We pulled out of Williams, AZ, this morning at about 7:30. We are headed to Albuquerque today to meet up with other Airstreamers. The caravan officially starts tomorrow, but we wanted to arrive one day early. (Many caravaners arrive several days ahead of the official start…)
The drive was uneventful across the rest of Arizona. We are in the mountains of Flagstaff, Winslow, and Winona, with elevations from 5,000 ft. to a maximum of 7,275 ft. The countryside was beautiful – so much more green than it was last year when we came through here in June…
The good news! Many of the worst roads that we experienced last year have been repaired, or were being repaired as we detoured past the construction zones.
As we approached Gallop, NM, we saw billboard after billboard advertising the El Rancho Hotel . Since we wanted to stop for lunch, we pulled off onto another remnant of Route 66 and drove through Downtown Gallop. Our GPS led us to the hotel; it has obviously seen better days…
We soon realized that we had come in through the rear… The front looks a little better…
The hotel was built in the 1930s, and for the next 20 years was heavily used by the Hollywood film industry as headquarters for various movies being filmed in the rugged areas around here. The lobby was very “old west”…
We had lunch in the restaurant… Not quite the same scenic view as yesterday…
It was a fascinating place. We peeked into the bar and also the “49er Room” – a night club type of space that must have been really hopping in the olden days of the 1950s.
After lunch, as we walked back towards The Villa, it started to rain. For the next 2 hours or so it continued to rain, with some extremely heavy thunder and lightning showers and amazing cross-winds blowing across the freeway. A trailer traveling ahead of us was being blown all over the road, but The Villa held firm – sort of like an anchor.
The rain stopped, the skies cleared, and we pulled into American RV Park in Albuquerque. We beheld a wondrous sight:
We parked The Villa and set up – we are here for 4 nights…
We had a little Happy Hours and met a few of the other caravaners. We also received our Drivers Manual, so we now know where we are going to be for the next 51 days. We watched the sun set…
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 
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