Day Trip

    Stayed close to home today with a little drive to St Johns and up US180 towards Holbrook. Turned right seventeen miles before getting to Holbrook to drive through Petrified Forest N.P. to Painted Desert. The weather was not cooperating the level of the setting sun was just right to capture the colours but there was a band of cloud in the wrong place and the park closes before the sun was low enough to shine under the clouds. The sunset was a good one whilst driving home via Sanders.

 Crystal Forest

 Some of the few crystals left

Raw, unpolished petrified wood in Rainbow

Route 66

 This car ain't gonna make it to California. It's facing the wrong way.

Tiny ray of the setting sun reached the Painted Desert

     Back in a couple of days. Off to Santa Fe and Taos, NM tomorrow.

Tour two

     The Route

     Tuesday 26 October. Hwy 260 through: McNary, Pinetop-Lakeside, Show Low, Linden, Overgaard-Heber, Christopher, Kohl Ranch, Star Valley, Payson, Pine, Strawberry, Cottonwood then up Alt 89 to Sedona and then Flagstaff for the night.

     Wednesday 27 October. Historic Route 66 West onto Interstate 40 to Williams. North on 64 (US 180) to the Grand Canyon and through the South Rim part of the National Park to US 89 at Cameron and north through the Gap, and Cedar Ridge to Page for the night.

     Thursday 28 October. State route 98 east out of Page through Kaibito then north on US 160 to Keyenta, left onto US 163 north to Monument Valley continuing on US 160 through Mexacan Hat, UT to US 191 south back into Arizona and east on US 160 through Red Mesa to Teec Nos Pos and the five miles to Four Corners then back to Teec Nos Pos and east on US 64 to Shiprock, New Mexico then south on US 491 to Gallup, NM for the night.

     Friday 29 October. Another trip along a remaining section of Route 66 to Interstate 40 east towards Grants Pass turning off at Route 117 to El Malpais, The Narrows and south to Quemado on 32.  Had to make the 22 mile detour to Pie Town; we weren't in the pick-up and I didn't want to punish the car with thirty miles of un-metalled road. Then the last 75 miles home on familiar US 60.

Sunset Rocks Sedona.

Poor pic of Grand Canyon

Monument Valley

Four Corners

El Malpais

Pie-O-Neer, Pie Town 

The Tourist

     We have a guest visiting from England. Now the blog will become a travelogue. We spent three days in Tucson where I showed our guest where we used to live. We explored the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum; Saguaro National Park, West; Catalina highway up to Summertown and Mount Lemmon; San Xavier and on the third day we went to Tombstone. 

In the silver mine

 

Be sure to read the story of Edward Schieffelin and how the town got its name.

 American kestral at ASDM

Looking across to the Rincon mountains east of Tucson from the Catalina Highway