ID/WA Photo Run – Day Two

I woke this morning at about 6:30. Way too early but for me it’s actually 7:30. The morning was cool and the skies were clear. I rolled around in “bed” trying desperately to get one more hour of sleep but didn’t get much. Broke down camp, loaded Libby back up and hit the road shortly after 8:00. I checked the radar before setting out and didn’t see any weather in my path for the day. A good sign.

West towards Albuquerque. Clouds appeared quickly but nothing nefarious, just the pretty white ones. I’d meant to stop on the way out of town to grab a photo of the Route 66 sign but completely forgot until about 20 miles out of town. Oh well. Not long after leaving we encountered an ambulance racing up behind us. I let him pass and pretty much followed him to his destination. A SUV overturned in the median. Four wheels in the air is never a good thing so I hope everyone was OK.

Onward we went through the empty fields and pastures of New Mexico eventually making our way into the hills and small mountains. The morning was cool and I was quite chilly until about noon but never got the shakes. The clouds gradually increased until the sky was completely overcast. Still didn’t see any rain fall anywhere around me.

By the time we got through Albuquerque the skies had cleared again and remained that way the rest of the day. The scenery out here is absolutely amazing. I was on this route back in ’18 but it still took my breath away on a number of occasions today. There’s a whole lot of nothing out here, just desert grass and brush. Very flat in some places but the painted plateaus are everywhere. The interstate will cut through some of these and after passing through rock walls and cresting a hill the road will drop back down into more wide open fields. You can see for miles and the road, as straight as it is, appears to go on forever.

Stopped just the other side of Grants to try to find something for lunch. Not much outside of gas station food, everything close is back in Grants. It’s not far but I’m not looking to backtrack at all. Pressed forward. Gallup is only 50 miles away. Passed Red Rock on the way there. There’s nothing but bright red rock, hence the name. Would love to attend a concert out there. Found another bar and grill in Gallup, Sammy C’s. Enchiladas weren’t great but they weren’t bad either. Was really hoping to find a diner or something but couldn’t find one that was open today.

Gallup is only 20 miles from the Arizona border so it wasn’t long before we hit the state line, the same sign and rest area from the west coast trip. This part of Arizona is much like New Mexico, just different colors. There’s a bunch of cedar and mesquite but can’t remember which state that was, I’ll have to go back and reread my previous posting, think it was New Mexico.

Continued west to Holbrook for a pit stop then on through Winslow where that famous corner is. Didn’t stop as I’d been there before. About 40 miles from Flagstaff is the Meteor Crater National Landmark. Blew past this last time but had time to stop today. What a sight. The site is six miles of the highway and the land out here is all red dirt and desert brush. The crater itself is something to see if you’re ever out this way.

50,000 years ago a meteor just 150 feet wide struck here creating a crater over 4,000 feet wide and 700 feet deep. I’ll post photos below. In one you can see an astronaut and American flag. The astronaut is apparently 6’2″ tall and the flag is the standard 3ft x 5ft. From the observation decks the flag is visible with the naked eye but only if you know where to look. There’s also a photo of a square rock that sits on the rim of crater. This rock is apparently the size of a house. How big of a house I don’t know but still, its a big rock.

Perched atop the crater I could see I-40 in the distance and the purple shadow of Humphrey’s Peak. Flat land everywhere else. We trekked back to the interstate and continued the last 40 miles to our destination for the night, Flagstaff. Flagstaff lays in the foothills of the mountains and this is where the trees return. The hills are covered with them.

We arrived at our site for the night and setup camp then headed out for dinner. A place called Dirty Birdies. There’s a golf course nearby so the name fits. Nice place, TV’s all over and the pork chop dinner was quite good. But the music was just way too loud. We’re talking night club levels and those days are long past for me. But, as I said, the food was good.

Picked up a cold 12-pack and headed back to camp. This place is packed. Very few empty spots, including the tent sights. Campfire smoke is thick but it’s already down to 60 degrees here. Gonna be a chilly start in the morning. We had a good day today and tomorrow should be equally as good if not better. We’ll see you then.