OK RV Park Holbrook, Arizona

Mileage:  51,963

So, last night we we chatting with our campground neighbor.  She was from Idaho.  We were talking about trips we had taken and then we started talking about the weather.  She said she and her husband had decided to hunker down and shelter in place because of the big storm coming.  They didn’t want to travel because the hurricane was forecasted to bring lots of rain and flash flooding.  Hurricane???  Sometimes we live in our own little world and since we are not watching TV very much and we never watch the news at all…who knew there was a Pacific hurricane, Rosa, headed in our direction?  We went to dinner and then returned and started trying to gather information to make a decision.  We were going to take Highway 66 on a scenic route from Kingman to Sleigman.  There was already flooding in southern Arizona.  It was supposed to rain all night.  We decided to wait until this morning to make a plan.  I woke up early and it wasn’t raining at all.  We decided to take Route 40 instead of 66, thinking that it is a newer more modern road and it might be less likely to have flooding.  We also decided to leave as soon as we could and try to beat the rain.

We stopped to fuel the RV and there were two snowplows sitting in the parking lot…whatever for???  Mudslides maybe???

The morning was progressively cloudy as we traveled through the Arizona desert.  The scenery looked like great mounds of sand and rock with bits of cactus scattered on top…like sprinkles on ice cream.  We could see Rosa making her way toward us.

Finally, it began to rain, lightly at first and then steadier.   Much of the day looked like this.

We stopped at Meteor Crater.  50,000 years ago a meteor 150 feet across and weighing more than several hundred thousand pounds crashed into the earth.  It left a crater with a 3 mile circumference and a depth of more than 700 feet.

The Apollo astronauts trained in this crater.

It stopped raining!

Our next stop was Winslow, Arizona.  You might recognize this street corner from an old Eagles song “Take it Easy.”

We stopped for the day in Holbrook, Arizona.  We either had to stop here or travel another couple of hundred miles over the New Mexico border.  After driving and riding in the rain most of the day…we were tired!  The campground had pieces of petrified wood…so cool!!!  This rock is from the Triassic period, 230 million years ago.  Wood becomes petrified when the organic material in the tree is replaced with minerals, mostly silicates or quartz.  The process of petrification occurs when the wood is buried under sediment or volcanic ash and is deprived of oxygen.  This transformation occurs over millions of years.

Sunset.

We have passed Joshua National Park, Sequoia National Forest, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and today…the Grand Canyon.  There are so many places of incredible beauty to come back and see.

We had Maryland crabcakes for our dinner tonight…yum!

 

Zuni Village RV Park Kingman, Arizona

Mileage:  51,656

Our drive today was 150 miles through the Mojave Desert.  This is a brown, barren, desolate piece of earth.  The soil was sandy and studded with sharp rocks, prickly cacti, low scraggly bushes, and garbage.  But even here there is great beauty.  The Providence Mountains were looming on the horizon.

We stopped for breakfast.

It is October 1st and it is 90 degrees…I cannot begin to imagine how hot it might be in July.

We went over the Sacramento Mountains.

Over the Colorado River.

Into Arizona.

We are staying in Kingman.  We got on our bikes and rode for 7 or 8 miles on a bike path, through a park and around the neighborhood.

This evening we took the infamous Route 66 to dinner.

We ate great food at Rickety Cricket Brewing.

On our way back to the RV we stopped to peer into the windows at Dream Machines.

Barstow/Calico KOA Yermo, California

Mileage:  51, 409

Today we reached the 13,000 mile mark…lots of driving and riding…but we still aren’t tired of seeing new places.

As we left Bakersfield we saw lots of empty lots with small oil rigs.

We also saw Medjool date trees.  The land is sun baked and starting to look like desert as we passed over the Telachapi Mountains.

We saw the Telachapi Wind Farm.  Thousands of windmills/turbines that produce enough megawatts to power 350,000 homes in California year round.  This wind farm is one of the greatest energy producers in the world.  Many turbines were still today but on average the wind blows here 14-20mph which is perfect for clean and renewable power production. There are many people who are opposed to wind farms because the are “unsightly.”  Is coal mining prettier???

Highway 58 is bisected by the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.

Today’s weather was 94 degrees and sunny.  It was hot but so much less oppressive than when it is in the 90’s at home.

We had only 2 options today.  We could camp in Barstow or continue for another 150 miles to Needles where the next campgrounds are located.  We chose to stop early.  We have had two consecutive long driving days.  We arrived at the campground by 11am.

Our view today.

A roadrunner in the campground.

Who lives in here?

I was able to do all the laundry and Tim was able to watch the NASCAR race.

We took a drive this afternoon. There is a ghost town called Calico which is the site of the silver  mines from the late 1800’s.  We contemplated a visit but decided not today.

We made grilled chicken and guacamole and sat outside watching the Ravens beat the Steelers.

The desert sunset was  amazing.

The stars were out tonight.  The desert sky was pretty!