We awake to look out across a lava field left by a volcano some 10,000 years ago. It seems alien in what can already be considered by many an alien landscape.
Oh, and we discovered that we have a mouse in the van as evidenced by buns having been nibbled as well as a banana. Traps were procured.
New Mexico is harsh. It gets hot, very hot in the Summer but we awoke to 1C this morning. The sky is almost always bright blue, clouds just don’t seem to form here and yet when it does rain torrential floods can wash away bridges and towns. It’s dry today, no floods to worry about. As we drive we wonder what life is like day-to-day in this environment, one that doesn’t seem to have seasons where trees leaf and then fall, where every road seems to lead to the horizon and the only evidence that anyone knows about it is the large plume of dust they leave as they traverse the landscape. Harsh.
Our first stop today was the Continental Divide, the place in the Rockies where water either flows towards the Atlantic or the Pacific. There’s a small plaque that we stopped at to commemorate our passing from East to West.
Soon we crossed into Arizona, another time zone change. This time from Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) to Mountain Standard Time (MST). Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time. So, we are now at the same time as those on the West coast but not yet in the same time zone.
A little ways into Arizona we make a stop at the Petrified Forest National Park. We entered at the North gate and followed the 28 mile road through the park to the South Gate. In the North you get to explore the Painted Desert from overlooks that expose a wonderful array of colors in the hillsides.
As you travel South the landscape becomes more barren and moon-like before depositing you into the petrified forest. As you look about you see what appears to be rocks strewn about the landscape, but when you get close you realize that they are all petrified wood from trees that died 10’s of millions of years ago. We stopped in a few places and walked amongst these ‘logs’ and were amazed by the variety of colors of crystals that had replaced the original organic wood fibers. Some look like a lumberjack had recently felled the trees and cut the logs into short lengths but then left the logs instead of taking them away. To look at, it’s wood. To touch, it is rock.
After leaving the park we continue westward and stop for the night at Homolovi State Park near Winslow, AZ. A quiet spot in the desert to spend the end of the day amongst the sagebrush & tumbleweeds.
Tomorrow a certain flatbed Ford will be sought out and then onto western Arizona and into Nevada.
