Day 20: made it to Williams, Arizona

The wind did eventually die down overnight.  Predictions were for more of the same and stronger over the course of the day.  We decided to beat the winds by leaving really early before they began to increase.  Before 8 AM, we were back on the highway after a stop at Love’s to fill up first.  Today’s trip took us another 212 miles further west along I -40 to our next destination in Williams, Arizona.  

Fifteen miles after leaving Gallup, we crossed over into Arizona, our 9^th state.  
We drove across Navajo land.  

Faded billboards advertised an approaching trading post, where there were clean restrooms and Indian wares for sale: rugs, pottery, jewelry, sand paintings.  I wondered what sand paintings look like.

This section of I-40 is also part of the Purple Heart Trail and historic Route 66.  Perhaps in the good old days, when Route 66 was the only road, the trading posts were much like today’s Flying J’s and Love’s truck stops along the highways.  But, like Route 66 which is now part of history, these trading posts also belong to the past.  Each one we passed, and there were several more, was abandoned.  In their stead, I suppose that today Casinos have replaced them.

 

The terrain continued to be dry, with the same typical grasses and hardy bushes that seem to somehow survive this harsh environment. 

Occasionally we passed a train. At other times more mesas and colorful rock formations suddenly appeared.  Some areas had mounds of rocks that seemed to be dumped there without any reason. 

Otherwise, the sameness of the desert continued.

At an elevation of 6,000 ft, it felt like we were driving on top of the world across the Rockies, following the road ahead, a black ribbon unfurling into the distance for as far as we could see.

By mile post 303, we noticed cattle scattered in the dry flat landscape.  Flat topped mesas appeared again in the distance.  More faded billboards advertised a Hopi Trading Post,

capitalizing on the Painted Desert and Petrified Forests nearby.  It turned out to be yet another abandoned post just off the highway, the buildings remaining, the people long gone. 

I noticed that instead of rivers and creeks, there were now washes.  They are dry now of course, except when the rains appear and the water washes  through in torrents.

I also noticed that there were fewer trucks on the road at this early hour still.

The names amused me: Jackrabbit Road, Dead Wash, Two Guns Road, Buffalo Range Road, Twin Arrows.  We were definitely in the west.  All that was missing was the cowboys on horseback.

Humphrey’s Peak, the highest point in Arizona at 12,000 feet, came into view.  There were snow sprinkles at the very top of the peak.

Right before the exit to the meteor crater near Winslow, we stopped at a rest stop for a break.   The sudden appearance of the red rocks looked strange and out of place in the flat desert.  They petered out after a mile or so.  

The meteor crater, I found out, was formed nearly 50,000 years ago by a meteorite.  Today, after erosion (and no wonder with all this wind blowing through for thousands of years), it is now smaller, 550 feet deep, 2.4 miles in circumference, and nearly 1 mile across.  The terrain of the crater is very similar to that of the moon and NASA once trained Apollo astronauts here.  It took thousands of years, but the meteorite at least came in useful.

We crossed Canyon Diablo, which looked like a large gouge in the ground.

The winds began to pick up again, and the grasses were almost flattened to the ground.  We crossed Padre Canyon, another rift gouging the ground wide open.

At mile post 217, we had climbed back to 6,000 feet and a few miles later, crossed the Arizona Divide at 7,335 feet.  

The road and scenery were predictable as we continued crossing this vast desert.  I knitted to pass the time, while we listened to our book about the universe.  It turned out to be a good choice as the lecturer discussed the moon, its atmosphere and surface that make life impossible.  Driving through our own “desert moonscape”, I decided that this section of the country is equally uninhabitable.

On the approach to Flagstaff, green bushes began appearing as we entered the Kaibab National Forest.  It was quite amazing how within a few miles the landscape changed from flat desert to forest.  This area reminded me of the high desert of Oregon. 

Just a few miles later we took the turnoff to Williams, at an elevation of 6,770 feet.  

Williams prides itself on being the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, and a steam train takes you all the way to the South Rim of the Canyon. 

In the mid 90’s the four of us went on that train ride.  It was April, Spring Break for the girls, and we spent a week in Scottsdale.  We drove to Williams and there was snow on the ground and it was not only freezing cold, but there was also a lot of fog obstructing much of the view of the Canyon.  The drive back to Scottsdale later that evening was a nightmare.  More snow had fallen and the road was totally covered, making it impossible to tell the lanes apart.  Somehow, Michael managed to plow his way down the center of the highway, without snow tires or chains, and I will never forget that the radio was playing the theme song from “Dr. Zhivago”.  How ironic.  Or perhaps appropriate?  I think I finally began to breathe again when I spied my first saguaro cactus, and knew that we had made it to lower and warmer elevations.

Today, in mid November, by contrast, Williams was quite warm and sunny, if not a little breezy, and there wasn't a speck of snow to be seen.

We checked in to the RV Park, which is still fairly new.  After tea, we went exploring the downtown, the last town in America along Route 66 to be bypassed by the freeway.  I-40 replaced the last surviving segment on October 13, 1984.  

Walking the few downtown blocks, it is evident that Williams holds on to those bygone Route 66 years.  Route 66 somehow features in almost every store, restaurant and hotel along the main road.  

We strolled along, took photos, and stopped in at a couple of shops looking for patches. 

juke box music was blaring on to the street from this Cafe 66

Elvis is here too!

we took this one especially for Michelle who works for Shell

T & the 60-year-old Ford Fairlane - still lookin' good;)

(We took this photo of the Dairy Queen for Aaron, knowing he would be disappointed, as we were, that it was closed for the season.)

Today, the railway station looks quite different from when we were here.  The train still runs and takes folks to the Grand Canyon.

On the way back to Alpine, we popped in at Safeway, conveniently just a block away.  

It was a good decision to leave Gallup early and made the drive a lot more pleasant without battling the cross winds.  It also gave us time to explore Williams and have a good walk. Perhaps most of all, I am relieved that there is no inkling of snow in the forecast until well after we are gone.