Sometimes we get lucky!

Well, you know we didn't make it to Meteor Crater as planned yesterday, due to our having to help a fellow camper couple, right?  So, we thought we would try again today.  We didn't rush to get up, as the Crater is located only 5 miles down the road from our campground, and we really had nothing else planned for the day.  Sooo, that meant we got to sleep in a bit and watch the morning news.  Oh MY, the news was shocking!  The monsoon had come through last night, mostly south east of Phoenix, which is south west of our current location.  It dumped anywhere from 2 to 5 inches of rain in just a few hours, and it was on the way to us!!  There was some serious flash flooding in Mesa and Apache Junction, and people were people, in other words, STUPID.  Driving into the flooded streets, then getting stranded.  We watched one rescue operation involving a good dozen firefighters and a full hook and ladder truck.  When they got the ladder & bucket over to the car, one firefighter jumped out, into SHIN DEEP WATER.  Really people?  REALLY?  All that time and money wasted, and all she had to do was open the door and get out?  Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.  Anyway...we had a good hot breakfast, cleaned up and headed out.  Yesterday, we picked up a geocache in the campground parking lot, and we knew there was another just outside the night entrance gate.  Turns out, that's what's left of Old Route 66!  

Yup, see that pile of rocks at the base of the sign?  That's the cache!  Go No Farther!

Once we signed the log book for the cache, we turned around and got back on Meteor Crater Road and headed to the crater itself.

Admission to the exhibits and viewing decks was $20 bucks for normal people - veterans get in for only $9 bucks each!  Thank you for your service honey!!

Sooo, check out that chunk of iron-nickel!  The meteor mass was calculated to have been approximately 150 feet in diameter, weighing several hundred thousand pounds, and containing enough metal to produce about 42,000 automobiles!  This is what's left of it, and it was found a couple miles away!  (It was actually found in Diablo Canyon, where we went to Two Guns and the Apache Death Cave the other day!)

So here was our first glimpse of the crater.  It was a slide on a TV screen.  No big deal, right?

But, once we stepped outside, it was overwhelming!  The dude in yellow is Jeff, from Philadelphia, PA.  He was our guide for the rim tour.  He had an interesting back story too.  He actually had zero interest in geology or history, and had never even heard of this place or the event, up until 6 years ago.  He had a degree in English literature, and was working for a builder at the time.  The builder had a job out here and Jeff wanted to go see the Grand Canyon, but it was snowing, so he came to the crater instead.  The builder went out of business before the job was complete, and Jeff was stranded in Phoenix, with no job, so he found the guide job online, got it, and has been here ever since.  He is currently housed in the company-provided dorms on site.

Jeff was supposed to take us on an hour-long, mile long hike around the rim, but it was cold and blustery, and it looked like a rain storm was approaching from the south, so he warned us our tour might be cut short.  

Jeff pointed out the magnetic properties of the debris, talked about the mining that had occurred inside the crater, pointed out the 15 foot tall steam boiler (that appeared to be the size and shape of a bbq grill), and then the rains started.  He shared a few more facts about the impact (the crater rim is 5,600 feet in elevation, 4,000 feet across, and 2.4 miles in circumference) and then herded us all back the way we came, to the safety and comfort of the building.  Inside, he shared a few more facts:

There is evidence of the crater being referenced by Native Americans, but the first written report was made in 1871, by a man named Franklin who served as a scout for General Custer.  For years, the crater was referred to as Franklin's Hole.

Later, local settlers named it Coon Butte, and it was thought to be just another extinct volcano.

In 1886, iron-nickel meteorites were found by a sheepherder, but he thought they were silver, so he didn't say anything until 1891.  

In 1902, Daniel Barringer, a mining engineer out of Philadelphia became interested in the site as a potential source of iron.  He assumed the original meteorite was buried in the crater, but none of his digging or experiments over the next 26 years were fruitful.  The Barringer family still owns the crater itself, and the Bar T Bar cattle ranch (started in the 1880's) still owns the surrounding lands, with lease agreements between the two entities.  The Bar T Bar Ranch Company also owns the campground and has plans to improve it even more.  (It's already pretty nice, AND big-rig friendly!)  

We finished up touring the interactive displays and reading all about it, then headed over to see what was available in the gift shop.  There were some rocks, geodes & crystals, some cheap stone necklaces, lots of kid science stuff, T-shirts and magnets.  We came away with a post card for our former neighbors in Florida, since they don't do Facebook or Internet, and never know where we are.

We got home just in time to walk the dog before the rains really came down (that's the lucky part!).  And it got colder and colder, as the day wore on.  We decided tonight might be a good night to use up some of that spaghetti sauce and pasta that we have down in the basement, taking up all the extra room.  We want, at some point, to put a portable freezer down in that baggage bay, but as long as we have extra food down there, we don't have the space.  Sooo, what goes well with baked ziti and salad?  Homemade bread, of course!  Yup, I may not have my bread machine, but I do have my Kitchenaid mixer on board!  And I have flour, sugar, salt, butter and yeast.  And now we have bread rising!

Tomorrow is a travel day.  We are heading to Camp Verde, only about 60 miles south and west of where we currently are.  We'll be there one week (unless the river rises and we have to evacuate!) and then head down to Surprise, where we plan to park it a while.  Well, for the next 3 months, anyway.  We are looking forward to seeing John & Lora, whom we met while we were all working down in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  I hear there is a safari wildlife park, a railway, Tuzigoot National Monument (Native American ruins), Sedona and Montezuma's Castle.  Lots to see and do!

Funny side note - Remember the stilt walkers we met at the Petroglyphs National Monument??  Rich and Star were their names.  Well, I posted a picture of the crater up on Facebook, as we were leaving, and Star immediately commented with a couple pictures of her own - they were right here at the beginning of their summer tour!!  Small world!  

Sooo, y'all stay safe and warm till we meet again!!