We packed up the rig on Monday and started our trip to Camp Verde Arizona where it was in the high 70's. But first we made a 2 night stop at Gallup Arizona, a long haul for us as it was 231 miles. We usually try to average about 150 miles on one pull, but this was an easy drive so it was not bad.
On Tuesday we took a very expensive day trip, but it was worth it. We headed out to see a National Monument, but ended up stopping at a very large store that sells native artwork and jewelry. Dick found a turquoise and silver bolo tie that he had been looking for. He thinks he is a cowboy now that he has the hat.
We left there and took a turn that took us to the Zuni Pueblo (Indian reservation) and the picture is part of the mountain range that is just beyond the Pueblo. We had lunch and then walked the streets and visited several native shops where Dick found another bolo tie and Jackie found a beautiful turquoise and silver bracelet, necklace and earrings.
Now that we are broke we decided to continue our drive and do a big circle to get back home. In the middle of nowhere (really!) at an intersection we ran across this Tavern. I swear there was not another building for miles. We stopped to get a picture so we could prove that we visited Witch Wells Arizona.
We both got a good laugh at the drive-up window so we guess you could get a cold beer to go without having to get out of the car/truck on a hot day.We ended up back home, had dinner, watched a little TV and off to bed for us. We wanted to get an earlier start as the weather was forcasted to get pretty windy on Wednesday.
We left Gallup heading west toward our next stop, between Winslow and Flagstaff. The wind was from the south and continued to get worse the further we traveled. When we went through Winslow we could see nothing but a big red cloud a few miles west of town. When we got to the "cloud" we found out it was a huge sand storm. We followed a line of traffic being led by a state patrol at about 20 miles per hour. No big problem as we could still see about 1/4 mile ahead of us. That is until we got about a mile into it and when we couldn't see the front of the truck we figured we are in big trouble, especially when vehicles were still passing us.
We finally made it through and we found out later that they closed the interstate just behind us as the winds increased to about 60MPH. Yes, our truck and RV are now covered with and full of dust (YUK).
We finally got to our destination at Meteor Crater RV Park, set up, hunkered down, for a very windy afternoon and night. We had to close some of the sliders because the wind was trying to bounce the slider up and down.
We headed out on Thursday and went up the road to view the Meteor Crater that was caused by a 150 feet across asteroid traveling about 26,000 MPH and did a little damage when it hit. This was approximately 50,000 years ago. The crater is about 1 mile across and 3 miles around the perimeter.
Looking back toward the interstate you could really see that the land is pretty flat and the area we are standing on was raised up as a result of the hit the earth took. Yes, that's our RV in the background and yes that's our antenna that we forgot to put down in the morning.
We traveled to Camp Verde Arizona without any other problems, set up camp and did some major cleaning. We still need to clean the truck and the outside of the RV, but at the time we are writing this (Saturday morning) it's raining. We can't remember the last time we saw rain.
Friday we took a ride to Cottonwood to do some shopping and look/see. We went to a rock shop to get some supplies so Dick could continue tumbling rocks. They told us about a little town called Jerome, so we ended up heading out there. This is another mining town but this one was built on the edge of the mountains with building on top of building and what a view of the lower area.
A closer look at some of the town that was full of tourists.
We headed out of town on a mountain switch back road and could look down at this area that they called a ghost town (really it is the old mine area). Looks like the owner has tried to collect every thing that had wheels on it.
We continued on another loop road that ran through the mountains and had to take one last picture of the red rock and the valley below.
Friday we took a ride to Cottonwood to do some shopping and look/see. We went to a rock shop to get some supplies so Dick could continue tumbling rocks. They told us about a little town called Jerome, so we ended up heading out there. This is another mining town but this one was built on the edge of the mountains with building on top of building and what a view of the lower area.
A closer look at some of the town that was full of tourists.
We headed out of town on a mountain switch back road and could look down at this area that they called a ghost town (really it is the old mine area). Looks like the owner has tried to collect every thing that had wheels on it.
We continued on another loop road that ran through the mountains and had to take one last picture of the red rock and the valley below.
To be continued...
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