Tag: airstream

The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. The Mother Road Episode 24

After the fun little trips around here, the day was ripe for the National Park extravaganza. The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert..two National Parks separated by Route 66. The weather was cooperating…having had a day of rain and coolness the day before, we figured an early start for the drive up through the parks was in order.

We headed for the south gate of the Petrified Forest. (There is only one road up through the parks.)It was the second National Monument designated by Roosevelt …and was switched to National Park status in 1961, a truly extraordinary place.

As you enter the park gate, almost immediately there are large chunks of tree trunk…..except they are agate and jasper.

The visitor centre is a lovely little vintage construction that really has not changed a whole lot since it was built in 1931.

I suspect that this is yet another of these places that the pictures just can’t convey just how incredible this landscape is.

They reckon these trees are 216 million years old……..now does that not just give you pause for thought…For context…..T-Rex is about 66 million years old.

When you stand next to these massive tree trunks, the bark, the knots, the rings in the cross-section don’t require any imagination to see them.

That and they are just …..beautiful…!!!

As we drove from the south gate north, there are designated lookout spots and walkways to allow you to grasp some concept of the landscape while minimising the erosion damage from the tourism that helps to support the parks.

…but looking beyond these incredible relics…..the vistas are breathtaking…

With the amount of iron rich rock laying on the surface I am astonished that the area was not stripped of minerals in the late 1800s when they were building the railroads……

Each lookout is yet another extraordinary vista which…if the signage is to be believed…has not changed much despite us humans…..!!

The shade structures at most of the lookout points were very welcome. This was not the hottest of days……it was only 34 Celsius (93F) but it’s so exposed that the sun is quite relentless.

This one was set up for viewing an agate bridge, a tree bridging the creek….it had been shored up by concrete to try and preserve it in the early 1900’s

The Blue Mesa Trail…this was a steep walk/climb down following a paved trail….it was like a moonscape down there…..and the heat was oppressive. I’m glad it was only 34C….!!! This badlands area is striped purple…. and it really is purple.

Newspaper rock..….an ancient spot for petroglyphs…..these pictures were taken with the long lens as you can’t get close to them for fear of vandalism.

The Peurco pueblo is a 1200 year old village remnant which demonstrates a very sophisticated social and agricultural structure in the area at that time.

With a solstice marker….

…and some very cool petroglyphs….

I just love the little goats……. 😁

…and if the day was not full enough…..we cross the I-44 (the modern route following old 66)

……. and now we have the Painted Desert National Park.

The crows were well used to the tourist audience…….I had to share a little trail mix…they asked so politely…!!!

Painted desert inn….what an interesting place. This 1920’s inn is the only piece of route 66 inside a National Park. The building and the furniture inside it was constructed largely by Franklin Roosevelts Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was a brainchild of Roosevelt to provide employment and skills training to young men in the post depression era. I had never heard of this organisation before….it was quite the project….

What a great place to stop for a most welcome ice cream…..

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Walking on the moon. The Mother Road Episode 25.

It’s difficult to comprehend (for me anyway) that Holbrook AZ is at an elevation of 1548m (5079 ft) above sea level, then continuing west on route 66 the road climbs another 558m (1830ft) to Flagstaff at 2106m (6909ft) above sea level.

The upside of this much up is that it also keeps the temps a little more livable which, as we were heading into the July 4th weekend….seemed important. Prepping for July 4th weekend in the US was a bit stressful……anticipating fully booked campgrounds and much Independence Day revelry, I was relieved to score a site at the somewhat dubiously named…Black Barts . There had been a great deal of emailing and phone calling to many campgrounds in the area, so it was a bit of a concern….thankfully it turned out to be just fine….(and they gave me a nice shady spot…..!!)

As we drove into Flagstaff, we passed a sign for Walnut Canyon …..Hmmmm…Interesting…I looked it up as we drove and it turned out to be yet another National Monument.

Walnut Canyon National Monument

From the visitor center (where they strongly advise everyone to carry water…and to drink said water…!!) there is a staircase down to a loop trail that takes you around the cliff dwellings that are estimated to be around 1200 years old.

It’s a long way down….and all the time you are acutely aware that 1. it’s blistering hot…..and 2. it’s a loooong way back up again…..LOL…

The trail is one way only…..and not very wide, so you really would not want to be passing anyone.

But it is an incredible little window into a time past…..

…as well as being a geological marvel…..

On the walls of the caves you can still see the smoke streaks from the fires used to keep warm in winter.

It was sufficiently fascinating to distract from looking over to the right where the drop off down the canyon was……..daunting…..

The path back up was not as bad as anticipated…..it was pretty brutally hot down there tho…the increase in elevation putting us ever closer to the surface of the sun

Totally worth the visit……those ever so helpful rangers pointed us in the direction of Sunset Crater and the Wupatki Pueblo as well……so…..off we went….

Sunset Crater National Monument

Here we find ourselves in another lava field. Maybe its just me , but I think these places are mesmerizing. 1000 years later the landscape has barely changed.

As the road winds through the park, there are designated parking areas for some short, marked trails. Much of the park is restricted access in an attempt to reduce erosion of the landscape.

Just about the time that it’s occurring to you that this is like a moonscape……the confirmation appears in front of you. Yes !!… this is the area that was used for training astronauts for their first steps on the moon’s surface.

….then we found lots of these little guys running around. You can only spot them when they move….they blend so well with their background.

The bigger trail up to the crater was closed following wildfire damage….so the closest we could get was this boardwalk trail. Probably a good thing…it was warm for hiking…!!!

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Standing on the Corner. The Mother Road episode 23.

We had a great time in Milan. A tiny, unassuming little town (with two local craft brewers..!!) and great access to some phenomenal natural experiences.

We were a little sad to leave…mostly because of the big shade tree over the trailer…!!…..but the road was calling, and the temperature in Arizona and California was rising. I kept looking ahead at the weather maps and was dreading what was coming. If 39 deg C is unbearably hot…..what could 49 be…!!!

The last New Mexico Route 66 stop was Gallup. Our plan was a stop at the visitor centre and use their parking lot for a lunch stop, which was partly foiled as it was closed for the holiday weekend (July 4 Independence Day).

We were still able to park and have a wander back up the main drag for some of the old motels and signs.

Gallup was a little different to many of these small towns, many of the classic motels were still in operation if a little run down……

….and the more famous, El Rancho, looked to be in fine shape…though we did not go in….

There were many small galleries, native craft makers and suppliers…. apparently, something else Gallup is famed for

Back on the road….It is very obvious when you cross into Arizona. There is a dramatic change in the landscape, a terrific grand-ness to the scenery bordering the highway……incredible red rock cliffs. (pictures with my phone do it no justice)

Our target destination today was Holbrook, Arizona…the closest town to the twin National Parks of the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. Route 66 passes right through the middle of these two…….and very handily close to Winslow, so we unhooked the trailer at the Holbrook KOA and booted it over there……you just gotta go there…. 😁

…and now you are all singing it…..LOL……

It has to be one of the best set up and maintained ‘attractions’ we have seen so far…..that and you are singing that song in your head for days…before and after….but it was very cool.

Winslow is not a big town as there was nothing remarkable about it other than the tourist traffic stopping for the selfie on the corner……us included.

From Winslow we followed ol’ 66 back as far as we could…through Joseph City and found some marvelously photogenic dereliction and these very curious tipis everywhere.

Another oddity of this area is that a lot of the land is native reserve. They don’t observe daylight savings on reserves in AZ…so consequently the time keeps flipping back and forward as you drive down the road…..very confusing when you are not from there….

Holbrook itself has a little collection of old motels and this absolute classic still in operation…….the very amazing Wig Wam hotel.……. Every room/wigwam was decked out with classic cars……

..it was such an experience …we had to come back and see it lit up at night.

We were almost totally distracted from some of the other stuff on Holbrooks main drag…..

That was a lot for one day…….and more excitement to come with the National Parks to visit tomorrow…whoooeee…!!!!

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Hemingway was here. The Mother Road Episode 22.

Having had a quite fabulous time investigating the New Mexico landscape….. the official Route 66 attractions from this section of the road were beckoning. It was another backtracking trip……but one where the road (old highway 66) was actually in fairly good condition.

We drove all the way back to Casa Blanca, New Mexico for the Budville Trading Co. . It sounds very grand…but in reality it’s remote, desolate and, as with much of the 66 ‘attractions’….derelict.

Bud Rice and his wife opened the service station in 1928…Bud was the only towing service for many miles….and also became the Justice of the Peace. Apparently, he had a reputation for issuing hefty fines for minor infractions by unsuspecting travelers…….Ultimately, he was shot and killed in a robbery in 1968. Sounds like just the sort of colourful character and behavior you’d expect out here in the wild west.

Budville yielded a little collection of crumbling buildings and signs.

Next town on the return drive west was Villa de Cubero….another unexpected little gem of history.

This was a great little trading post/’tourist court’… (motel and convenience store..!!)…built in 1937 when the route was realigned and paved……still in operation. We scored some locally milled blue corn flour here…. 😁. But the history of this place was more impressive than that…

This place is also a little motel….

…..and reputed to be where Hemingway stayed while he wrote “The Old Man and the Sea”. If one wanted solitude to write this is the place, no busier now than it would have been then.

There were a few stops along the road for old signage often buried in trees……

…and some spectacular landscape vistas.

Among the attractions listed in the 66 route guide are the old pueblos in Acoma, but with a request/warning not to photograph them. It was our first encounter with some of these quite ancient dwellings. The construction is quite simple but still has that “grown out of the earth’ feel that is so much New Mexico.

We took a drive up to the Santa Maria Mission…(where we were allowed to photograph)…..the view from here down the valley was breathtaking…and impossible to photograph the scale.

Our journey brought us back down through Grants, where the entire town is a veritable neon sign/motel graveyard in its own right.

Scott had lots of fun leaping out of the truck and wandering round some of these (very sketchy) sites. Grants is a place which really exemplifies the short history of Route 66 from humble beginings, to hey day and in short order to what you see here.

It was quite sad to see a town that had quite obviously been a going concern in its day……

I think that this was one of Scotts favourite signs so far….LOL….

…and of course we just had to do the pic in the 66 gateway…… 😁

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Over Lava Falls, Up Sandstone Bluffs. The Mother Road Episode 21.

After a long chat with one of the rangers about the bats, he also highly recommended the viewpoint at the sandstone bluffs. So, of course…we drove down there. Detailed maps of the park and any info you could want are freely provided at the visitors’ centers.

One of the short trails partway down the road is a viewpoint for a massive sandstone arch, carved out of the cliff by hundreds of years of wind.

It was a day for slow paced walking and many extra bottles of water, but a worthwhile stop.

The downside of stopping is always the lack of shade…..even for this short stop the truck interior (black of course….!!) would become stickily hot.

Onward to the bluffs….

Most of the elevation gain is the drive up there….which is fortunate considering the heat and lack of shade. At the top was the ranger we spoke to earlier, chatting and answering questions, we were most envious of his office. I’m not sure the pictures convey the scale, the height of the bluffs or the vastness of the valley…….spectacular…!!!

An impossilbly beautiful high viewpoint that lays out the whole valley floor in full panorama….and likely a point where anyone who lived here 3,000 years ago may well have watched that magma oozing out of the ground as it happened.

There are rock pools dotted around the top (we had watched the National Park video in the visitor centre so we knew to look for them..!!) There are populations of tadpoles and ghost shrimp…incredible place to find these tiny swimmers….

Yes…that is a shrimp in the middle of that picture……

We had a wander around in this magnificent landscape…..

There are always the reminders of the recent usage of this terrain.

A quick stop was made on the way back down b/c we spotted this little derelict building (what is a route 66 post without a little dereliction…LOL)

Time for another (small) hike although trying not to be too ambitious as general temp was high….but the black basalt rock makes it even hotter when you are out there.

The Lava Falls Walk is part of an ancient route the indigenous population used to cross the lava fields. For more modern hiking/walking this part is marked with small cairns, although still very easy to become disoriented in these surroundings. Only admiring the surroundings once stationary, gazing at the landscape while trekking across it, well that way lies disaster as you can see from the photos.

….and as the sign suggests…you really don’t want to fall…..this stuff will shred your hands, knees and boompsadaisy…….!!!

What a fascinating place to be……you can clearly see all of the bubbles, swirls and oozing stuff, now frozen in time.

Here’s me for scale again…..

We were stepping carefully over cracks in the earth…..and staring in wonder at the life clinging on in such a harsh place.

There were a couple of spots where we lost the line of cairns and had to backtrack a little…….and amazing how quickly one can become completely disoriented…..( I was also following Alltrails..!!)

The contrast between the sandstone bluffs and the lava fields below is mind-blowingly stark. Such an ancient, untouched landscape……another place where you can really get a sense of how it looked hundreds of years ago…….fabulous place…..

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Fire and Ice. The Mother Road Episode 20

Having thoroughly enjoyed Albuquerque and now with two fully functioning AC units (phew) Scott spotted our next side trip …the Bandera Crater, Fire and Ice.

To reach a convenient jumping off point for Bandera, we picked a campground in Milan, New Mexico….The Bar S. Great little campground. As we progressed across the continent with increasing temperatures, I was learning to check google maps satellite view and choose campgrounds with shade trees…..!!!

So…to Milan, a tiny town just off the highway, with a 30 minute drive to Bandera. After I made the booking, I spotted another campground that also had an onsite Kraft brewery (darn it..!!)

Driving the highway towards Grants/Milan we were surprised to be driving through a lava field…well actually a magma field…it’s an astonishing landscape….it looks so recent and hard to imagine how long ago this actually occurred..

The drive down to the Bandera Crater takes you across El Malpais National Monument. It’s an extraordinary landscape…we had no idea that it existed until we were driving through it. A bit of investigation revealed that the first flow is about 10,000 years old and the most recent….3,000 years old. It is astonishing to see the wrinkles and bubbles of magma that looks like it might have happened last year……

Bandera promised a walk to the volcanic rim (it was a very warm for a walk on black lava rock…… 33 Celsius./91F….!!)… and a descent to a frozen cave.

Although not a challenging walk…… it is an extraordinary display of all the varied volcanic features from lave tubes to tree holes…..

A wide variety of plants were clinging to life in this very severe black basalt.

It’s a fairly short walk up to the crater itself with an easy wide trail of crushed basalt.

….and then down the other side to find the path to the caves…..

You have to get all the way to the steps before you see them…..

….and the descent…. not that far but you can really feel the temperature drop as you go down….

Another extraordinary sight/experience….amazing mother earth…..

The visitor centre is another great experience……quite….rustic….and not in the trendy, but very genuine, sense of the word…great little place…..

Next stop was the trailhead for El Calderone……a hike that we had scoped out and planned to follow the next day. The El Malpais area was used by the American military for munitions testing and training in the second world war, Consequently there are warnings about finding old ordnance in the area…. 😮

A trip to the visitor centre for this National Parks gave us another idea tho.

We found the information for a bat outflight which occurs from the larger volcanic caves in this area.( As ever in the US National Parks, the Rangers were super friendly and helpful.) How could we resist….. The planned Ranger led trip ended up being cancelled due to heavy rain that night (bats don’t fly when they are wet..!!) …but we were able to return the next night to the same spot.

We were joined by a group of Boy Scouts and their leaders who had spotted the activity during a trip they had made to hike the Grand Canyon…so they were weary and dusty but very excited. They were a great group to share this amazing experience with.

We waited for the moments just before dusk…and all of a sudden …the cloud of 3000-4000 bats appeared in the cave mouth, swirled a little and then flew east.

They swirled around us…you could hear them and feel the air movement as they whirled around us…..It was a surprisingly emotional experience…..incredible…the photos definitely don’t do justice to what it’s like….

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Albuquerque Part 2. The Mother Road Episode 19

On a mission to collect a few more ticks on the Route 66 dance card we headed off to try to find the Railyards. Google was not particularly helpful on this quest……but what she did find was one of Albuquerques’ real gems……Wheels Museum.

This is a small but magnificent little museum dedicated to the history of transportation in Albuquerque. It’s run entirely by a wonderful group of volunteers and funded solely by donations.

Lots of Route 66 stuff…..A very real and tangible reminder of just how difficult and risky it was for those escaping the dust bowl, searching for that new life out west.

….and just plain cool old car stuff……

….and some ironically relevant connections for us…..!!!

I almost tripped across this old thing propped against the wall…….it’s a motorcycle….!!!

We met and chatted with Ron Perea historian and author, generous, engaging and informative volunteer at the museum. The museum version of Mariachi Elvis, but this time a stand-up comedian, with an equal enthusiasm and an incredible in-depth historical knowledge.

His area of interest was the Alvarado Hotel. There is a scale model of this historic building in the museum…..it was host to many celebrity guests in its day…..

He also gave us a bit of the history of the Harvey girls, which we also found hugely ironic as you might imagine…… here’s the Harvey girl…with the Harvey girl….LOL

The staff in the museum were also very helpful directing us to the Railyards market…. a huge indoor/outdoor vendors market/farmers market in the old railyards in Albuquerque…right behind the museum….LOL….

You may recognise some of the shots if you were a fan of the Breaking Bad series.

The Wheels people were there too….. 😁

……..and then of course….we have to do the evening run through the city to secure the pictures of their Route 66 neon.

Yes…shades of Tulsa…this is me creeping along at walking pace along the main route through the city, keeping pace with the blogtographer…not crashing, finding parking spots to pick him up again……not stressful at all…!!!

….beautiful tho….!!!

Wednesday arrived, as did our new air conditioning unit……time to get it switched out…..

Yayy…!!! Two functional AC units again…….Phewff…!!!

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Albuquerque Part 1. The Mother Road episode 18

The campground selection for Albuquerque turned out to be a point of interest on the Rte 66 list. Enchanted Trails, I was just trying to pick something reasonably close to the highway and more to the west of the city…and really…Enchanted Trails….who could resist…. 😃

It’s maybe a bit close to the highway (nighttime road noise) but otherwise a pretty good pick. Lots of 66 memorabilia and some vintage trailers (rentable)

First order of business was to see if we could get a timely fix on the AC. After days of trying to arrange something with a couple of places by phone, the lady at the Enchanted Trails desk recommended Good Sense RV. Jeremy Hogan, the service manager was terrific….. ordered the unit on the spot as we stood there in his office on Friday and tentatively booked us to switch it out the following Wednesday……. So 4 extra days in Albuquerque….I’ll tell you there’s worse places to pass the time…. 😁

What a great city. There is a flavor of artistic pride here. The bridges have murals or friezes or at least some decorative element. The architecture embraces the Adobe rounded, earth coloured aesthetic which makes the buildings less imposing.

We stopped in to a new route 66 visitor centre just across the highway from the campground. There was only one other vehicle in the parking lot…we poked around a little and it was closed.

Just as we were about to leave a door opened and the guy asked if he could help. Turns out the centre had just and only just, been gifted to the city after its original planners/developers had run out of money. He let us come in and have a look around…… ( Thanks Dominic..!!)…..

….there was an impressive collection of Route 66 cars……

The upper floor of the centre is an event space….with the most amazing view from the balcony…..

He made some great recommendations for things to go see in the city………and also shared with us his ‘Breaking bad’ story……the guy with the crazy moustache is his dad…. 😁.

On Dominics recommendation we found a great parking spot downtown to walk the Old Town of Albuquerque. A touristy spot, but a quite lovely walk around the old original town…….and a big dose of Breaking Bad that came with it……!!

The Old Town was built on a grid, perfect for a bit of touristy traipsing around…..

It was hot that day…..but it seems like that terracotta colour of the stucco and concrete of the sidewalks does not reflect the heat in the same way as that regular stone/grey colour.

Or maybe there was just enough shade to keep it comfortable. There were lots of lovely little artisan stores, weavers, antiques, jewellery and more. Lovely for browsing.

The Breaking Bad store was a must stop too….

It was more like a museum of the series and spinoffs with a gift store attached. It was a cool little place…

Next task was to scope out the Kiva Centre and where the parking was in prep for Lyle Lovett in concert. (Did I mention that Scott had scored us tickets for this, the opening night of this years’ big band concert series……!!)

Lyle was awesome, as usual. Always worth the price of admission.

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Nambe Badlands. The Mother Road episode 16

The old route 66 does a loop up through Santa Fe, adding time and distance to the journey. Even although this is the original route there was still a little bit of debate whether we should do this loop or not. We were conscious of the increasing temperatures in some of the destinations ahead of us, and the urgency of having that a/c unit repaired.

In the end we were so glad we decided to do it. We fell instantly in love with Santa Fe with its cooler climate in the mountains particularly welcome, especially with just the one air conditioner working.

The cooler clime created the opportunity to get the old legs stretched out again and Alltrails offered us a couple of likely candidates. The downside of a trip like route 66 is a lot of time sitting and driving and this far into the summer months…..the heat adds to the disincentive to be particularly active.

We picked a hike on the road up toward Taos, (Taos is on the list for a return visit 😁) Nambe Badlands. We have seen many different badlands landscapes by now but never tire of them…..they are all incredibly beautiful, and all so very, very different …

It’s a loop trail……

and we had lots of water….it was cooler than Tucumcari….but still pretty hot…!!!

There was really no shade for the truck….

….also no real hope of any shade for us on this particular trek through the coulees…….

…..and up onto the plateaus and mesas…..

……. taking every opportunity for a little shade…..

The path was well laid out and easy to follow ……..

….and the views were suitably spectacular…..

..as per the landscape we went up,

then down,

then up and down again….

…and again……

We kept up a steady pace and drank lots of water……

..it really is a spectacular landscape…breathtakingly beautiful…..and then….on the way down we met one of the local residents. Our first sighting of that old Western movie favourite, the Diamondback rattler.

I did not get anywhere near him despite encouragement from the photographer (“it’s for the blog..!!!!”) I circled around the bush. He may have been stretched out lazily in the heat, but I was not about to find out how quickly he could coil….!!!

Finally….hot, sticky and dusty we sighted the truck again……it was good to be out……but good to be done…..

……now home for a shower…!!!

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July 20th. The Road East.

Packed up and ready to go.

Coincidentally, its exactly a year since we took the Chi Cheemaun ferry across to Manitoulin and set off on this journey of ours. So here we go east this time. First stop was a Harvest Host just outside Kingston. The Doner Studio perfectly located close enough to the Trans Canada to be convenient, and tucked away enough to be beautifully secluded and private.

Our hosts, Randall and Darlene, were super friendly and helpful. The parking spot they had for us was quite magnificent. It’s a level, gravel area across the road from their studio and store, but facing out over the Rideau Canal at Lower Brewers Lock. The added bonus to this spot right now is that the bridge by their property is out for re-construction, so the through road is actually closed.

It was a real breath of air stopping here to break up the drive. The walk around these old locks on the canal was another unexpected bonus.

Lower Brewers lock.

A little bit of history mixed in to our evening stroll.

…and a little bit of fishing……well…..the throwing of a line into the water….!!!!

…..on the way back to Xolo, we happened on this heron showing himself off quite magnificently……..

….. and then disturbed a gaggle nibbling the grass around our site..!!

…..the sunset was pretty decent too…..!!!!

With Harvest hosts there is no unhitching…..so in the morning, coffee in hand, its just lifting the stairs, locking the door and off we go again. ( That might be a slight oversimplification…!!!LOL)

Next stop Quebec City……..

Gas prices take a big leap when you cross in to Quebec, and the gas stations become more impossible to get a 30 foot rig into…!!!

Neither of us could believe that we did not take any pictures of the site in Campground Bernieres (just off the Trans Canada, and just outside Quebec City.) It was a very nice campground, very friendly staff. We drove through some horrific thunderstorms on the way there……collected our first ‘giant hail’ dents in the front of the trailer. (🙁)

We stayed a couple of nights so that we could take a wander round the old city.

Lovely buildings and little art spots scattered around.

Its a very beautiful city…….if you mashed up Edinburgh and Paris (France) with a handful of Montreal….you pretty much have Old Quebec city.

We wandered down to the harbour, and stopped for a foot cooling session in the arty sprinkler system. ( it was a hot day…!!)

Lots of soaking wet kids around…..😁😁

Its one of those places that is trapped between old beauty, interesting fine art and tourist kitsch.

It was a lovely place to wander through, but it also reinforced to us that cities are not where we’d rather be anymore.

We did have an interesting little lunch stop at Tora-ya ramen. Very yummy..!!

All the pictures in this post are clickable if you wish a clearer view. Additional information is included in clickable links which appear as underlined text.