Scenery along the way
35 miles (56 km) east we stopped to see the famous Barringer Crater formed by a meteorite collision 50,000 years ago. It's 4000 feet (1200 m) in diameter and 570 feet (170 m) deep, punched into the ground with a force equivalent to a large thermonuclear blast. So a really big hole in the ground, and too large to photograph more than a portion at a time.
Part of the Barringer Crater
Part of the Barringer Crater
Floor of the Barringer Crater
Astronauts trained in the crater in the 1960s for future missions to the Moon, and there's an actual Apollo test capsule on exhibit at the visitor center. We toured the rim of the crater and the visitor center, and I recall purchasing some petrified wood and gemstones in the gift shop. The full tour was at least a couple of hours, including a film presentation, so afterward we had lunch at the cafeteria.
My mother and grandmother next to the Apollo test capsule
Then we were back on the road for another 128 miles (206 km). Somewhere during this part of the trip we stopped at a national park where there were pueblo ruins situated on the side of a steep canyon wall. I don't remember the name of the park, though. I wore a t-shirt proclaiming that Columbus was an invader, and one of the park rangers said he liked it. We went as far as we could toward the actual ruins. Although we could have gone further, the path was treacherous from there, and we wisely turned back.
Pueblo ruins
Pueblo ruins
Interstate 40 parallels sections of the famous Route 66 that still exist, and at one point we drove along one of those still existing sections and stopped at a gift shop located in what was once a Depression-era service station.
In Gallup, New Mexico, we turned north onto what is now U.S. Route 491, which was still designated as U.S. Route 666 at that time. This route took us onto the Navajo Nation reservation.
We drove quite a distance onto the reservation, stopping in a small town to replenish our supply of beverages and snacks at a trading post/gas station. On our way out of town, we pulled off to the side of the road so I could take some landscape photos. From seemingly out of nowhere, three dogs surrounded the car.
Two of them stood at the driver and passenger doors and barked at us, while the third stood in front of the car barking at the front bumper as if he'd never seen an automobile before. No matter how much we yelled or honked the horn, the dogs wouldn't stop barking or leave.
We didn't want to run over them and backing up would have required backing into a blind spot on the road, so my mother rolled down the passenger window enough to throw some of the snacks we'd just purchased out on the ground. It took most of the snacks to finally lure the dogs away, and we drove off as the dogs were happily eating.
Once we were back on Interstate 40, we stopped at a gift shop operated by a Zuni man who sold Kachina dolls. My mother's best friend collected them, so she bought one and had it packaged for shipping. We mailed it to her friend the next day.
In the distance, we could see dark storm clouds on the western horizon, so we decided to get to our destination of Albuquerque, New Mexico, 140 miles (225 km) east, as soon as possible.
We arrived at the De Anza Motor Lodge, which was opened in 1939 and later closed in 2003, in the early evening. The motel was located on Central Avenue, which until 1985 had been known as Route 66.
We were dismayed to find that there was no on-site restaurant, as the AAA travel guidebook had said there was. It had closed permanently the day before. Just our luck. So we had pizza delivered from Pizza Hut for dinner. We were tired, and didn't feel like going out to find a restaurant.
There was some drama when my mother and grandmother discovered that their room was not exactly sparkling clean. The pillowcase on my mother's bed looked like someone with very greasy hair had been sleeping on it, while the towels in the bathroom were dirty. The AAA travel guidebook rated the motel high for cleanliness, so this was a surprise. A call to the office resulted in clean linen and towels for my mother and grandmother. My room was clean, however.
On the evening news we discovered that the storm we saw was going to move into the area the next morning, so we decided to be on the road early.
Total Travel Distance: 343 miles (552 km)
No comments:
Post a Comment