Play day

 Today was a do dang little day. Our intent or plans were to do walking tour of Williams and so we did. Bought a few things, but nothing much.They were doing a controlled burn in the forest nearby so was smokey most of the day. Rain in forcast for tomorrow so probably no update.

 A few photos of the day.

another good day to be alive...

Today's question

 We are in Williams at a commercial Rv park, to be specific Grand Canyon Railway Village. Most people come here to visit the Grand Canyon. We will relocate to the Canyon on Saturday so our time will be spent walking around Williams.

 This park holds a couple hundred RV's, from small travel trailers to large class A's. Just a few spots from us is a 45ft Prevost. Those babies go for a million dollars plus. That brings us to the question: wonder how much money is sitting around here? Quite a bit I am sure.

Roadside attractions

 Well we left Show Low and headed to Williams. Williams looked like a neat place to walk around when we were here before. Vowed to return and check it out and so we have. It sits on historic Route 66, "...get your kicks on route 66...). Still looking for Martin Milner and George Maharis in that cool Corvette they drove...


 But before we get into that, there were things to see and do along the way. So first things first, here we go.


You know the words so sing along with me: "...standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see, it's a girl my Lord in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look at me..."

  A little further down the road another attraction to be found. Ever see the movie "Starman" with Jeff Bridges, mainly the final scenes? We we were there. A meteor crater a mile across is pretty impressive.

carpe diem

Fool's Hollow

 Since we have been on the road for a week it was laundry time. At one time was opposed to having washer and dryer in coach, now quite the opposite. Mary did laundry an read, I went fishing. Not catching, just fishing. We did enjoy some long walks around the lake and park. At 6300 ft elevation those hills get steep. Betty boop I bet your 5k times would be longer up in this thin air. So few words and mainly pictures today, (hold the applause I might be sensitive.)


 A photo tour of Fool's Hollow State recreation area.

lest you think we are in desert just because it is Arizona

Friendly reminder to click on photo for larger view.

carpe diem

VLA

  Anyone know what the title means or stands for? Anyone watch the movie "Contact" starring Jodie Foster? How about X-files? We are listening...

 Well if you don't know by now, I might as well tell you: Very Large Array

 Here it is via Google Earth.

View from US 60

you should have figured out they are radio telescopes

listening to the cosmos

 It is south of US60 between Socorro and Datil New Mexico.In between the mountains is this grassy plain know as San Augustin, therein it sets. We were facing a long drive so did not go into visitor center.

 Crossed over the continental divide at 7789 feet between Datil and Pie Town. Guess it is all down hill to California from here.

  We are currently in Show Low Arizona, a very nice town in the White Mountains. This park, Fools Hollow state recreation area, is very nice. Here for three days to catch up on laundry and chill. Arizona does NOT recognize daylight savings time. So we went from CDST to MDST to MST, very confusing. 5pm in Texas is 4pm in New Mexico but 3pm in Arizona.Will go back to MDST when we enter Utah next week. At 6300 feet elevation here and the air is a little thin.

Valley of Fires wrap up

 They say this lava flowed for 30 years. Now as Dr. Sheldon Cooper would say: here are some fun facts; flow occurred about 5000 years ago, lava consist of olivine basalt which is similar to flows in Hawaii, flow is 44 miles in length and 2 to 5 miles wide, average depth is 45 feet with deepest being 165 feet, surface area of 127 square miles. One heck of a lot of molten rock anyway you figure.Tough growing conditions to be sure. I lack photographic skills, but the following is my attempt to bring you the essence of this part of the Tulrarosa Valley.

 This pretty girl happened to come by so I used her for a sense of scale.

Various shots of terrain and fauna

Found that same pretty girl resting by a Juniper tree

We are parked out of sight behind Juniper in center of photo

  Tomorrow it is on to Arizona. Some things of interest before we get there to share, but that is for another post.

As always,

carpe diem

April Fools

   And we were the fools. Heading to the high country I expected to run into some cold weather. Did not anticipate being in winter storm warning in Texas. We had gone all winter with no snow. The Texas part was just rain when we left. The next 200 miles was snow, sometimes just a dusting, other times near white out conditions. One heck of an April fools joke don't you think?


  New Mexico, the land of enchantment as they call it. What do you think of when you think of New Mexico? Desert, maybe historic Santa Fe or perhaps trendy artsy Taos and the paintings of Georgia O"Keefe? How about lava? No? Well you should, We are at Valley of Fires Recreation area just west of Carrizozo which is just west of Ruidoso. According to experts it came not from volcanoes but from vents that opened in valley floor. Quite a large flow best shown via Google earth. All that black in the center is lava flow. Save the flight to Hawaii to see lava, just come to New Mexico.

And now some views from our front, and back, porch for next couple of days. Goodnight from 5270ft elevation in New Mexico.

Train passing in the distance

  Next stop Show Low Arizona