Day 14 (Trees of stone)

Day 14
July 5, 2006
Santa Fe, NM to Holbrook, AZ (295 miles)

Last night marked a record for the most consecutive nights of camping for us (13). We are getting used to dealing with not having all of the conveniences of home. Actually, the biggest problems have been keeping ice on hand and storing and retrieving all of our possessions in very tight quarters. We are pleased to report that we’re getting better at both, however.

We had no choice but to fold up the trailer wet this morning. By the sound of the rain and based on some extensive erosion alongside Hyde Park Road, we estimate that at least 1.5 inches of rain fell last night. Once again we stayed dry, warm and comfy in our trailer.

We returned to the City gym and took showers before heading south toward Albuquerque. On the way we decided to not stop there so that we would have more time in Gallup and Petrified Forest National Park.

Gallup, New Mexico, which is just east of the Arizona border off I-40, is widely recognized for being a Mecca of sorts for Indian jewelry. We first learned about Gallup in 1990 when we read about its reputation for high-quality, inexpensive jewelry and visited for a shopping spree. If anything, the quality of the jewelry has improved since then and the number of stores has certainly grown. And prices there are still very good.

What Gallup is less famous for is being a train hub of unparalleled activity. The town averages one freight train every 10 minutes. While we were shopping, Elliot made it his business to observe the passing trains and count them. In the first hour, 10 trains went by, most of them headed east. Several of them were being pulled by four engines; one had five. One train had more than 200 cars. Speaking of trains, today we saw several whole trains, from tip to tail, on the Santa Fe line that parallels I-40. There is something specail about seeing a whole train at once. Incredible!

We ate a quick lunch in Gallup before continuing west on I-40. We crossed into Arizona (thereby gaining an hour since Arizona stays on standard time), and then exited the Interstate at the entrance to the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park. The petrified wood is truly impressive. There are some huge logs in that park of solid stone that are more than four feet in diameter and more than 100 feet long. We took a .8 mile hike around and through some of the larger stone logs near the Crystal Forest overlook on the park's 28-mile-long main road. It was a magical experience for us.

We then drove to the Holbrook KOA via US Highway 180. This was one of the loneliest roads any of us had ever been on. Frank stopped just to verify we were headed in the right direction, which we were. Two things put Holbrook on the map: 1) it is on the historic Route 66 corridor, making it popular with many of the thousands of foreign tourists who come to America with a deep desire to experience the real Route 66 after seeing it on TV and reading so much about it; and 2) it is the petrified wood capital of the United States. In this town with a population of about 5,000 people, there are no less than 3 dozen retail outlets that specialize in pertrified wood!

The KOA was clean and safe, making it a very welcome destination for our weary clan. After working together to set up the trailer, Sessy made tacos complete with buffalo meat while Frank and Emily went to the swimming pool. The dry Arizona air completely dried the wet surfaces of the trailer's exterior within 15 minutes! The desert’s power to dry things still amazes us. We’re hoping for a rain-free night—three nights in a row was enough!