Petrified Forest and surroundings

We have been at the Petrified Forest for several weeks now and are enjoying the warmer, sunny and especially drier weather. However, it has been very windy as well and some days Interstate 40 was closed several times between just west of Winslow to just east of Flagstaff. This made it very hard for people who were coming from New Mexico and were planning to drive to Williams or to the Grand Canyon. It also made the beautiful Painted Desert very drab and almost colorless.

One day we went to El Morro, New Mexico (www.nps.gov/elmo) to tour that area. What a wonderful place it is but we wouldn't want to volunteer or work there as you would be too far from civilization for groceries, etc. We really got our exercise that day as you can see by all the stair climbing we had to do to see the beautiful ruins. There were approximately 200 steps on the whole trail.

The picture below shows the pool where people finally got water on the way to the west. It looks pretty icky but when you are thirsty enough it will do. Besides that, maybe the water was cleaner those days.

Some of the early travelers wrote their name and/or a message on the walls. Of course, you can't do that nowadays as it would be called defacing government property. This was all done in the 18th and 19th century.

We drove through the Zuni reservation and saw several outdoor ovens which we didn't get to take a picture of, unfortunately. 

One day we went on a long walk on old route 66 and saw this old model T Ford that didn't make it. 

Below is a photo of old route 66 looking east in the Petrified Forest. 

Our friends George and Linda will be camping like this on their way back from New Jersey. It is something George made up but we wouldn't like to rough it that much. Linda is flying out to New Jersey and George is driving to see her there and then they will go back and visit different places.

Below is a picture of our campsite at the Petrified Forest. Our trailer is small but has all the comforts of home, especially compared to the picture above.

We saw and old '38 or '39 Ford truck towing a newer 5th wheel parked in Holbrook. Later we saw it on interstate 40.

Right in front of the Ford was a '53 Buick towing a small trailer. 

Looking at all 4 modes of camping which one would you choose?

This is it for now because we are going to have some ice-cream before going to work. Will try and be more frequent posting on our blog. Let us know how you like it so far.