Day 18 - 23 Oct - Buckeye AZ to Blanding UT and everything in between

The Mud Dragons and I spent a full day on the road, over 500 miles.  And it was a good 500+ miles, too.

I happened to be visiting my daughter and her family over the once-a-year weekend of the annual Primary Program.  And who's NOT going to miss that when you have the chance!?  I'm not!!!

And so, the tour bus pulled out of town after the Primary Program - an annual program at church featuring children aged 3-11 - and you never know what's going to happen.  The program was, BTW, very nice.

I do not recall ever making the drive between the Phoenix area (elevation ~1000') and Flagstaff (elevation of nearly 7000') , and it was amazing how the landscape and bioregions shifted.  As I left Phoenix and started the climd toward Flagstaff, the hills were absolutely covered by saguaro cacti.  It was beautiful!  Then, as I kept climbing, cacti were replaced by small scrubby juniper trees.  Then, as I approached flagstaff, the junipers were replaced by a full-on pine forest.  It's amazing what happens when you climb to a place that's over a mile higher than the place where you started!

Also, I started seeing signs for my old friend, and favorite soda stop - Maverik!  I was back in my bioregion!!!

The main planned stop today was Petrified Forest National Park, but I kept getting distracted along the way.

The first side-trip was a sign advertising Meteor Crater National Landmark.  I thought, OK, I'll bite.  And $23 later I was admitted into the inner sanctum where only those willing and able to part with $23 are able to see an incredibly large hole in the ground!  Seriously, it's a pretty cool stop.  I'm not saying it's $23 cool, but it's cool.  The visitor's center has lots of interesting astronomical info as well.

The downside of this stop was two-fold.  First, there was no sign of S.H.I.E.L.D., and second, THOR and his hammer were both no-shows!!!!!

Oh well.  And having seen this once...there's now no reason to stop again.

All righty then...back on the road.  Then I saw the exit sign for Winslow AZ.  And I mean, who's not going to go there and stand on a corner!?  

And yes, there is a complete homage to the musical group, The Eagles, in Winslow.  And why not!?  

After all, who doesn't want the chance to be standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona!?

If there was any downside to this stop, it's that there "was (no) girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowing down to take a look at me." :-D

This was, for me, WAY cooler than the meteor impact site...and completely free, too!  I'd do this stop again whenever I pass this way.  It's a place where you can "Take it Easy"!

And so, the tour bus (er...my red Camry) finally pulled into the parking lot at the Petrified Forest National Park.

I'm sad to say that during my stop here, I was able to visit only the visitor's center.  The other side trips ate up my National Park time...but, oh well.  It's OK.  I guess I can say I was here...though a bit as a poser, because I didn't have time to go see anything.  :-(

But if I could have, I would have seen things what's shown on this poster: 

I did visit this place once as a little boy, and who knows...maybe I'll have another chance someday to spend a day here.

But the tour must go on...and so I did.  And the clock was ticking and sun was westering, so I had to roll on.

And "the sun went down on the coconut tree" (who knows this children's book?) and I kept on rolling, eventually crossing the state line into Utah.  I think you'll have to take my word for it that, this is a welcome to Utah sign...at least what it looked like at 65mph in the dark of night.  Ha.  

Utah is the last state on my trip, and I'll do it bottom to top.  

So the states on my tour were Idaho Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.  

And I happily and gratefully pulled into the home of my first college roommate, Brent Flavel, in Blanding UT.  

What happens next?  You'll just have to stay tuned!