Part 5 – … Riding along in my automobile…!

We said goodbye to Branson and “headed for the hills.” North on 65 and west on 44, this is going to be a long stretch as we make our way to Rt. 40. My co-pilot guided us through Oklahoma City with ease. Traffic was fair but we quickly became irritated with the ten or so miles of road just out of the city that “shake rattled and rolled” us!
We settled for the night at a Wal Mart parking lot in El Rino, OK. I’m a tad apprehensive parking in a Wal Mart parking lot but it worked out just fine for us. Pat got to shop a little and we had a fine dessert in the nearby McDonalds. Except for the “jet like” vacuum parking lot cleaner we actually had a good night’s sleep.
We hit the road early which meant an early stop, and that was fine for us! We knew we were finally in the “wild west” when we were greeted with this sign at the New Mexico Information Center. The ride out of OK and into New Mexico turned flat. We cruised along, made a couple of stops in each states information centers (and maybe one casino) and another time zone change.
Our stop-over is mere yards from the famous Route 66 in Tucumcari, NM. The “rustic” campground is a work in progress, but it made for an early stop and time to “veg” out before we begin the climb into Albuquerque, NM. It’s really something to see a once thriving town so still and littered with “relics” of the past. Route 66 lives on in our hearts and America’s heritage.
Route 40, running through the mid west became a ribbon of asphalt guarded by the ever present mesas. These silent sentinels have witnessed the westward expansion since before the American Indian’s roamed the prairies.
Before long the flat top mesas gave way to the more rugged mountains the closer we drove to Arizona.
We stopped in the first Arizona Information Center on Rt. 40. That proved interesting; especially We got our first glimpse of the western vistas that was in store for us. Now that our interests were tweaked, some miles later, we happened upon the road sign for the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. This leg of our journey westward will place us into position to begin seeing the beauty of the American west. We’ve started leaving early in the mornings to stop earlier in the afternoon before the real heat of the day gets the better of us. So, knowing we had fewer miles to travel today, we figured we should see what this National Park has to offer. Four hours later we exited the Park in awe!
This makes all of the days of driving worth it. Color, open space, the effect of time and exposure to the land has made for wondrous vistas and eye candy to behold. We were blessed with a crystal clear morning and temperatures that only squeaked into the 80’s by the time we left the Park.
We walked among the “Long Logs” petrified by over two million years of earthly evolution. We scanned miles of sculptured rock formations that proudly and boldly displayed their rich colors and time worn talus slopes. The twenty-eight miles we traveled in the National Park was worth the over two thousand miles it took to get here!

Heading into our stay just west of Flagstaff, AZ in the historic town of Williams, clouds began to fill the sky. We took a walk down the famous Route 66 town of Williams but it was cut short by rain. We headed back to the motor home to relax. Here we hope to drive up to the Grand Canyon and get aquainted with Flagstaff... (I hope to stretch our drive into Flagstaff to include the "Meteor Crator." I'd say that's a fitting site to see for an Amateur Astronomer!) As the sun set the rain let up and we were caught off guard by a brilliant rainbow that seemed to be sitting on top of a tiny shed just in front of us...

What a way to top of a day filled with visual treasures!