Travel Archives - Page 15 of 39 - Our View From The Road

Day 13: From Sin City to Silence

After a great nights sleep in this amazing campground, (Willow Springs) we took advantage of the amazing shower facilities (9/10) before prepping for the road.

Our first stop was of course Hoover Dam. It was just 20 minutes from the campground and we arrived at about 10:30am. It was relatively quiet but I’d still recommend getting there earlier than we did in order to see everything you want.

We took the shorter Power Plant tour as we still had a fair drive ahead of us. The tour was very good and we got to see the inside of one of the turbine rooms at the bottom of the dam.

There are tonnes of statistics about this dam that I won’t try to bore you with as others elsewhere online can share those better than I can. I will just say that the entire site is quite an engineering marvel given that it was built in the 1930’s and has been updated consistently since, including the construction of a new roadway bridge over the canyon which avoids having all highway traffic drive across the dam. We highly recommend visiting the Hoover Dam if you’re ever in this area, we’ll be back to take the longer Dam Tour the next time.

We left Hoover Dam at about 12:45pm and headed towards Las Vegas, NV. The drive was only about 45min and we headed to the ‘strip’.

We had no intentions of staying (at one point in our planning we had thought of camping near the strip but dropped that idea). Instead we were just going to drive down ‘the strip’ and take in the sights, sounds and aromas of Sin City. Barb took pictures and I concentrated on traffic and traffic signals. It took over half an hour to drive to the North end and back onto the interstate where we headed South on I-15 towards California.

The following are a few pictures from Las Vegas captured on our drive-through. We have plans to fly back to LV in the future and take in the city and the entertainment without worrying about our van and belongings.

We stopped in Primm, NV to fill up with non-California priced fuel, or so we thought. Yours truly pulled the boneheaded move of the day by accidentally pressing the ‘Supreme’ button on the gas pump and paid $6.029/US gallon. Until today we’d been paying less than $4/US gallon. Ouch.

Crossing into California we drive along I-15 to Barstow where we exited and head South for about 20 miles to a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campground. Sawtooth Canyon has no services and so you need to be self-sufficient while staying there. This includes packing out all garbage. Camping is free but there are only 13 sites available on a first-come first-served basis. We were lucky and got a fairly level site next to a large rock outcropping in the middle of the campground. So far it is VERY QUIET and relaxing. We might even stay here for a couple of nights.

Looking forward to watching the stars tonight.

Day 12: Take it easy

Up early and showered! These time zone changes are making getting up early easier and easier. The showers at our campground were rating 3/10. Lots of hot water and a private lockable shower room but that’s it. Dirty, dilapidated, hard to set the perfect temp water. It got us clean, best possible outcome given the conditions.

The campground was very quiet and the sites are spaced nicely apart. A great place to stop for a night if you’re near or passing by Winslow, AZ.

Speaking of Winslow, you might have guessed from yesterday’s blog that today we are starting our day by visiting Winslow to stand on a corner and admire a certain flatbed Ford. All of course references to the Eagles song “Take it Easy” in which Winslow is referenced and now visited by tens of thousands of each year from around the world.

We started our visit to Winslow by parking the van almost immediately behind ‘the’ flatbed Ford. It was early and the town was still quiet. We went to enjoy breakfast at “The Flatbed Cafe”. Barb ordered Enchiladas & Eggs while I orders Eggs Benedict. This was a treat and it was delicious.

Afterwards we went to take some pictures around the towns main attraction, the flatbed Ford. The town has made a very nice space for visitors such as us to take pictures including piping Eagles music throughout the area. As it was early we had the place almost to ourselves but we were assured that within an hour our so it would be bustling with people all trying to get the perfect picture. The only other people there were a couple originally from Markham, ON (small world) that now live in Los Angeles, CA.

Leaving town I realized that Winslow is a rarity for US-66, it’s prospering. Could this really be because it was referenced in a song some 52 years ago? Do/did the Eagles have that much of an effect? One wonders.

We head a little further West and take a detour to visit the Meteor Crater. This crater was formed almost 50,000 years ago when a huge meteor crashed into the Arizona landscape. It’s estimated the explosion equaled 20,000 tons of TNT.

Today the crater is 550 ft deep and almost a mile across. It’s privately owned by the family that owns bar T bar ranch, the Barringer’s. There is a $27USD entrance fee that includes access to the observation walkways, a museum, theatre & guided tours. We did not take the guided tour or watch the movie in the theatre but did walk about on our own and visited the museum. This is a great place to visit, but in my opinion should not cost what it did. Maybe I’m just cheap. We both really enjoyed the visit.

Returning to I-40 we headed towards Flagstaff and then onto Kingsman, AZ. Here we stopped for groceries at Bashas’ supermarket before heading out and turning away North from I-40 towards Lake Mead. We stopped for the night in the Lake Mead Recreational Area and are staying at the Willow Creek Campground & RV Park. Our site (D3) has a fabulous view of the Colorado River canyon as the river flows South away from Hoover Dam.

All for today, good night one and all.

P.S. Our mouse guest checked out last evening.

Day 11: When is wood not wood?

We awake to look out across a lava field left by a volcano some 10,000 years ago. It seems alien in what can already be considered by many an alien landscape.

Oh, and we discovered that we have a mouse in the van as evidenced by buns having been nibbled as well as a banana. Traps were procured.

Argh, we have a mouse! Not happy campers.

New Mexico is harsh. It gets hot, very hot in the Summer but we awoke to 1C this morning. The sky is almost always bright blue, clouds just don’t seem to form here and yet when it does rain torrential floods can wash away bridges and towns. It’s dry today, no floods to worry about. As we drive we wonder what life is like day-to-day in this environment, one that doesn’t seem to have seasons where trees leaf and then fall, where every road seems to lead to the horizon and the only evidence that anyone knows about it is the large plume of dust they leave as they traverse the landscape. Harsh.

Our first stop today was the Continental Divide, the place in the Rockies where water either flows towards the Atlantic or the Pacific. There’s a small plaque that we stopped at to commemorate our passing from East to West.

Soon we crossed into Arizona, another time zone change. This time from Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) to Mountain Standard Time (MST). Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time. So, we are now at the same time as those on the West coast but not yet in the same time zone.

A little ways into Arizona we make a stop at the Petrified Forest National Park. We entered at the North gate and followed the 28 mile road through the park to the South Gate. In the North you get to explore the Painted Desert from overlooks that expose a wonderful array of colors in the hillsides.

As you travel South the landscape becomes more barren and moon-like before depositing you into the petrified forest. As you look about you see what appears to be rocks strewn about the landscape, but when you get close you realize that they are all petrified wood from trees that died 10’s of millions of years ago. We stopped in a few places and walked amongst these ‘logs’ and were amazed by the variety of colors of crystals that had replaced the original organic wood fibers. Some look like a lumberjack had recently felled the trees and cut the logs into short lengths but then left the logs instead of taking them away. To look at, it’s wood. To touch, it is rock.

After leaving the park we continue westward and stop for the night at Homolovi State Park near Winslow, AZ. A quiet spot in the desert to spend the end of the day amongst the sagebrush & tumbleweeds.

Tomorrow a certain flatbed Ford will be sought out and then onto western Arizona and into Nevada.

Day 10: Trains, Plains & Automobiles

In the canyon we were sheltered from the sun’s earliest rays and the morning was brisk. We completed our morning routine, vacated our campsite and dumped the tanks (no mess on me).

Our route took us North into Amarillo where we again joined I-40West towards New Mexico. We soon passed the ‘Cadillac Ranch’ where we had stopped last year. The winds were light being early and there were many people adding to the spray paint on the cars embedded in the field.

We stopped again in Adrian, TX to visit the Midpoint Café and enjoy an early lunch. A 50’s style roadside café, they serve the BEST homemade hamburgers we’ve ever tasted.

As we leave Adrian, the landscape begins to change rapidly towards open rangeland. There are very few trees and endless expanses of grasslands.

We head towards New Mexico but stop just before entering at a small mostly vacated town called Glenrio, NM. It technically just across the state line and has 1 visibly operating business, a cannabis shop (now legal in NM).

We didn’t stop for that however, we stopped to look at a now abandoned Post Office and Cafe. Ghosts of a simpler time along old Route 66.

As we head across New Mexico’s barren landscape the temperatures rise and hit 29C by early afternoon. The A/C is deployed. The pictures below don’t do the vastness of the spaces justice and at times you really wonder if you’ll reach to ridge on the distance and what could be beyond? Yep, more trains, plains & automobiles.

Below is a collection of pictures from the day. The sixth picture is of a mountain that we felt reminded us of ‘Jabba-the-Hutt’ from Star Wars. Yep, it was a long day in the sun.

We stopped in Grants, NM at the KOA Journey as a place to rest for the evening. To remind us that we are now at a higher elevation, the chip bag has puffed up due to the lower air pressure. Must remember to be careful opening other containers! (ask me how I know!)

Tomorrow we head into Arizona and make a few more Route 66 stops.

Day 9: Amongst the Mesquite

A short post today as we are staying in Palo Duro State Park for another day; however, we have to change sites as this one is booked by someone else for tonight.

We slept in, a little, until 7:30am and started the day with a cup of coffee as we gazed out upon the canyon walls. It’s 4 degrees outside and sunny. As the trails in the park are closed due to recent heavy rains I went for a short walk along the park roadways. The birds were singing and the breeze was gently blowing (the reason it’s so cold).

We decide to have a full egg, bacon, fried potatoes & fried bread breakfast. A real treat from the yoghurt and banana we have been starting each day with. It was delicious.

Out of the wind the sun is warm, the views spectacular. I’m writing yesterday’s blog post when Barb reminds me that we need to go to the gatehouse and get our ticket for tonight’s site. The drive takes about 20min, we get the ticket and turn around to drive back down into the canyon to our new site (#007) in the Hackberry campground.

The site is a drive through intended for longer rigs than our van but it’s again level and dry. The biggest difference is that we are now near a river lined with Mesquite trees that are just leafing out and we don’t have the majestic views down the canyon we had from yesterdays site. The red stone cliffs still tower above us and we hope the sunset will be as stunning as last night.

I tried the showers in the park and rate them a 4/10. No private change area and shower curtains past their prime. The water temperature and supply was plentiful and the shower itself moderately clean. I used it in early afternoon ahead of the influx of new campers that can’t check-in until 3:00pm as this gave me the best chance of having no-one join me in the shower room. It worked.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent reading at our campsite and enjoying the warmth of the sun out of the still cool breeze.

A quiet evening lies ahead and hopefully a restful night. Tomorrow we head into New Mexico.