Today was another travel day where we racked up a lot of miles. To give us something to do while we motored through the seemingly endless tracts of the New Mexico and Arizona desert, we listened to a book on CD entitled "Wild, from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail." You have have seen -- and liked -- the movie of that name as we did, but the book bounces so often from absurd to heart-breaking to suspenseful to comical that you find yourself wishing the author would just talk about the hiking and leave the whiny personal stuff unsaid. That was our opinion, anyway. Still, kudos for Cheryl Strayed for attempting what was obviously an extremely challenging hike.
Just as yesterday, we didn't really stop to take in much of the sights since our intent was to rack up as many miles as possible. We want to get home in the next few days and turn some heat on in the house. It's promising to be close to 20 degrees by Thursday (this is Tuesday) in Carson City, and we're a little concerned about our plumbing. We asked our good friend in the neighborhood, Joe, to turn off all the outdoor irrigation, so thankfully we don't have to worry about.
We only had two stops today that weren't connected with fuel or potty breaks. One was at the Petrified Forest Visitor Center, and the other was to have lunch in a roadside park in Winslow Arizona. Just to anticipate your reaction, I'll tell you that no, we didn't see any girls in "flatbed Fords" slowing down to take a look at us. But the day was gorgeous and blue-skied, and there's nothing like throwing open the windows to the dry desert air and enjoying lunch as strains of 1970s Eagles' music wafts through your head.
The little park that we chose on the eastern approach to Winslow turned out to be dedicated to the 9-11 attack and had attractively displayed two large girders from the twin towers. I was certainly surprised at first to see that magnitude of patriotism be manifested so far west, but then again maybe it's not really surprising. I suspect many villages, towns, and cities in the country applied for their own Twin Towers memorial pieces as well. I say bravo to the degree of patriotism that brought this memorial park to life in Winslow in 2002.
Our morning stop at the Petrified Forest National Park was brief, but enjoyable. I knew we couldn't actually venture into the park proper because of the piece of petrified wood that I purchased weeks ago in the state of Michigan from a roadside vendor. Still, we could venture into the Visitor Center, watch the education movie about the park, and peruse the book store and gift shop without getting ourselves into trouble. So that's what we did. Impressively, there was ample parking for RVs and even a gas station if you needed one. The whole complex was modern and thoughtfully-designed and we had a great time. I even scored a "Petrified Forest" T-shirt for my collection.
Here's what I found on Wikipedia about the Petrified Forest: "Petrified Forest National Park is in Navajo and Apache counties in northeastern Arizona. Named for its large deposits of petrified wood, the fee (chargeable) area of the park covers about 230 square miles, encompassing semi-desert shrub steppe as well as highly eroded and colorful badlands. The park's headquarters is about 26 miles east of Holbrook along Interstate 40 (I-40), which parallels the BNSF Railway's Southern Transcon, the Puerco River, and historic U.S. Route 66, all crossing the park roughly east–west. The site, the northern part of which extends into the Painted Desert, was declared a national monument in 1906 and a national park in 1962. The park received 644,922 recreational visitors in 2018. Typical visitor activities include sightseeing, photography, hiking, and backpacking."
"Averaging about 5,400 feet (1,600 m) in elevation, the park has a dry windy climate with temperatures that vary from summer highs of about 100 °F (38 °C) to winter lows well below freezing. More than 400 species of plants, dominated by grasses such as bunchgrass, blue grama, and sacaton, are found in the park. Fauna include larger animals such as pronghorns, coyotes, and bobcats, many smaller animals, such as deer mice, snakes, lizards, seven kinds of amphibians, and more than 200 species of birds, some of which are permanent residents and many of which are migratory. About one third of the park is designated wilderness—50,260 acres (79 sq mi)."
"The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch, about 225 million years ago. The sediments containing the fossil logs are part of the widespread and colorful Chinle Formation, from which the Painted Desert gets its name. Beginning about 60 million years ago, the Colorado Plateau, of which the park is part, was pushed upward by tectonic forces and exposed to increased erosion. All of the park's rock layers above the Chinle, except geologically recent ones found in parts of the park, have been removed by wind and water. In addition to petrified logs, fossils found in the park have included Late Triassic ferns, cycads, ginkgoes, and many other plants as well as fauna including giant reptiles called phytosaurs, large amphibians, and early dinosaurs. Paleontologists have been unearthing and studying the park's fossils since the early 20th century."
"The park's earliest human inhabitants arrived at least 8,000 years ago. By about 2,000 years ago, they were growing corn in the area and shortly thereafter building pit houses in what would become the park. Later inhabitants built above-ground dwellings called pueblos. Although a changing climate caused the last of the park's pueblos to be abandoned by about 1400 CE, more than 600 archeological sites, including petroglyphs, have been discovered in the park. In the 16th century, Spanish explorers visited the area, and by the mid-19th century a U.S. team had surveyed an east–west route through the area where the park is now located and noted the petrified wood. Later, roads and a railway followed similar routes and gave rise to tourism and, before the park was protected, to large-scale removal of fossils. Theft of petrified wood remains a problem in the 21st century."
There's lots more to learn about the Petrified Forest and I certainly think that it's worth a re-visit sometime when we're headed back to Arizona and the southwest. I'd like to stay locally and spend at least half a day appreciating the ancient geology.
So that's it for now. Tomorrow we're headed west and north toward Las Vegas and Mesquite where we hope to visit with some long-time friends and ex-coworkers of ours. And when you head out on the two-lanes, The Happy Wanderers wish you happy travels and exciting destinations as well.
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