Did I mention in prior posts how windy it has been? We did not know what windy was until Tuesday. We left Santa Fe about 8:45 am (local time) anticipating a long day of driving and stopping in a Wal-Mart parking lot for the night and continuing on to Las Vegas today. Mike is always checking the weather and we knew the winds were going to be bad around Flagstaff, AZ. They were bad the whole way. And we didn’t even make it to Flagstaff. Outside of Albuquerque the awning over a side window blew open. We pulled over to put it back in. The wind snapped the strap right off, but the awning did go up in its casing. So we thought it would be OK. Wrong. A few miles down the road it started flapping again. We were now by Gallup, NM and started making phone calls (Thank you Lord, for cell phones with internet capabilities). Action Auto and Truck Repair said they could help us and fortunately, we were only 3 miles from their exit. We had to go down a dirt road and pulled into what looked like a junkyard. The two guys couldn’t have been nicer and the decision was made to just remove the whole awning. I sat in the RV while they did this (why stand outside, I already had enough dust in my eyes and teeth). The motorhome swayed back and forth, like a ride at an amusement park. It was too dangerous to be on a ladder, so the guy pulled his pickup next to the RV to stand in to take the awning off.
A half hour and 50 bucks later we were back on I-40. At times we encountered “brown outs”. This would be like whiteouts from snow back home; this was from the dust blowing so fiercely. Mike had a death grip on the steering wheel. It was not easy driving but he did a great job.
About 5, an electric sign on the interstate said I-40 was closed ahead due to high winds. We debated what to do (pull over and wait until it open was one option). Again, with the help of our mobile devices and apps, we found a campground outside of Holbrook, AZ and decided to call it a day, It is stressful driving in those conditions.
When we looked on the map, we realized the campground was 15 miles from the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. We still had plenty of daylight so we unhooked the Jeep and took off. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons – had the interstate not closed down, we would have missed this spectacular area.
After paying the entrance fee, we drove a 28-mile circuit through the park. They had scenic turnouts to pull over. On some we could stay in the car and have great views. On others we got out and walked short trails. They had longer trails at some spots, but if it was over .5 miles, we didn’t do it as the winds were still whipping.
The Painted Desert consists of rock formations in varied colors. My favorite was an area called The Tepees. The rocks resembled huge tepees with layers of blues, purples and grays. Twice this past year (once in Hawaii and once on the shore of Lake Superior) I built a rock tower. It is difficult to get the right combination of rocks so they will balance to build a decent size tower. (I was lucky if it was 18-24 inches!) Here we saw HUGE, natural rock towers, with the top rock perched so precariously-looking that you wonder how it stays there. Only by the hand of God.
Interestingly, the Petrified Forest is not a forest in the normal sense. There are no standing trees. Instead, there are chunks and sections of wood strewn across the grassland. According to the brochure, the wood is millions of years old. Like Petoskey stones, whose beauty is revealed with water and polishing, the petrified wood is much prettier if it still has amethyst or quartz crystals in it or has been polished. Removing any petrified wood from the park is a crime, but there is plenty in the surrounding area in front of gas stations, shops, restaurants, etc.
Our night ended with a wolf walking in front of the motorhome!
Left this morning at 6:45 am local time under much calmer conditions to continue on.
Our friend Richard in Oklahoma City sent us off with a twist on the saying, “Go west, young man.” His version was, “Go west and be young, man.”
We intend to do just that.
Pictures today are of typical scenery while driving; me looking at handcrafted items made by the Native American women. She was by herself and had her wares displayed at a pull-off (wasn’t even a rest stop and yes, I did buy something from her); a view out the front window of the blowing dust; petroglyphs etched into rocks at the PF National Park; the Tepees; a chunk of petrified wood; our upscale haven from the wind; and the mountain we could see from 50 miles away approaching Flagstaff. (and what do you suppose the early settlers heading west were thinking seeing this in front of them!)
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