Jan 13 Barrett Jackson Car Auction

This is the auction that is seen on TV. I am not a car nut , but if you were this would blow your mind. This auction goes for a week .They not only auction cars but all kinds of car memorabilia. The merchandise display booths cover 100's of thousands of sq feet. If you could dream of anything related to cars it is here.

This is a car manufacturer that is building super cool vehicles of his own design. I saw at least one other doing the same thing

Jan 12 Superstition AZ

We had a quite day, didn't do much except a little shopping.

This was a very good antique mall

Jan 11 Globe Az

Pickle Barrel Trading Post in downtown Globe

Lots of neat old trucks , many from the 50's and 60's still in use. No rust here
I forgot Plymouth had even made trucks.

Jan 11 Besh Ba Gowah

This is the excavated site of a Pueblo from around 1100 to 1400 ad. About 300 people lived in this structure. Located in the city of Globe.

This is a mock up of the original layout of the pueblo. The entrance is only by the main path down the center of the building.Rooms were very small many only 6x6 or 8x8. Most of the building was only 2 stories, with one are being 3

They reconstructed the original building layout with only 2 to 3 foot walls to give you a sense of the size and layout.

The 3 storey building in the far corner is the only area that was completed with all 3 floors

The second and 3rd floor was constructed with first a set of logs, you can see them protruding through the rock wall, and then a layer of cement on top of the logs

Note the construction, logs , and then cement on top of the logs. 

Jan 11 Apache Trail and Tonto National Monument

We drove half of the Apache trail to the Tonto monument , but when we arrived it was locked shut do to the government shut down.It would have been an interesting hike up to the Salado Indian ruins , about a 3-4 hour round trip hike. All of the National Forest Campsites are closed.

Jan 10 Salt River Canyon

Salt River Canyon

A spectacular drive from 6500 feet to 3500 feet and then back up the other side 

Jan 10 Fort Apache and Salt river Canyon

Another winter day as we travelled to Fort Apache. Around 6000 feet 

Fort Apache is a museum and cultural center of the Apache nation who's reserve covers a large part of this area. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum so the story is limited. Originally an Apache fort it later became an army base, then a girls Indian school, (residential) . Today the reserve is a sovergn nation and this is their museum , school , and cultural center.

Jan 9 Winslow , National Petrified Forest Park, and on to Slow Low

The famous route 66 runs through both Hollbrook and Winslow. Route 66 was the original highway that ran from Chicago to California before there were any freeways. When the freeways were built in the 1960's it destroyed most of the small towns along the way. Some of these towns have become tourist attractions by building upon the nostalgia associated with all of that history. One can actually follow the original route and visit many of the  remaining communities. The original route doesn't exist all the way but the main highways identify the exits to the communities. What a trip that would be. On the bucket list .

Wigwam Hotel in Hollbrook

There is a two storey hotel on the back of the property but the focus is on the wigwams . You can rent these as a hotel room. Each wigwam has a 60's car parked in front of it.

My next camper

The kids will all recognize Mater's tow truck

 For all the Eagles Fans this is the famous corner

Part of Route 66

Winslow has a population of about 10,000 and really only one block of downtown , all focused on this corner.

There is also a famous railroad hotel , La Pasada, located right beside the railroad tracks. It is like our famous CP hotels in Canada

Everyone who visits Winslow stops here for a visit. Very very beautiful place

The lobby

The hallway to the rooms

the gift shop

The National Petrified Forest Park is closed due the trump Wall Project. Gates were locked.

At a normal time these rocks are laying on the surface of the earth and you can hike trough the park and admire them. You cannot pick them. Your vehicle is subject to an search the same as at an border crossing. The rocks are picked polished and then sold for from $50.00 to $1000's . 

The colours are spectacular.  We were not even allowed to take pictures of the stones on display.

Go to the website below to understand what a beautiful and special place this is.

Petrified Forest National Park

Jan 8 Arrived in Arizona

We arrived in Arizona in the early afternoon , the closest place on our adventure list was Window Rock, a small community on the Navajo Reservation. When we arrived we realized that it was too small a community to overnight in so we moved on to Hollbrook  after s short visit. Maybe we will revisit when we are leaving as we didn't get a chance to visit the cultural center and learn about their history and traditions which was the purpose of the visit.

The community is completely surrounded but this ridge of rocks except for the entrance. It must be wickedly hot in the summer as there isn't even room for a breeze to happen. 

The low flat structure behind the vehicles is a building so it gives you an idea of the height of the surrounding rocks

Jan 8 Travelling across New Mexico

New Mexico is so different than anything that we have seen in our travels. Most of the time we were between 5000 and 6000 feet above sea level, Temperature around +1 to +3 C . It is rugged , mountainous and desert like. The earth is a reddish colour and very little grows on it. Not even good pasture land. 

We traveled 3000 klm to be in more snow

Very sparse population , some times miles and miles apart

In the valleys between the ridges  is where most of the villages are located

 

New Mexico requires another visit when it is warmer

Jan 7 Amarilla Texas about 1000 klm

Left Rollo at 6:30 and arrived in Amarillo 11 hours later. The trip went well, Rose stayed in bed until about 8:00 and then got up and made breakfast. Stopped for gas mid morning, made lunch around noon, a short break in the afternoon and then the day was over.  Can't beat a motor home for not wasting time. Speed limit was 75 miles an hour, set the cruise at 65  and averaged about 60  miles an hour at the end of the day. 65 miles an hour equals about 110 klm per hour

When you leave Illinois the terrain of Missouri changes into more hills and rugged landscape.

Oklahoma  is wide open but more rolling hills than Illinois. This is cattle country

Oklahoma and Texas might be oil country but there are windmills everywhere. They stretch for miles and miles.

Jan 6 Rollo Missouri

Day 2  Michigan, Indiana , Illinois , and Missouri

Good day , 968 klm. Left at 6:30 and arrived at 5:00 PM.
I must say that the Michigan , people support there GM cars. No question they have the market share there.
Traveled about 50 miles through Indiana and into Illinois.
I didn't realize that Illinois was such a vast prairie country. Corn fields stretch as far as you can see.
Just put it on cruise and let it coast for hours with out touching the brakes

Gas was a high of 2.13 to1.69 per US gallon.  mostly around $1.99.  about .68 per liter in Canadian Dollars

Jan 5 Saturday

We left home at 7.00 am and stayed overnight in Lansing Michigan.  Good trip, go stopped at the border and they did a quick search , but all was good.

We are departing tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn!

 Ho Ho it snowed yesterday in Phoenix, but what the heck!. 

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