GETTING FROM A TO B TODAY

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Here’s my thing I forgot to tell you before. Somewhere in New Mexico there was a volcano 10,000 years ago that erupted and spewed lava all over the place. This is relatively recent in the overall scheme of things. I noticed as I was humming along down the road that the rocks had turned from red to pure black. Upon further viewing of large outcrops I could determine that the rocks were definitely lava stone. And then I saw a sign advertising “Ice Caves/Banderos Volcano” - that confirmed my suspicions.

Petrified wood - some of them are absolutely stunning - one of those small pieces would look fantastic in my garden. However, I don’t want to go to prison for taking one. I’m sorry you will have to wait for some time to get any more pictures of petrified wood. Internet is so weak in these campgrounds I can’t upload any pictures so they will have to wait until I can get somewhere with stronger signals. Might have something to do with all the mountains.

I don’t know if I mentioned it but US40 runs along the same route as the historic Route 66. Along the way, I came upon Winslow, Arizona. I HAD to go in to view the historic downtown for a special reason. But first I want to tell you about some of the towns that were severely affected by the building of US 40. The throughway bypassed all those interesting towns that were so much a part of Route 66 back in the 50’s and 60’s. A couple of days ago in New Mexico I needed to stop for gas and so I swung off the freeway into McLean, a small town that was in its heyday when the old road still went through loaded with tourists. Now McLean is pretty much a ghost town. The old buildings have been deserted and are crumbling. There was one small variety/gas station (thank goodness) and a tiny grocery store. I would say that 80% of the town is deserted. They didn’t keep their heritage alive. Some of the towns have taken advantage of the tourist lure and kept their history going. Winslow is one of those towns. There is a beautiful downtown that is active and attractive. Winslow had something special going for it that they have taken full advantage of. The Eagles band made the song “Take it Easy” and the lyrics included “Standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona”. This made the town famous and it has been milked for all its worth ever since. There are life size statues of two of the band members on that corner and it is quite an attraction. I felt emotional for some reason to be there - took me back a lot of years.

So Flagstaff is the next important spot where I have to turn north to go to Page. I was warned by a nice couple from Nfld that I met yesterday that I would encounter snow in Flagstaff. As I rolled along, I could tell I was gaining altitude steadily and the closer I got to Flagstaff the more snow I saw on the roadsides. It had been raining since I left Holbrook this morning and as I approached the city limits of Flagstaff it turned to snow - big fat wet snowflakes & lots of them. Because my route was headed north a couple of hundred miles I wondered what the weather would be like. However, the funny thing is when I left Flagstaff the snow quit and it returned to rain. So it was obviously only snowing over that city.

I am surprised by the snow. When I researched my trip I checked the temperatures of everywhere I was going to be. But then I realized that originally I was leaving 2 weeks later but decided I needed to be home for Easter so backed up departure date from March 29 to March 16. Guess that explains why it’s so cold and snowy here yet.

Damn - I am getting frustrated with the internet cutting off and on. I wrote a whole 2 paragraphs and when I tried to save it, the internet bumped me again. Here goes again.

A large part of the 200 miles to Page is a Navajo reservation. I read somewhere that this is the largest reservation in the US. The authorities gave the Indians the worst land and kept the best for themselves! This is desolate rock base desert with sparse plants and sometimes just intermittent grass. Badlands took up quite a bit of where I drove through with the beautiful striated mountains, mesas and canyons. The people make the best of it by having businesses along the roadside. There were many small flea market type vendor set ups but none of them were open yet - selling jewellery, pottery, weaving, etc. I did stop at Cameron trading post which was a really nice gift shop and lovely dining room. I decided to splurge and have lunch which was chicken quesadilla. Delicious! And so big I could only eat half - there’s my dinner for tonight. It was served with spicy salsa and guacamole. Why can’t we get guacamole that tastes like that at home?

Back on the road I am gaining altitude and encounter some snow but nothing serious. Soon the road is running along side a line of stunning pure red mountains. Finally I find a pullover spot so I can take a picture and not a minute down the road I discover that I am going up and over that mountain. It was a hard pull up those steep inclines and I stopped at a scenic view to take a couple of pictures. This is a mesa and the road runs along the flat top for quite a while. There were 3 instances where the low clouds were like a curtain pooling down onto the road and I drove through the clouds. Eventually the road descended and I know that Page is not too far away.

We are settled in our campground for the night. Tomorrow I have a tour booked for the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon. Too bad you won’t see any pictures of it for a few days. I am struggling so much with this internet that I am posting this now.

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