Our View From The Road

Day 37: We get our kicks on Route 66

Up and at ‘em. The sun’s up and so are we, ready for a day of driving eastward out of New Mexico and into Texas.

Today Barb has decided to drive our campervan leaving me to be passenger and photographer. The other rigs that stayed at the brewery we us left at about 8:30am and we headed out by 9:00am as is our habit.

We start by joining I-40E and heading toward Santa Rosa. The highway seems extra busy with truck traffic as the scenery slowly changes from that of the high desert towards the central plains.

We take a small detour into the town of Tucumcari, NM. This detours takes us onto historic US-66. Although the town is surviving it is clear that it has seen more affluent times when Route 66 was the primary east-west route that ran directly through town.

After a couple of hours we leave New Mexico and enter Texas. The sky seems larger as the land flattens to become the grasslands of the plains. Again, we leave the interstate and head into Adrian, TX. We stop at the Midway Cafe that sits at the mathematical midpoint of the historic US-66. Halfway between Los Angeles and Chicago. We take a few photos outside at a sign that marks this point and then we head into the cafe for lunch.

The Midpoint Cafe has operated in this location for decades under various names and owners. It is decorated as a 1950’s diner and the menu reflects this era containing hamburgers, fried bologna sandwiches, hot dogs, milkshakes and homemade pies for desert.

We settle on each having a cheeseburger and Coke Zero. The owner is working in the kitchen and is delayed on a complicated order ahead of ours and so instructs the waitress to offer us a complimentary piece of pie! Barb chooses Chocolate & Peanut Butter which tastes amazing. When the burgers are delivered we they are large and look delicious, we are not disappointed, in fact we both agree that the burgers are the best that we have tasted in a very long time.

Returning to the interstate we notice that the West Texas winds have returned and Barb is working hard to keep the van in our lane. Nearing Amarillo we pull off to top off the gas tank before driving a short distance to what has to be the weirdest stop along Route 66, the Cadillac ranch. Ten 1950s-era Cadillacs have been partially buried hood-first in a field and visitors are encouraged to use spray paint to decorate the cars. We do not bring paint, only our cameras to capture the absurd art installation.

Our last driving segment takes us around the western edge of Amarillo towards Canyon, TX where we drive to the Bar-Z winery where we are staying the night. We enjoy a flight of wine and purchase a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to enjoy on another day. The evening is enjoyed relaxing in the van.

Day 36: Onward to Moriarty, NM

So, no wind at bedtime (or in the forecast). Strong winds overnight, van shaking winds. No wind at daybreak. The winds were so strong that our tenting neighbors bailed in the middle of the night as they were gone before 6:00am when I awoke.

The view is still as stunning as the evening before and we continued to enjoy it while enjoying breakfast.

We departed our parkup by 9:00am and headed toward Albuquerque, NM. The drive took us across the continental divide at 7,380ft before descending into the city.

We stopped at a Chili’s for lunch before going to a Krispy Kreme to pick up a few donuts for later. Taking advantage of having stopped in a shopping district, we took some time to browse around a Barnes & Noble bookstore where Tony picked up another book to read.

Leaving the city we drove East on I-40E towards our destination, Moriarty, NM. Tonight we have booked a Harvest Hosts stay at the Sierra Blanca Brewery and upon arrival we checked in and then rested in our van for a couple of hours. Later in the afternoon we went into the brewery and joined some other folks who were also staying at the brewery in their campers. We met folks from Rochester, NY, Wisconsin and California. We swapped stories and enjoyed a beverage or two before returning to our campers for the evening.

Day 35: Angels Peak

Driving day today as we awake from another quiet night of slumber. The wind has picked up a bit and is from the West so that should help with our travels today.

A normal pre-travel morning routine sees us enjoy a small breakfast and then it’s time to disconnect from the campground services and prepare to depart. All is good to go.

Our first stop will be very familiar to anyone who has watched the movie “Forrest Gump” for we stop and take some pictures at the place where Forrest ends his running and decides to go home.

From here we drove just a short distance to Mexican Hat to view Mexican Hat Rock. Let me save you the time, it’s a rock that happens to look like a sombrero balancing on a much smaller rock. The picture says it all.

Next stop, the Four Corners. This is the place where Arizona, Utah, Colorado & New Mexico all meet. It is marked with a plaza where you can walk between the four states or stand in two states or if you include your hands, like Barb, you can be in all four states at the same time (almost). You see, Arizona does not use daylight savings time & so you can also be a time traveler and be in multiple states at different times! The plaza is on Navaho land and as such an $8/person tribal fee is required to access the plaza which also contains many Navaho vendors selling all kinds of authentic goods. Enjoy the pictures.

Leaving the Four Corners we drove South and reconnected with the US-64E towards Farmington, NM and then onto Bloomfield, NM where we turn SE towards our stop for the night, Angels Peak, NM. This is a BLM night and so we will have to hope that we can find a nice spot. Oh, were we lucky. We found a quiet corner of one of the picnic areas that overlooks the Angels Peak Badlands & for the first time on this trip we snagged a gazebo under which to eat our meals! Bonus.

The evening is super quiet as the sun sets. There are almost no clouds in the sky & there shouldn’t be any light infiltration to detract from the starry skies.

Day 34: Monument Valley

7:00am and an alarm wakes us. The time has gone ahead an hour now that we’re (just) in Utah and we are being picked up at 9:00am for our guided tour of the Monument Valley and backcountry. We enjoy a light breakfast and get ready to be out and about for a few hours.

Our guide arrives a little early so we climb into the rig and he takes us to the View hotel that sits at the entrance to the valley. Accessing the valley requires us to pay an $8/person tribal fee as the land is owned by the Navaho (Dineh) tribe. We pick up a few more passengers (visiting from France and Spain) and we head down into the valley.

The drive can be made using your own vehicle and although RVs are not allowed our campervan would have been permitted but as we will discover, the road is very rough and uneven. We are both very glad to have chosen to take a tour and we’re only just at the beginning.

The steep gravel and sand road flattens out at the bottom of the valley and you begin to realize the size of the sandstone mesas that are scattered about the valley. Some are over 1000’ in height.

The valley is most famous for being the filming location of early Hollywood westerns many of which were produced by John Ford such as Stagecoach (1939) and The Searchers (1956) both of which starred John Wayne. There is now a location within the valley named John Ford point.

All of the mesas in the valley have names, some are easy to understand their source such as ‘The Elephant’ or ‘Three Sisters’. Others require a bit of imagination to see what is evidently seen by others.

The tour takes us in the backcountry beyond the self-drive route to a tribal village where, in a traditional shelter called a ‘Hogan’ we are shown how rugs are woven from sheep’s wool that is sheared, washed, spun and colored by hand before being woven into intricately patterned rugs.

Lastly while in the backcountry we visit a few places to see huge holes or arches through the mesas created by millions of years of erosion. At our last stop, our guide plays his traditional wooden flute while we gaze at the sky through one of these massive holes. Quite magical.

Returning to the entrance to the valley, we notice that there are many more folks now self driving the roads and we see a few vans bumping along and we wonder if they have anything left in their cupboards. The tour was 3hrs long and cost us each $70USD, but we both feel that we got so much from it. We learned much from our guide about the history of the Dineh people and how living in a modern world has affected their way of life. If you visit, we recommend taking a tour.

The remainder of the day we spent at our campsite relaxing and planning the remaining days of our trip. Still more to come so keep checking back.

P.S. Yes, there is now red sand everywhere in the van.

Day 33: Onto Monument Valley

Another chilly night, I thought we came South to get some warmth? Had issues starting furnace during the night so used electric cube heater as we were plugged in at the site. Turns out that the propane was NOT turned on thus no furnace, Doh! Although I suppose it’s nice to know it was user error and not a system error.

Time for a statistic: It turns out that during this past winter, Grand Canyon village had 452cm (178”) of snowfall. No wonder we’re still seeing lots of it lying amongst the trees and on the north facing slopes.

We started the day by visiting some of the lookouts that are East of the visitors center along the road that we will take to leave the park. I’ve added some pictures below.

Upon leaving the Grand Canyon National Park the road begins to steadily fall towards Cameron, AZ where we turn North and then East towards Tuba City and Kayenta.

The scenery really changes between the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. Along the lines of ‘from Yogi bear to the Road Runner’.

Dust devil just south of Monument Valley

We got gas in Kayenta and then headed North towards the Utah state border. Crossing into Utah and just 1 mile into the state we had reached our destination, the Monument Valley KOA. Home for the next two nights. We are now 500m lower at 1600m (5250ft) than the 2100m (7000ft) elevation of last night.

During the afternoon we booked our tour of Monument Valley for tomorrow morning. Read tomorrows post to find out what we think.

Indian Tiki Masala for dinner and then a quiet evening in the van.

Day 32: The Grand Canyon

Another chilly night in the high desert. This one required running the furnace for a few hours in the early morning hours. Brrr.

We managed to get ready for the day and on the road before 9:00am. The drive to Grand Canyon National Park was only about 20min and we had read that to avoid lines at the gate that can build to over 2hrs in length we should arrive before 9:00am. Tick. We arrive shortly after 9:00am and only wait about 5min. We drive to the South Rim Visitor Centre, find a parking space and set off for a walk.

We start at Mather Point and walk westward along the rim trail to the Grand Canyon village. It takes us about 2 1/2 hours and we covered about 4km stopping many times along the way to take many pictures.

Our neighbors, the Americans, are quick to use superlatives when describing anything associated with the USA, “Worlds largest…”, “Best…”, “Most Extreme…”. In the case of the ‘Grand Canyon’ I believe that they under delivered on the name. This place goes beyond what words can describe. Adjectives like “expansive”, “vast”, or simply “Wow” cannot do it justice. I’ve given this a lot of thought today and have decided NOT to try and describe what we witnessed, instead I’ve included some pictures & urge each of you to visit this park. You will not be disappointed.

At the Grand Canyon village Barb looks about the Hopi arts and crafts shop while I check out the buildings. We take the shuttle bus back to the Visitor Center, and drive the campervan to the Trailer Village RV Park where we are spending the night.

We enjoy an early dinner and then catch the shuttle bus to Hopi point to watch the sunset, we caught the last bus out! Sunset was a bit of a bust as it was cloudy, but we still enjoyed the experience.

To end the day we enjoyed a movie in the van before settling down for the night.

Day 31: Flagstaff and beyond

Today = Driving. We leave Lost Dutchman State Park headed toward the Grand Canyon and the drive looks to be about 4 hrs but we have to stop for groceries and gas. It will take longer than 4 hours (foreshadowing).

We start off well at about 9:00am and the traffic around Phoenix is light and then we get to I-17N towards Flagstaff. Lots of weekend traffic, it feels like everyone is heading North at 75-80mph. The road is not flat either but climbs quite considerably in places causing trucks to put on their flashers while everyone tries to jump into the left lane and not loose any speed. All in all it translates into quite a stressful hour or so.

We pull off of I-17N and head towards Sedona, AZ. No plans to stop other than for a quick picnic lunch, just as well. First, the Sedona valley is beautiful. The town feels like a ski resort that’s been jammed between the red rock faces of the valley. Clearly a nice place to come and visit if you’re staying at a lodge or hotel but not in a campervan. We pull through 3 separate picnic areas before we finally find one North of the village where there is enough room for our rig and so we stop and enjoy lunch.

Leaving the Sedona valley requires you drive out through the Oak Creek Canyon on route 89A. This entails driving up a series of switchback curves to reach the top where we see snow along the roadside amongst the pine trees. A beautiful drive but it had Barb not wanting to get too close to the window in the van due to the drop offs.

The remaining drive to Flagstaff was easy and before we knew it we were shopping at Walmart and Bashras (local chain) for groceries. Dinner was courtesy of Pizza Hut as Barb did not want to cook tonight and pizza was to be a treat. Fuel acquired at a Pilot service stop just West of Flagstaff and then we continued toward the Grand Canyon.

We turned North at Williams, AZ onto route 64 which leads directly to the South Rim entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park. However, our plans were not to go all the way tonight. Instead we were copying what our friends the Milddogs did last year and that is stay just South of the park on BLM land, driving into the park tomorrow.

We find the dirt road off of the highway near a place called Red Butte. It’s bumpy and rutted from vehicles driving along it in recent rains. It’s easy to see that some folks were getting stuck in the soft muddy soil. We pass a few camping areas but they are taken so we keep going. We then turn down a bumpier road (not wide enough for two vehicles) and drive about half a kilometre before realizing that we’re in over our heads. I find a place where I think I can turn around without getting stuck and proceed to complete a 1000-point turn. Success. We drive out along the same bumpy, rutted road and decide to pull into an area where someone is already setup to see if there enough room for another vehicle. There is and we hide behind some shrubbery (nod to Monty Python fans) so as not to be intrusive.

It is quiet. We enjoy our pizza and a well earned drink. It is close to 6:00pm meaning that it has taken about 9 hours to get here. Phew. Oh well, tomorrow is only about an hour of driving, so it was worthwhile.

Day 30: Lost Dutchman State Park

Whoa, chilly start to the day but supposed to heat up to 26C this afternoon. A light breakfast and then both ready ourselves for our morning walks.

We were visited by Quail while eating our breakfast

Barb will walk about the campground exploring some of the nature trails while I strike off to the Superstition Mountains and UP the Siphon Draw trail. It will take me an hour before I run out of energy and decide to stop and come back down. I manage a 281m (922ft) gain in elevation, not bad for a ‘flat lander’.

The remainder of the day we spend relaxing and reading at the campsite before a short walk together about the campground after dinner.

Tomorrow we leave and head North towards the Grand Canyon. We’re going to camp on BLM land for one night and then in Grand Canyon village for a second night. Come back to see how we make out.

Day 29: “Nature is the inspiration for all ornamentation” – FLW

Today we head towards Phoenix, AZ. The sun is up early and we go about our morning rituals to get ourselves and the van ready for a drive. We will miss Picacho Peak State Park, it is beautiful and serine.

Our drive along I-10W is uneventful, yep back to our old friend for what I think will be the last time. Nearing Phoenix we turn East on the 202 and the North on the 101. We’re heading North towards Scottsdale, AZ where we will stop at Taliesin West.

Taliesin West (now a National Historic site) was the Winter home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. Purchased by FLW in the 1930s, the land was developed by himself and the students of his fellowship using local materials that blend harmoniously into the surrounding landscape.

We took the self-guided audio tour (other tours were all sold out) which lasted about an hour and looked about the grounds and through FLWs office, the living quarters and the drafting studio. The tour was really well put together and gave you an amazing insight into the methods & philosophies applied when the campus was built. Enjoy a few of the pictures we took.

Leaving Scottsdale, we head back across the city towards the East and the Lost Dutchman State Park. It is located at the foot of the Superstition Mountains near Apache Junction, AZ.

This is a very popular park because of its close proximity to Phoenix and we were only able to reserve a rustic site (no services) for 2 nights. The view is amazing!

Lost Dutchman State Park, Apache Junction, AZ

Day 28: Picacho Peak State Park 3

Another short post today, the wind continues but it’s only going to get to 17C so it will feel cooler than that. The days starts with my walking around the park again, I take the following selfie.

Once back to the campsite Barb catches me relaxing.

We have breakfast and relax for the remainder of the morning. After lunch we go for a walk towards the peak in the background of the photo above. We have no intention of trying to climb it. Along the way we find more colorful flowers and cactus.

We stopped on our hike to take the following picture of Barb next to a Saguaro cactus. They really are quite a bit taller than you might think.

The following is near the end of our hike at the foot of the mountain. This really is quite a special place and we highly recommend this state park to anyone visiting the SW Arizona area.

Tomorrow we’re back on the road. Come back soon to see where we went.