Kingman to Flagstaff

October the 4th, 2009 was to be a big day of railfanning. But Mother Nature had other ideas. Day dawned with a howling wind, gusting very much like a full on nor'wester does back home. And we all know how much fun they can be. Drove out to the Kingman Canyon, just outside of Kingman and a famous location for railfanning. Here the BNSF transcon splits into two and so there are two very different main lines through the small but pretty canyon here, plus a massive Santa Fe bridge. So with high hopes I set out, but as soon as I got out of the car I realised it wasn't going to be so easy. The wind was tunnelling down the canyon and it was getting hard to stand. The wind also muffled any train noises so it was impossible to tell if one was near or not. The sun was also on the uphill side which meant for the shots I wanted I'd have to clamber up through rattle snake country; not something I was prepared to do just yet.

Sun on wrong side, hence washed out look :-(

Got one shot of a downhill train on the lower line, really nothing to write home about.

Gave up fairly quickly and headed back to Kingman, pondered my next move for a while and decided to just head back to Flagstaff. Was feeling pretty down at this point, as haven't had many chances to railfan the real thing and I'd really been looking forward to doing the Kingman Canyon. If we head south as planned, there won't be too many more chances either. My other attempts at Donner Pass were thwarted by road works, and at Helper by thunderstorms! This time it was wind. So I was really hacked off about that!!! Drove back feeling a bit glum as the wind buffeted the car. Even by Seligman (where I had a malt and oink burger as comfort food) it was still howling. Took Rt 66 out Seligman and spied a train approaching, and would you believe it the sun was actually in the right place for a good well illuminated 3/4 shot!

Jumped over the tracks and got in position. Got a funny little toot-toot  toot-toot  toot-toot  toooooot from the driver and a wave from the conductor, so must've been a friendly crew.

DPU (distributed power units) pushing on the rear of the train. Front is all the way up at the over bridge.

Two and a half minutes later it'd finally finished passing. Was pleased to see a warbonnet (silver and red Indian chief inspired paint scheme) on the rear in pusher mode. Track speed around here is 65mph and there is every chance this train was doing all of that; trains move very quickly out here, and the daily Amtrak Super Chief makes the BNSF trains look sluggish.

Then it was on to Flagstaff. Was a welcome sight seeing the mountains loom up towards us as we continued to climb.

As we drove Route 66 I was amused to see some Burma Shave adverts, which read as little poems. "If daisies are", "your favourite flower", "then keep pushing" "those miles per hour", "Burma Shave" they'd read on successive boards. Can't buy Burma Shave any more, but back in the day their roadside poems made them #2 shaving cream in the US.

Kingman had its own interesting billboard for a jeweller: "All my husbands buy my diamonds at …". All your husbands huh!? Didn't realise Kingman was that kind of town!

Saw some tumbleweed on the highway, they made a good THUMP sound when you hit them and shatter into a shower of straw, but first time it happens you get an almighty fright as they come out of nowhere in these gusty winds.

Got into Flagstaff and decided to choose a motel. Stopped at the first one we saw, the Red Rose Inn and Motel of Flagstaff, Arizona. Main requirement was wifi which they had. Went in and saw they had an "absolutely no refunds" policy so asked to see room. Went in, it had a really strong smell, but that isn't that unusual for a motel room, usually it airs out in a few minutes. Was looking and the lady came back to ask if all was ok. We were a bit unsure but decided to take it. BIG MISTAKE. Here's the list of tings wrong with the room:

1. Absolutely terrible smell that never went away, even with all doors and windows open and a howling gale blowing. We actually went out and got air freshener for the room it was that bad. Proprietor said it was just the cleaner they use; yeah right.
2. Shower was a mouldy hole in the wall.
3. Only one towel.
4. Indian (i.e. from India) lady was very hard to understand, bit grumpy and completely unhelpful.
5. Wifi didn't work, took me half an hour of pestering her son to get it working; actually had to fix their network myself. Yet they insisted hundreds of guests had used it without problems before; yeah right.
6. Had major problems handling our credit card because we're foreign.
7. Trains toot right outside; bit much even for me!
8. No phone in the room (not a biggy, but I did need to make a call)

What a dive! Not even worth the $40 a night. But no refunds (wonder what Mastercard would say to that?), so left a scathing review online instead. The smell was so bad we slept in our sleeping bags and used our own pillows, rather than dare touch their blankets, and we slept with the windows open all night. Even then when I woke up in the morning I took one sniff and almost gagged it was that terrible. Amazing places like this can continue to operate. By the time we left I couldn't smell anything; only now a day later has my nose recovered its sense of smell.

Interestingly, while I was harassing the guy to get the wireless working a fire truck and ambulance turned up and carried someone off in a stretcher; maybe the smell was that bad??? Well we learned our lesson, and tonight we have a pleasant smelling room in a nice motel with wireless that actually works, and at a cheaper rate!