Well, I’m a runnin down the road tryin to loosen my load. Well, it was more like blowing down the road. We left Golden Valley, AZ and set out for Gallup, NM. It was a brilliant sunshiny day, but the wind was fore casted to blow from the SW at 25-35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph! We were headed east so the wind would be on our rear quarter.
By the time we got to Flagstaff, it was blowing steady and hard. The wind was pushing me into the passing lane and it took both hands to hold the wheel and keep the RV from bolting into the next lane. We got some of the big 50 mph gusts and I did get pushed around a bit. The Mrs said it felt like being on a bumpy air plane flight. One gust set off the anti skid alarm on the RV!
With wind being this bad, I decided to shorten the day and stop at Winslow. My arms had had enough. Serendipity took over and it was a very fortunate stop. We got to visit “Standin on a Corner in Winslow Arizona” made famous by the Eagles song.
We also found Homolovi State Park to spend the night. What a nice place to stay. Its in the middle of a vast treeless nowhere just 2 miles north of town. It contains 4 archaeological sites that contain ruins of ancient Hopi tribes. The Hisatsinom inhabited this area between 1200-1400 AD and you can still see the outline of some of their dwelliongs and lots of pottery shards still on the ground. Its sacred ground for the Hopi.
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| Campsite at Homolovi State Park |
The campground is out in the open with no shade, but the sites are well spaced, paved, and most have water and electricity for $20 per night. I would highly recommend it.
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| Dwelling foundation at Homolovi Site 1 |
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| Pottery Fragments |
From Winslow, the plan was to do a short day, visit Petrified Forest National Park, and end up at Gallup, NM. The national park is right off I-40 and is a real treat to experience. We got off the highway and came at the park from the south so we could experience all parts. The Petrified Forest is unique and the road north back towards the highway gives you a great chance to see and experience some beautiful landscape. Here are some pictures we took.
Just north of the Petrified Forest is the Painted Desert. This is another spectacular site to visit. The vistas are breathtaking. We were there at mid-day so the light didn’t do it justice. Here are some pictures.
And that was our day out of Winslow. We made it to Gallup and plan to visit some Navajo ans Zuni sites.
