Leaving the Flag

We said goodbye to the Pirates and headed off to Grants, NM. I should mention Gosh left his bank card in Needles, AZ by mistake. It was easily taken care of, but leaves me in charge of foraging for food while he sets up camp. (Usually, it's he who heads off to find the markets and such, as he has a better sense of direction.) Off I go into town- a town where I lived! Do you think I can remember where the Smith's Supermarket is that used to be near my apartment? Nope. As I write this, I recall Nimitz Street and the grassy area where I used to walk Wicca but I cannot make that picture meld with what I'd seen driving through town. So much has changed, yet so much looked familiar. It's so strange. I found a package store and the clerk directed me to a Walmart behind some hotels and fast food joints (none of which were there when I was there) and headed home with dinner.

My return was in time for a huge monsoonal storm that blew a transformer and scared the bejeebees out of Kewpie. We may not have had power but we learned our tent can stand up to a helluva storm. When the storm subsided, I headed off to take a shower. Apparently, a well system relies on power to pump the water, so even though I had my light cleverly rigged to find soap and shampoo and all the accouterments necessary, I was left full of soap and out of wet. Good thing there was no power and no other campers in the tent area because Gosh had to take our 2.5 gallon water bladder and rinse me off. Chilly! Yet oddly refreshing. Incidentally, the next morning, I realized I'd been in the men's room showering. Always an adventure, I say!

Painted Desert

The Gosh at Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

Family Photo at Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

Petrified Tree

On our way to Grants, we went through Gallup. There's a hotel, El Rancho, that has housed many actors filing old Westerns. It's quite a place and next time, we might stay there. Lots of kitschy nostalgia to be had and there were plenty of bikes in the parking lot.

We also looped Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. Very beautiful and hard to capture with a small camera. A very long time ago- like millions of years- there was a forest that was suddenly flooded leaving all these trees to be quickly taken over by minerals and leaving them petrified. (I am not a science teacher or an archeologist, so I am doing my best, here; forgive me.) The petrified tree pictured above is interesting to ponder but on closer inspection, the colors and crystals are just spectacular!

Kewpie... what a smile!

Stay tuned, as we are a couple of days of travel ahead of the blog...