Welcome to Route 66 – Part Five – New Mexico to Arizona

Route 66 – Part Five – New Mexico to Arizona
For Wed. November 12, 2025  

https://cdn.mygrandcanyonpark.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/az-williams-cruisers-rte66-cafe-dusk_ordelheide_1600.jpg?crop=535:301&width=1070&enable=upscale

https://www.route66roadtrip.com/images/route66-maps/historic-us-route66-map.jpg

Background

This is a continuation of our flights via Historic Route 66 trip in msfs2024 in the vintage Douglas DC-3” 1930’s aircraft. This section of the historic highway is in increasingly interesting terrain as elevations are definitely getting hillier and much more rugged and will continue as we travel westward.  

This is vintage Route 66 excursion is between Grants, New Mexico and Kingman, Arizona which is a journey through rock cuts, river valleys and gorges as we enter the mountainous ranges and the area of the Grand Canyon. Also in this section, 26 nm west of our initial departure location we reach what is known as the “Continental Divide” of the Americas!

The continental divide is a natural boundary or ridge that separates large-scale drainage basins on a continent, causing water to flow in different directions toward different oceans or seas. The most prominent example in North America is the Continental Divide that runs along the crest of the Rocky Mountains, with rivers to the west flowing into the Pacific and rivers to the east flowing toward the Atlantic, Arctic, or Hudson Bay. These divides are significant geological features that determine major watersheds of the country. We’ll pass the continental divide point at Exit 47 of Hwy 40; along Route 66 which is the physical location of the continental divide at our route latitude. 

Following the crossing of the divide, we’ll fly over the city of Gallup, New Mexico then 18 nm further we’ll cross the New Mexico border into Arizona and visit towns of Winslow, Flagstaff, Williams and Ash Fork which appear almost frozen in time: 1930’s-1960’s. And finally, we’ll arrive at the entrance into the Grand Canyon. Indeed the terrain is getting interesting, to say the least.  

Our Trip

This is part five which covers historic Route 66 from Grant, New Mexico to Kingman, Arizona. The trip is 335 nm along the historic highway route and contains six intermediate stopovers at: KGUP/Gallup which is the last airport of this trip that is in New Mexico. The follow stops are in Arizona: P14/Holbrook, KINW/Winslow, KFLS/Flagstaff, KFLG/Flagstaff Pulliiam, AZ77/Sunrise, P23 Seligman, and L37/Grand Canyon, then we land at our final destination AZ97/ X-Bar which is in the city of Kingman, Arizona. 

Following this excursion, there is only one more flight to complete Route 66: which will take us from Kingman, Arizona to Santa Monica, California!  Route 66, as we know it, was concluded in 1926 so its 100th anniversary will be in 2026. 

Aircraft: 

This trip along Route 66 was intended to be flown in the Douglas DC-3 in MSFS2024 but as always, please fly your aircraft of choice.

Mod Recommended for DC-3: https://flightsim.to/file/43893/duckworks-dc-3-improvement-mod by Imenes

Add-on Scenery:  All airports are in the default sim but if you want some eye candy: 

  https://flightsim.to/file/53004/kgnt-grants-milan-municipal-airport (by tumbleweed)
*https://flightsim.to/file/746/flagstaff-pulliam-airport-kflg (by JustOkayPilot)  
   * requires Mikea.at - AssetPack by Mikea.at)
(KFLG is also available in a payware version by UK2000Scenery)

FP, itinerary, etc can be found HERE.

Time and Weather

Prefer to fly real weather if possible but if not, the few clouds or high clouds might make a nice choice.  For takeoff: set the simulator time to @0630 (ish) local.  (This time simulates a dawn flight and so that the sun is behind us and NOT in our eyes for the entire trip as we are heading west!)

Multiplayer Particulars

Date and time: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 - 1800 UTC, 1400 Eastern
AVSIM Discord Server: https://discord.gg/K5Vy6UxWNm  - AVSIM GROUP EVENTS-WED. COM1
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: EAST-USA Server

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks! 

Norm Richards
November 2025