2013 - The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

It wasn't so bad, driving without air conditioning through the Southwest, as long as you keep moving fast. This post is more about the scenery, and here's a map of our route thus far.

We last left off in the mountains outside of Phoenix, heading towards Santa Fe. The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest were en route, but first we crossed the Continental Divide.

When I drive I generally choose the Road Less Travelled. I tend to be pokey, and don't like being driven down the highway like a Longhorn steer. Why anyone would choose to hit the Interstate rather than more scenic, leisurely drives on old highways like Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway, I don't know.  It's also where you'll find cheap motel rooms; $29 a night was spendy for me at the time, but it was worth a break from sleeping in the back of the truck.

Look at what you'd miss, like the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook.  From Wikipedia:  "The Wigwam Motels, also known as the "Wigwam Villages," is a motel chain in the United States built during the 1930s and 1940s. The rooms are built in the form of tipis, mistakenly referred to as wigwams."

I imagine that's politically incorrect now so they'll likely be torn down.  Not that it matters to me one way or another, but if it is offensive to Native Americans then by all means, tear them down.

But you might as well get out and explore the country for yourselves before there's nothing left to see.

I'd visited the area back in the 1970's so I wasn't interested in spending precious funds for entrance fees.  I did, however, pick up a $2 magnet for the fridge, I told you I can't resist these places.

Here's another one trying to fit into the landscape.  They're usually alongside a gas station.  I was beginning to wonder if I'd made a mistake in routes when suddenly I saw this:

We stopped to walk around, I mentioned I like rocks.

It was a semi-cloudy day but that didn't diminish the beauty. At least it wasn't raining

Above, the Painted Desert Inn, now a museum.

The petrified tree below was reinforced to prevent idiots from destroying it before its time.

Back to the wastelands, we drove through Llano Estacado, I knew that name from the cattle drive in James Michener's Centennial.

Final photo, heading for Santa Fe, isn't the landscape stunning! No wonder it's called the Land of Enchantment.

Next up:  Reminiscing in Santa Fe

To read from the start:  Oregon to California.

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