Tue, May 3, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 10:44PM Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Nothing delights one more in the unplanned journey than to hear, “Yes, we have a room”. – Donna Downey
After a few days on the road I fear my daily ramblings begin to repeat themselves… beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, good meal, etc… so I try to not think about it too much and just recount our day. Today was a perfect weather day for us. It began after a quick continental breakfast in the motel with crystal clear skies and a nippy 29 degrees. We had a relatively short drive to get to our first destination, the Petrified Forest National Park. Our first stop inside the park was the Visitor Center and Museum at the southern entrance and the ranger inside said the temperatures would climb slowly and top out around 76 degrees. We knew then this would be a great day.
Our first walk was a relatively short one on the Giant Logs Trail. We visited this park on our first trip West which would have been about 25 years ago. It turned out to be a good decision to include it on this trip for a repeat performance. It was just as beautiful and interesting as our first trip, maybe even more so because there have been some improvements to the park and more information available as you stroll thru fields of petrified logs, Indian ruins, Petroglyphs and vast landscapes. The park is also pet friendly and the pups were allowed on all the trails as long as they were on leash. In the more crowded parks this is seldom the case and for good reason. We spent a good deal of time on this short half mile loop admiring the petrified wood as Charles read the trail info and I tried to capture the beauty with my camera. Then it was on to the Crystal Forest and Trail, the Jasper Forest, Agate Bridge, The Tepees, the Blue Mesa Trail, Newspaper Rock, the Puerco Pueblo, the Route 66 overlook and then our weary group enjoyed a restful picnic at the Lacey Point overlook. By that time the temperatures had climbed to the low seventies and there was the most pleasant breeze to accompany us as we ate. After lunch we made a few more quick stops at a couple of the Painted Desert overlooks and a quick stop at the park store to get some ice before jumping onto I-40 for less than twenty miles.
Just as we got up to speed on I-40 we spotted what appeared to be an older model convertible ahead of us. It would become one of the highlights of the day! As we got closer we realized it was obviously a very nice and definitely older car. It also appeared to have a boattail. I grabbed my camera as we closed the gap and snapped a few shots, then we pulled up beside the couple and gave them the thumbs up. They were happy to be see we appreciated their wheels! For folks trying to travel Route 66 this portion of I-40 replaced the original road and so it is pretty common to see neat cars in the area. This was truly a classic car but there was no sign of a model or badge that we could make out and Charles was not sure of the identity. We looked it up when we got into our room tonight and decided it was a 1936 Auburn Boattail Speedster.
The relatively short remainder of the afternoon would be spent driving north primarily thru the Navaho Reservation to reach our destination goal of Bluff, Utah. The drive was very pleasant but unfortunately when we got to Bluff there were no rooms at the Inn. This was a little discouraging because we were all tired and a little sun and wind whipped after the long visit in the Park. We made the decision to drive an additional 25 miles north to Blanding, Utah in hopes that the only motel that took pets would have a vacancy. Luckily, they did have two rooms remaining!
We had a really great day today (all’s well that ends well when it ends with a place to lay your weary head). Also, upon entering the higher elevations of northern Arizona it appears we are leaving the drought area behind us. Tomorrow we will head toward Lake Powell.
We are well tonight and hope yall are too!
Peace, Hope & Love,
Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger
Reader Comments (1)
The clear blue skies are awesome! Perfect backdrop for the photos. Really enjoyed seeing the 1936 Speedster. That's a rarity indeed.