachinko machine for 40 minutes.
What scarred the Canyonero, though, was a devil truck that exploded from a cloud of dust to run me into the brush lining said road. Thankfully, it was a lesser fate than what befell the [G2link:1301]Penny Racer[/G2link] I drove past on the way out.
Speaking of memorable drives, by the way, I highly recommend the one along Highway 89 heading north up through Prescott and into Jerome. But I suggest you either make use of the numerous pull-outs along the way or take a passenger to describe the scenery to you, as there are never-ending opportunities [G2link:1316]to seriously kill yourself[/G2link]. It's exactly the sort of drive from which both you and your vehicle will mysteriously vanish, only to be discovered a decade later by a hiker lost in the canyon below. Certainly a must-see. Oh, and trust me when I say, with all those twists and turns, track 6 of Dim the Lights, Chill the Ham is the perfect accompaniment.
[swf file="Running_Meredith.mp3"]
[G2:2373]As for regularly scheduled discoveries, I hit most of what I planned to see today. Unfortunately, the two I've been looking forward to most on this trip ended in disappointment. One was Twin Arrows, a trading post and cafe that was a celebrated Route 66 destination until its closure just a few years ago. From the recent photos I had come across, it was evident the desert was taking no time in reclaiming the land on which it sits, so I wanted to get there as soon as possible before its iconic namesake — the pair of giant arrows — was gone forever.
The other was [g2link:1495]Two Guns[/g2link], another plurally titled attraction and another old Route 66 stop. Two Guns is a ghost town built adjacent to a canyon featuring the Apache Death Cave, a hideout in which a band of renegade Apaches was trapped and burned alive by Navajos in 1878. A founder of Two Guns turned the site into a tourist attraction.
I had timed my drive to arrive during the best light of the evening at both sites, which are in close proximity to each another. Frustratingly, however, the clouds that plagued my efforts in the south finally caught up with me. I was able to catch a few very short windows of light while at Twin Arrows, but getting anything at Two Guns would have been hopeless.
On a brighter note, I made up for that lousy Applebee's meal I had last night. I got a 10% discount at the family restaurant next to the Super 8 I checked into, and with a choice between that and Arby's, I figured I'd give it a shot.
Any sister restaurant to a motel is almost always an intestinal miscalculation, but my turkey plate was a real surprise. It would've been good even if I hadn't been eating drive-through for the last week. (And for the 3 years prior to that.)
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