Day 7 - Kingman to Santa Fe

We wanted to get an early start this morning so that we didn't get home too late. I had a few things I wanted to get done on the way. There were a few letterboxes to find, driving down a portion of Route 66 (from Kingman to Seligman) and checking on one of my letterboxes. After getting ready, packing and loading the car we had a little breakfast before hitting the road around 7:00am.

Route 66 - Kingman to Seligman

It was cold and overcast as the sun started to come up and soon into our drive it started to drizzle and then that turned into flurries. We arrived in Hackberry and pulled over around mile marker 80 to find Azroadie's Hackberry 66 box. It was an easy find that was done as it started to snow. When I had the box in hand I went back to the car to stamp in. When done I ran back to the hiding spot to replace the box and while the snow was getting heavier. The next stop was the Hackberry General Store for SnakeDoctor's Hackberry 66 General Store. We pulled up in front of the building and parked. There was no other cars around and the store was closed. I wasn't sure if the owner knew about the box but I didn't feel right about walking around the place snooping for a letterbox - so we decided to forego this one and head over to Valentine. We stopped at Keepers of the Wild Nature Park for two boxes. Both have the same name - Keepers of the Wild. One is by Desert Pirates (planted in June '07) and the other is by SnakeDoctor (planted in Oct '15). SnakeDoctor had told me that she wasn't sure if the older one was still there. I guess that there has been some attempts, but I decided to give it a try. It was still snowing there but not too hard. Thomas parked on the side of the road near the spot where the box was suppose to be hidden. I read the clues while in the car and found the landmarks I needed. When I felt I knew the spot I got out of the car and started looking. I found the box quickly, or at least I hoped it was the box. The container is a plastic reusable water bottle (at least that is what it looked like to me) and the top was broken and the bottle was filled with water. So I dumped the water and pulled out the ziplock bag with the stamp and logbook and dumped water out of that as well. The logbook was soaked so I left it in the bag. I did this while standing out in the snow. Now that the water was out of the box I got in the car and put the box on the floor. I grabbed the stamp (a plastic store bought image) and stamped in. I wiped down the box as well as I could and put everything back into the container. I didn't have any supplies to clean up the box. I decided I would write to SnakeDoctor to let her know and find out if it was the right box and maybe she could fix it up on one of her next outings. I put the box back where I found it and made some notes so that I could let SnakeDoctor know. Then we drove to the entrance and parked near the fence. Here I found SnakeDoctor's box. This is a much better box. Nice carves and hidden well. Since it was still snowing I stamped in while sitting in the car. I quickly got the box back into place and we continued on. Continuing on Route 66 we drove to Grand Canyon Caverns. We stopped here to look for HappyFeet'08's Grand Canyon Caverns letterbox.

Seligman, Arizona

The box is planted near a wooden cut out of a dinosaur. It was an easy find and I took it back to the car to stamp in. The snow had stopped but every thing was wet so it was easier to stamp in while sitting in the car. After getting that done we continued on Route 66 to Seligman. We stopped at a small little park to look for Wronghat's Water letterbox. Again this was another quick and easy find. After stamping in and getting the box back into place I decided to walk around the town a little and take some pictures. About 20 minutes later we were back on the road taking I40 east. During the drive between Seligman and Williams it started snowing again. So we decided to exit to Williams on Route 66 to get something to eat. It was just after 10:00am when we stopped for a little breakfast. After a relaxing meal we headed out again and by this time the snow had stopped.

Back on I40 we continued our drive east. The next planned stop was at Houck near an old trading post that is now closed down. I found RIclimber's RIclimber Visits Arizona! hidden at the base of the sign for the trading post. This box was a micro box and only contained a stamp - no logbook. It was a quick stamp in and then we were driving again. We stopped only a few exits down at Lupton and drove to the Arizona Welcome Center (that incidentally has a sign on the door that it is closed permanently). I followed the clues and found Public Hand's Southwestern Pottery. I took it to the car to stamp in and then replaced it. We were in and out of there in no time. 

Almost as soon as we got back onto I40 we entered New Mexico.

Snowy Scene near my Alphabetical New Mexico: Z Box

When we arrived in Gallup we took NM602 south to check on my Alphabetical New Mexico: Z (Zuni Pueblo) letterbox. I got a note that the lid was missing and I didn't want the box to be sitting all winter exposed to the elements. When we arrived in Gallup it had started snowing again and by the time we arrived at my box it was snowing hard. Thankfully all I needed to do was put a new box (stamp and logbook and container) in place and grab the old one. I am glad we made the stop. The lid was missing and the bottom part of the box was cracked and broken. At least the finders were kind and made sure the stamp and logbook were double bagged and closed completely so that the logbook was in tact. The place had a great layer of snow so I took some time to take a few pictures.

View along I40

Now it was time to head for home.

We didn't need to stop for anything (there are some boxes along I40 around Grants but we had decided that they would wait until another trip. So we just drove and drove and drove. The weather went from snow to overcast to sunny and then back to snow between Gallup and Santa Fe. We finally arrived home around 6:00pm to some very happy dogs. I hope they missed us because we sure missed them. This trip was incredible! We saw places and things that we had on our list to do and places we had never been. We found some great letterboxes and vistied with friends and made a few new ones. I have to say that traveling through Arizona in November is wonderful. It wasn't too hot or too cold - even though there was some snow it wasn't anything major and didn't deter our trip or plans. As usual we had a great time but it is nice to be back home.

Today's Stats . . .
Starting Time: 7:00am; Ending Time: 6:05pm
Total Time for the Day = 11 hours 05 minutes
Miles Driven = 556
Roads Taken: Sycamore Avenue ➛ Stockton Hill Road ➛ Andy Devine Avenue ➛ Route 66 ➛ I40 ➛ Route 66 ➛ I40 ➛ NM602 ➛ I40 ➛ I25 ➛ NM599 ➛ Browncastle Ranch
Weather: Dark/Cold → Drizzle → Snow → Snow/Freezing Rain → Overcast/Cold → Flurries → Snow → Sunshine → Snow → Overcast/Windy/Cold → Sunshine → Snow
Temperatures: AM ▸ Kingman = 39°; Noon ▸ Holbrook = 40°; PM ▸ Santa Fe = 28°
Letterboxes Found = 7; Letterboxes Attempted = 7