Meteor Crater, AZ

This huge meteor crater was off Interstate 40 between Winslow and Flagstaff. 50,000 years ago an asteroid hit the earth at 26,000 MPH, like 20 million tons of TNT, it blasted a crater in the earth that is almost a mile wide, and over 550 feet, (60 stories), deep. Well, Patti just had to see it and pictures just don't show the true expanse. Robert just thinks it was dug there, for a tourist attraction. Check it out on Google maps, it is impressive. The middle pic is taken from the lip of the crater, you can see our Casita.

Winslow, AZ

Here I am standing on the corner of Winslow, Arizona, taking it easy. I've got to run now because there is a girl in a flat-bed ford slowing down to take a look at me.

Walnut Canyon Nat Monument, AZ

Walnut Canyon National Monument was on the way to Flagstaff. We hiked about a mile down into this canyon and looked at more old Indian dwellings that were made all over the cliffs. It was really disorienting looking down into the canyon, pictures just can't show the depth.

Homolovi Ruins State Park, AZ

Wow, there are a lot of really old Indian ruins all over the southwest. We stayed at this state park and hiked around to look at these Hopi indian ruins. These are from the 14th century and not much left. Robert thinks they just broke a bunch of pots and threw them around for the tourist.

Petrified Nat Forest, NM

We headed west on Interstate 40 into Arizona. Stopped at a little RV park 'Root 66 RV Park', where the chickens slept in trees. Drove through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. The petrified forest happened 250 million years ago when huge conifer trees fell, were washed into adjacent flood plains, and were covered by a mix of silt, mud, and volcanic ash. Silica laden groundwater seeped through the decayed logs and eventually crystallized into quartz. Pic #1, the painted desert: white is sandstone, dark colors are carbon, reddish are iron. The rest of pics are petrified wood. Robert is sitting in log jam and standing at the end of a long log. Patti is standing by huge log. Rocks rock!!

Hyde Memorial State Park, NM

We went up to Santa Fe and stayed up in the mountain at Hyde Memorial State Park. Look at this snow!! Santa Fe was a real cute touristy town, all adobe. Ate lunch, went to Santa Fe brewery. Santa Fe is 7000 foot elevation and we stayed up the mountain from there.

Albuquerque, NM

Albuquerque "old town" was cute and touristy, lots of adobe, artsy, craftsy stuff. First shot shows ABQ city in the background. Most of the homes are adobe, southwestern looking. First two pics are taken from the Petroglyph National Monument, a jagged edged escarpment strewn with basalt boulders broken away from lava caprock. Note the petroglyphs on the rock in front of Robert. There are many Indian petroglyph sites all over the southwest

Kiva RV Park, Bernardo, NM

We stayed one night at Bernardo, NM. Rv park and horse motel!

Catwalk at Gila Nat Forest, NM

We headed north-west and stopped at the Cat Walk in Gila National Forest for a 2 mile hike. The Catwalk of White Water Canyon began with discovery of gold and silver in the Mogollon mountains. A pipeline for water to run the mining mill was built through the white water canyon, dubbed the catwalk. It was abondoned 10 years later, then rebuilt in the 1930's.

Piños Altos, NM

This is little ghost town a few miles north of Silver City. "Tall pines" did'nt have much in it. There were a lot of towns that flourished in the 1800's during the mining heyday, then just died out. Most are just rubble, but some have been rebuilt somewhat for tourist.

Silver City, NM

We stayed in Silver City 4 days with a guy Robert worked with 30 years ago. Silver City was a cute artsy, spiritual, hippie little city. Ate mexican food, went to Santa Rita-Chino mine, huge hole in the ground. Elevation 5900 feet. Higher is colder.

City of Rocks State Park, NM

This is a state park we stayed at on the way to Silver City, NM. Theory is that the rocks were thrown here from a volcanic eruption 180 miles away many, many years ago. They then sat and weathered. Well, they are very cool looking, kind of like stonehenge. New Mexico is sometimes called the volcano state.

Alamogordo, NM

Over the mountain, to Oliver Lee State Park, south side of Alamogordo, NM.4300 foot elevation. This state park is at the bottom of a mountain, the Sacramento mountain range, which we hiked part way up. Also, went to White Sands National Monument. At the northern end of the Chihuahuan desert lies a mountain ringed valley, the Tularosa Basin, 275 square miles of the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Created 250 million years ago. Slid down the sand on a disk, but it was hell climbing back up the sand dune.

Carlsbad,NM

After 2 days on the road going against the wind through west Texas, we stopped at Brantley Lake State Park, just north of Carlsbad, NM. Scrubby and arid, it has been super windy.3100 foot elevation.