Arizona, Holbrook - Saturday, October 28, 2017 - Journey Back to Arizona

We got together with all of our Kansas family for supper on Tuesday night.  This was the last night to spend with the grandkids.  On Wednesday night we attended the Ducks Unlimited fundraiser with David and Lisa.  David was the auctioneer for the night – love to hear him in “auction mode”.  Lots of money was raised for a good cause.  Thursday morning we were ready to head out bright and early.  No matter how many times we have done this I still find it hard to say good bye.  I did manage to keep back the tears when we left Indiana and again when we left Kansas this year.

The wind was brutal leaving Kansas and going through Oklahoma.  This is not a blurry picture that is dust blowing across the highway.  Note the slant to the red semi.  David was in the field drilling wheat that day so he was really aware of the strength of the wind, he called to make sure we were doing okay.

This tumbleweed is just waiting to roll right out in front of us.  We collided with a couple of them, it doesn’t look like they did any damage, and they kind of splintered into pieces on contact.  We saw several semis and a police car with tumbleweeds stuck in the grill.

Hooker, OK was a good place to stop for a Subway sandwich.  We spotted a pull through parking spot so we decided to go inside to eat.  The wind was blowing so hard I almost didn’t make it – you know that was some big wind!!  Since we are towing the Jeep we can’t maneuver into parking spaces like we used to be able to do when we had the Harley on the lift.  When you are towing a vehicle backing is limited.

We spotted lots of cotton fields as we left Kansas, this one just outside of Hooker, OK had almost all of the bolls open.

A lot of the Oklahoma scenery along US 54 looked a lot like this.  I think these are creosote bushes.

New Mexico has some of the prettiest bridges.

Last night we stayed at a place we hadn’t stayed at before, but we will be going back as we make our annual trek to Arizona.  Route 66 RV Resort at the Route 66 Casino is at exit 140 off of I-40 west.

The RV Resort is just over a year old and is really well kept.  There are 100 full service sites with picnic tables and fire rings.  This is us on site 1229.  They have a free shuttle service to the casino.  If you sign up for the casino’s free Rewards Club you will get a coupon for $5.00 off any of their meal venues and a chance to win free play.  We used our meal coupons on their great lunch buffet, it is usually $9.99 per person but with our coupon it was $4.99 plus tax.  We both got $5.00 free play, I think that is probably the standard amount.  We (Greg) did end up having really good luck so we went home winners. 

The pool was beautiful but it was a little chilly to even walk over and get a good look at it.  I took this picture from the coach as we were checking in.

All of the buildings and grounds here are very attractive.  This is the Amenity Center, showers, laundry, etc.

The weather was great for traveling again today, we’ve seen the New Mexico scenery along I-40 several times but it never fails to impress.

The lava rock beds look like somebody just piled up big piles of asphalt.

I don’t know what these yellow trees are, but they certainly stand out.

We’ve reached Arizona.  We are staying at OK RV Park in Holbrook, AZ this evening.  We’ve stayed here before and it’s a nice place to spend a day or so.  We will be moving on in the morning so we can get checked in at Val Vista Villages in Mesa.

Arizona, Holbrook - Saturday, April 15, 2017 - Museums

We decided to check out a couple of museums recommended by the locals.  The first stop was Jim Grey’s Petrified Wood Company which is a retail store and museum combination.

No matter how you figure it, that isn’t going to fit in the motorcoach.

This place is huge, this is just one half of the store.

This highly polished amethyst log didn’t photograph well because of the ceiling lights shining down on it.  You can see the purple spot in the middle where the amethyst is still present.  I understand that a lot of the petrified logs have had the amethyst and quartz removed from them years ago by collectors.  The price tag on this piece is $49,000.

This is one huge geode.  I need to do more reading on geodes, it is hard to believe that something so plain outside is so beautiful inside.

Most of the petrified wood we have seen is called “rainbow wood” because of all the varied colors.  The museum here has some other examples of petrified wood.

This Ironwood is less colorful and is known for its bark, knots and growth rings.

This is rare green petrified wood, it is much greener than it shows in this picture, almost leaf green.  The green is the result of chromium in the ground water.

This really large pond is set up at the back of the store to demonstrate how petrified wood might be used as part of your landscape.  Knowing the weight and the cost of this wood, I’m thinking you have to have some heavy equipment and a lot of money to accomplish this.

Because of our lifestyle we need to keep souvenirs small.  We chose a sand rose (front), and a piece of polished petrified wood (right), the piece of unpolished petrified wood on the left was a freebie.

These are going in my southwest “planter” which contains our only remaining cactus plant and some other souvenirs from the southwest.  I’m thinking the little purple pot is going to have to find another home.

Our next stop was a museum that used to be the Navajo County Court House which was built in 1898.  Time has taken a toll on the building, but it still contains some things that are interesting.

I thought of Mom when I saw this display.  She used to get Evening in Paris perfume from my three brothers and me for Mother’s Day and her birthday.  I think that was our choice because it was all we could afford, I’m not even sure she liked the fragrance, but I always liked the bright blue bottle.

This is another one for Mom, she used to work at the telephone company in Lapel, IN and operated a switchboard I think would have been similar to this one.

This “chuck box” was built in 1877 by one of the former mayors of Holbrook.  It carried the beans, salted meats, coffee, sugar, flour and other “biscuit fixins” on cattle drives into the early 1900’s.

Seeing things you used in school in a museum really brings reality to the fact that you aren’t necessarily as young as you feel.  We used desks just like these, ruined a lot of nylons on those rough edges.

We also used this same equipment in high school business classes.  That mimeograph machine brings back some really bad memories – what a mess they could be.

The old courtroom has some beautiful old wood trim and doors.

Old Route 66 runs through Holbrook, the fact that lots of travelers used to come through town on Route 66 is emphasized by the number of small motels in town.  Some are still operating, some are sitting empty.  The most interesting one we saw was the Wigwam Motel – yes, you stay in the wigwams.  We saw this when we stopped for a few groceries at the one and only grocery store in town.

We will be leaving here tomorrow morning heading to Albuquerque, NM for a week.

Arizona, Holbrook - Friday, April 14, 2017 - Petrified Forest and Painted Desert

We headed out early this morning for our second exploration of the Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert.  As I was reviewing information on the park last night I found out that this Saturday and Sunday are two of the “fee free” days for all national parks.  Next weekend will also be fee free, so get out and take advantage of a great bargain.  The park is about 20 miles from where we are staying until Sunday.

Before we got into the actual park we had to check out a museum and souvenir shop.  If you are in the market for a one-of-a-kind coffee table, you might be interested in this one made of a slab of polished petrified wood.  It will only set you back $12,500.  Since petrified wood weighs in at about 200 pounds per cubic foot you might have to reinforce the floor.

If you are interested in something smaller this polished piece is only $4,500.  These are undoubtedly beautiful, but I wonder how many of them actually sell.

The 28-mile road through the park offers several areas with pull offs for photo opportunities.  Two visitor centers and museums are also in the park offering lots of information.  We stopped at the museum in the Rainbow Forest area.

This area along with several of the other areas have well maintained trails where you can get a little closer to the petrified wood.  The wind today was brutal so I was surprised that most of the pictures I took turned out, it was hard to hold the camera steady.

Small colorful wildflowers are scattered among the petrified logs.

The logs near the Rainbow Forest area are the longest in the park.

I’m just amazed by the brilliant colors.  Today is a really sunny day, I’m sure the colors all look different on an overcast day.

Not many cacti are in this area, this one was showing off some beautiful flowers.

I wonder how many more years this formation will stand.  From this side it looks pretty sturdy.

I shot this one looking back at the formation, it looks pretty tenuous here.

The Crystal Forest area was once a part of a tropical forest.  217 million years ago this whole area was located near the equator.  It was part of a supercontinent which broke apart and the northern part of that supercontinent moved north becoming North America, this area became Arizona.

The 110 foot Agate Bridge is off limits now because the gully underneath it is gradually eroding and the bridge will eventually fall into the gully.  The concrete span underneath the log was a 1917 attempt to prolong the life of the bridge.  After this tree died it was washed into a river and quickly buried in the river sediment preventing decay.  Volcanic ash dissolved in groundwater provided silica which reacted with the log and turned it into quartz.  Over the years water eroded the area and the log was unearthed once again.  This is the same process that all of the trees went through that are now petrified.

There is our Jeep looking through one of the buildings that is undergoing reconstruction.

The Blue Mesa area is one of my favorites even though blue isn’t usually my favorite color.  See the petrified logs sitting on top of one of the formations in the center?

Closer look at the logs.

More shots of the beautiful Blue Mesa area.

This area is call the Tee Pees.  Red is prevalent here.

The road from the Petrified Forest continues on for 6 miles into the Painted Dessert.  Under today’s conditions red was the color of most of the area.  I told Greg if we lived in this area I would be out here several times during the year to see how the colors changed – sunset, sunrise, winter, overcast skies.  I could just here him thinking I would be coming by myself if I wanted to come back that many times.

Our wildlife picture of the day – one lonely grasshopper.