Letter 3: City of Rocks to

We left the City of Rocks state camping park and drove through Silver City and up the west side of NM. All the way to Gallup we probably saw 3 gas stations. About 1/3 of the way to Gallup we stopped at

The Catwalk park and enjoyed a walk back (and up)


into a narrow canyon. This was the water supply for a gold mine years ago and they
built a catwalk for the water pipeline.
We saw the catwalk and enjoyed the coolness of the canyon and the rushing water under us. It was a little unnerving to have a mesh walkway and see the water under our feet.

We stopped for the night at Apache Creek forest camp. It was so pretty with Ponderosa pines and level spots. Of course in a forest camp there are no hookups, but we were not worried. We even planned to stay two nights and rest a day. We met a young couple tent camping and shared a camp fire with her. He was birding. We went to bed at dark with our heater working. It was to get cold that night. And brother did it! At about midnight Olivia got up to turn the thermostat up and there was no heat. No battery! We were up about an hour trying to figure out what went wrong. We never did figure it out. We must have a short somewhere. Olivia put on everything she could think of and we even covered our heads up. It got down to 20 degrees! We decided to go on to Gallup and electricity and skip the second night! Fred made us ready to roll, we had not unhooked, and we hit the road. About 10 am Fred looked at Olivia and said, “What are you doing in your housecoat?” She had slept in 2 pr pants, socks & house shoes, gown, housecoat and a toboggan. She went to the car dressed like that! Before we arrived at the Zuni Pueblo she put on make up and dressed.
We pulled into Zuni Pueblo and found several Indian stores. Lots of Indian wares and even some with jewelry supplies. Olivia bought a small Zuni cross.
Upon arriving at Gallup, we went to the Red Rock State Park on the east side of Gallup and found a nice campground. Level with water & electricity. Then we drove back into town and went to Earl’s Restaurant. It had been recommended to us with the Navajo Taco as the specialty. It was good, but the best part about Earl’s was Indian vendors came to your table while you eat selling their turquoise jewelry, pots, and other goods. That was the best shopping Olivia has ever had. Eat while the shopping comes to you. We split one taco and had enough for supper the next night.
Easter Sunday we located a local Methodist Church on the web and began what we thought was a short trip for their services. We drove for over an hour and never did find it. We were sorry to miss it. Then we did some shopping and back to the trailer and took our washing to a very nice Laundromat. It was the first time we had been to one since Angie was a baby. Next was house cleaning. We worked for 2 hours and also rearranged some things. We were sure glad we had left over Navajo Tacos for supper. We walked around the campground watching the sunset. It was pretty on the red rocks. They look like the red rock cliffs in some of the movies. We could picture the carvings in Egypt. While we walked around the park in the evening Olivia was wearing Muddie’s heavy parka. Thanks Muddie, it is just the right thing for the cold. Our weather is clear and cold in the mornings 20 degrees and up to 60 during the day.
Monday found us being lazy. We stayed in bed until Anna Kay called and updated us on the Harrington family. We decided to go cigarette and jewelry shopping. We didn’t find a bargain in either department but we did find out that Gallup is the world’s third largest consumer of silver. Rome and Talaquepaque, Mexico are the first two. We saw some outstanding jewelry. One store, Richardson’s (KAE have you been there?) had 16 million in inventory and most of that was old pawn. Gorgeous! Drool, droll! We have never seen so much jewelry, much less turquoise jewelry. We only went to about 7 stores. There are probably 50 in Gallup. We bought a few items at Perry Null’s Pawn Shop and later saw similar items at double the price. Again we ate at Earl’s, this time chicken enchiladas. They were also good. Since it was early there were not as many vendors.
Tuesday, Fred had a bee in his bonnet to get out of Gallup. Olivia almost had to leave in her house coat again! Gallup’s Route 66 is still in its glory. Lots of activity. It was fun. We drove west to Arizona and the Painted Desert in its pastels (see photo) and Petrified Forest.



We were glad it was spring the temp was 68 degrees. We made most of the stops on the trip through the park and were glad we did. “The Petrified Forest is over 200 million years old.

The logs do not have branches and bark because they have been broken off during a journey downstream the petrified logs were once driftwood! (like trees in Patti’s creek). The colors of the Rainbow Forest’s brilliant petrified logs are due to trace minerals that soaked in to the wood along with the silica. Iron minerals provided bright mustard, orange, rich reds, ochre and black. Blue purple, brown and black, including graceful fern-like patterns are caused by manganese minerals. The logs were broken naturally. (Great Logs) Since petrified logs are composed of quartz, they are hard and brittle breaking easily when subjected to stress. As erosion exposes the logs, weathering widens the cracks, particularly from ice wedging in the winter.

Old Faithful, You can see the main root.
The remaining 35’ section weighs 44 tons. When the continents were massed together fossil data reveals that during the late Triassic Epoch this region was situated only a few degrees north of the equator.”





One fallen log had become Agate Bridge

(Agate Bridge) There was free camping on HWY 180 at the south end of the park.
We were glad we qualified for the Senior Pass to National parks. Our $10 investment has already paid off. Dana and Stokers, Olivia thought of your trip when you go to the Grand Canyon this summer. At the Arizona entrance center we found a coupon for ½ lb petrified rock at the Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co in Holbrook AZ. That was worth the stop. One table was priced at $24,000…. out of polished petrified wood. It is illegal to pick any up in the park, but ok other places. He certainly had his share. It was something else just to walk through his store and yard. Homolovi Ruins State Park out of Winslow was our night stop.
This morning we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and a very fat roadrunner hunting for food by our trailer. We moved on to see the Meteor Crater, watch the video and looked at their very well done museum. Then we walked out to actually see down in the crater.

Can you see the replica of a life sized astronaut holding a flag on the floor of the crater? Look to front right of the fence close to the flower. We headed on to Flagstaff and were surprised to see the snow covered San Francisco Mountains. We turned south on the Interstate, very rough and bouncy but beautiful drive to the top of a mountain, then down 2500 feet of 6% grade and lots of views to Verde Valley. Dead Horse Ranch State Park was our stop for the night and it was full so we stayed in the overflow and will get another site in the morning. We plan to be here a few days.