Up
way
early;
with
each
mile
we are closer,
windmills
and
buttes,
at
least
since Oklahoma City
I-40
paralleling / replacing old
U.S. 66.
New
Mexico,
Mountain
Daylight
Time,
the
Visitor
opening
up
15 minutes early
seemingly simply kindly on our behalf.
Classic,
the
Eastern
New
Mexican
scenery
even
better
than
had
been
remembered,
spectacular
desert
mesas
and
mountains.
Beyond Tucumcari
colors
intensify,
cliffs
steepen --
mysterious
distant
highlands,
coming
into
closer
focus,
towards
a
supply
stop
in
Santa
Rosa
near
the
upper Pecos River.
The
land
rises into
pine
and
juniper
woodlands
with
the
far-
away
Sandia
Mountains
beckoning.
Onward,
into
the
ranges,
down
Tijeras
("Scisors")
Canyon,
Albuquerque,
Rio Grande,
Chihuahuan
Desert (arguably on the east side of the ranges, too)
to
Rio Puerco ("Pig" or "Dirty / Muddy River")
and
another
supply
stop
near
Negra Cerro.
Ever
Westward,
mindful
of
the
myths,
red
rocks
near
Los
Lunas
Junction,
Mesita,
Sunhouse
Pillars
in
the
Rio
San
Jose
Valley,
ancient
civilizations
of
stone
and
clay ---
Earth,
Wind,
Fire,
and
Sky --
The
Malpais,
Bluewater
Mesa,
this
storied
corridor
approaching
the
Continental
Divide,
down
to
another
Puerco
River,
Wingate
Sandstone,
The
Hogback
into
Gallup,
the
intensity
of
the
landforms
growing
all
the
more
impressive
towards
the
Arizona
border.
A
quick stop
at a
Native-American
trading post
and
we
go
again,
Beckettianly --
oh
yes,
having
gained
another
hour,
since
stays
on
Mountain
Standard
Time
all
year.
After
a
break
at
the
approriately-surreal
Meteor Crater Rest Area,
beeline
upslope
towards
stormy
conditions
in the central uplands to
how-could-we-forget
Winona
and
Flagstaff.
Kick
around
66
for
re-fueling,
then
cross-
piney-
plateau,
Williams,
downslope
to
Ash
Fork
and
Valley,
cedar
savanna
on
the
way
to
Seligman.
Markham (nice name) Canyon,
Seventy-Four Plain,
Jolly
Ridge (after "Hi Jolly" Hadji Ali, an Ottoman subject of Syrian and Greek parentage, who in 1856 became one of the first camel drivers ever hired by the US Army to lead the camel driver experiment in the Southwest),
Cross
Mountain,
the
aptly-sobriqueted
Fort Rock,
down
Cottonwood
Willow
to
Silver
Springs
Valley,
the
Hualapai
Mountains,
and
at
last
the Mojave (Mohave?) Desert and
Kingman.
Hallelujah!
Checking
in,
within
sight
of
marvelous
canyons
and
palms
all
around,
over dinner. Dream of a day and night -- 69th of summer back home, high plummeting down 13 to 71, .05 inch of rain for a total of 46.32 since July 1...
Amarillo, 90
Albuquerque, 93
Flagstaff, 79
Kingman, 95
