September-October

A swim in the Colorado was cold. Air temp 105, water temp 53. We were numb. the water was great. One of the cleanest rivers in the country and a nice beach at Davis campground, once a work camp during the dam construction, now a county park. we're about 2 miles north of Laughlin, Nv. just south of Davis Dam. The days are hot, with low humidity, you don,t feel the heat unless your in the sun or working. We join our neighbors for a visit under their umbrella each morning and its beautiful, looking over the river. We stay in Laughlin almost a week just relaxing, and waiting for a power window regulator for the Jeep. when repairs are complete, its time to say goodbye to our neighbors and move on toward Albuquerque. A stop in Lake Havasu City, high 80's at night, 110 days, no shade. After one day and a view of London Bridge we drive away from the heat and in three hours were in Flagstaff, Arizona. 56 degrees at night, mid 70's days

A quite night at Sams Club and an hour drive east brings us to Walnut Canyon, in the Coconino National Forest. This prehistoric pueblo is part or the National Park System, and has sacred ties to the Hopi of northern Arizona and various pueblo people of New Mexico. Sinagua, Spanish for the people "without water", these remains are an archaeological treasure from 1150 AD. Their potery and weaving traditions are still practiced today. The dwellings were sheltered by overhanging cliffs, and the pit houses were home to the canyons only inhabitants over 800 years ago. A beautiful morning, 60 degrees, Linda and I walk into the 600 foot deep canyon along the limestone walls that form the remains of their cliff dwellings. The sinagua lifestyle included hunting in the pine forest, dry farming corn and gathering use full plants. Why these people left remains unclear, by 1250ad they moved on and is generally believed they were assimilated into Hopi culture. Sinagua homes remained undisturbed until the 19th century. In the 1880's the railroad brought souvenir hunters to the ancient dwellings. Theft and destruction drew support to preserve the canyon. In 1915 Walnut Canyon was declared a national monument. After a great morning we'll leave the forest area of Arizona and drive into the Painted Desert.

South of I-40 on the edge of the Painted Desert is a meteor crater site, this giant bowl shaped cavity is the result of the collision of a 150 foot meteorite with the desert floor. In a blinding flash, at 26,000 mph, the impact through out over 175 million tons of limestone and sandstone. The meteor disintegrated on impact and fragments of iron-nickel and rock were thrown as far as several miles away. A continuous blanket of debris surrounds the crater site. Flat-lying beds of rock in the crater walls were overturned in fractions of a second and uplifted permanently as much as 150 feet to form the crater rim.The visitor center and rim walks tell the story of discovery and development of the site, and questions in the geologic community it raised. An attraction not to be missed, over 4000 feet across, 2 1/2 miles around, and 700 feet deep. An interesting afternoon at the museum, theater, and restaurant. Our evening was spent in Winslow Az. at the supercenter resort, just off I-40, on our way east.

Even before we're at the Painted Desert visitors center, the colors of the wilderness are coming alive. An orientation film tells us of the exhibits, geology, and paleontology. After lunch in the parking lot we start on the 28 mile park road, each overlook shows unlimited views of varied colors. Different vistas of color from iron, manganese, carbon, and other minerals glow throughout the badlands and wilderness. Petroglyphs etched in stone tell their own stories of life in a pueblo that may have once housed nearly 1200 people. Erosion of some bluffs has left hundreds of once encased petrified logs strewn across the valley below. The trees of the petrified forest lived over 225 million years ago, they are a history of climate and geology told in stone. Along the swollen stream banks of a prehistoric forest, tall cone bearing trees washed out into a nearby floodplain. Covered with volcanic ash, silt, and mud they didn't decay as we know, but slowly over milliems silca laden water replaced the original wood and resins and crystallized into quartz. Millions of years later they are now uncovered with the uplifting of the region and the movement of the continents.This dry grassland of the national park was once that floodplane! Wind and rain and erosion has exposed these huge trees that once laid in a pool of water and mud, sealed off from oxygen. Petrified Forrest National Park is experience to remember. We'll drive east to Gallup, New Mexico, so much more to see in Arizona, maybe next year.

Signs of the past are seen all over Gallup. Native American heritage, Hispanic culture, railroad yards, pawn shops, and vibrant colored high desert mesas, form the essence of the area. We spent one night in Wal-mart parking lot, but it was to noisy. There was about 25 R/Vs in the lot, from a Prevost with a Smart Car that looked like a roller skate behind it, to pick-up's with bedrolls and people sleeping in cars. Moved over to Home Depot the next night, and was much quieter. There was some panhandling in the parking lots and locals selling their goods on street corners and in local restaurants. We scoured the pawn shops to replace a broken watchband, the shops are loaded with beautiful "old pawn" silver and turquoise. Found a used band with Navajo inlay that was fair priced.

On our way to Albuquerque we visit the Acoma Pueblo and Sky City, an ancient native American settlement on top of a 367 foot sandstone mesa. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in North America. Amazing, they carried drinking water, food, firewood up to the top. No plumbing, no electric even today. Now though they have a road to the top for light vehicles.

Balloon Fiesta is a spectacular event that attracts 500-700 balloonist and 250,000 people to Albuquerque every October. Were excited this year to be joined by my sister Linda and her husband Ed from Hollywood, Fla. They'll fly out Friday night and will be with us the first 5 days of fiesta, 3 days in the RV with us before they retreat to a motel for the last 2 nights. We spend a few days in a campground for housekeeping chores before 10 days of "dry" camping during fiesta. We had a great time even though some mornings were canceled for weather. On Sunday we took a side trip to Santa Fe for dinner with a childhood neighbor from Hollywood. Bev and husband Fred Friedman took us to Gabriel's, a wonderful restaurant enjoyed by all, with food of the southwest and old mexico. All 6 of us had a great time while Linda, Bev and I tried to catch up 45+ years. Balloon fiesta is going by fast, we're sorry to say goodbye to Linda and Ed on Wednesday, I hope to see them in North Carolina in the way back to Florida. We spent the last part of Fiesta helping Jim and Nancy Lynch from Ocala, with their balloon. It was our pleasure to have met them last year when we were assigned to "crew" for them. Jim is a true professional pilot with 20+ years experience in balloons and always safety first.