I'm standin' on the corner in Winslow Arizona

... and such a fine sight to see

its a girl my lord

in a flat bed Ford

slowing' down to take look at me...

Miles today: 235

Miles so far: 3785

It is amazing how one line from the lyrics of one song in the 70s has brought fame and attention to this insignificant little town on Route 66, in Arizona. But they do indeed flock here, presumably in thousands, to take a picture "standin' on the corner..."

And we are no different!

The local gift shop even plays none stop Eagles music all day, every day. We asked the staff if it drove them mad. They said, it could be worse - could be Def Leppard!

It was actually a great visit, and I can't quite believe that this one corner (including it has to be said a rather mediocre breakfast in the Flat Bed Ford Cafe) took up about an hour and half of our time.

Strangely the guy "standin' at the corner" is none of the Eagles, neither is it Jackson Browne, co-writer (with Glenn Frey) of the song. Its just some bloke with a guitar sculpted by Ron Adamson. However Glenn Frey was added at the next lamppost to commemorate his death in 2016. Cue another rubbish selfie.

It sounds silly that just one corner, in a nondescript town, an idea to revitalise tourism by a single line in a song, could hold our attention for so long. But it did, and we all left it feeling uplifted somehow. We loved the place!

The obligatory selfie. Bit serious boys!

Then as it turned out, just down the road at Meteor Crater, we manage to spend another hour and half or so touring the rim of a crater, created by a meteorite some 55,000 years ago, with an explosion something like a thousand times greater than the first atomic bomb. That's about all the facts I remember, but I do recall it took them roughly a hundred years to agree it was even the result of a meteor strike. The owner (its still in private hands), spent some £7m (and went bust) trying to prove that not only was it the result of a meteor strike but that the meteor itself was buried in the crater. He turned out to be right on the first count and utterly wrong on the second. It is now accepted that the meteor broke up and scattered on explosion and bits of it were eventually found all over the nearby landscape - all of it very heavy! The guide explained that it was 92% iron, 10% nickel and 1% other - which unless my maths has seriously deteriorated is impossible! Hey ho. I think we will just go with a lot of heavy metal! Def Leppard again!

We also signed the wall!

It too was a fabulous visit, even if somewhat unexpected, and with our stop in Winslow accounts for why we didn't arrive in Page, AZ until well gone 6pm. Although we are still completely confused by the time as some clocks are one hour ahead on Navajo time and some aren't. We think we are on the same time as Nevada, but tomorrow we go forward an hour again in Utah, so basically we don't know what the time is! Even our phones are saying different times! If we meet successfully by the bikes in the morning it will be a miracle.

Our only other stop of the day was at yet another National Monument (or maybe Park, I can't remember) - Walnut Canyon, just outside Flagstaff. We didn't do this justice as there was rain in the air and blue skies to the north in our direction, so we rushed in and out. We had also done our usual habit of being no more than half way to our destination by mid afternoon.

Cliff dwellings in Walnut Canyon

Our final ride of the day then was due north, out of Flagstaff, along a straightforward road but with magnificent views of red sandstone mesas along virtually the whole route. We stopped a couple of times, just to drink in the beauty of the place - impossibly red rocks and ridiculous azure skies - and of course to make sure we were late reaching our hotel as usual!

Because, as usual, we ... Take It Easy 🎶

Its all about the bikes!

Ditto!

And finally ... its a girl my lord, in a flat bed Ford