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!!

Tour of the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

Well, Plan A was to get up early in the morning and head to the Meteor Crater, take the 1 hour tour and then drive back eastward, for about an hour and a half and hit the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert National Parks.  Well, that was Plan A.  

We got up early enough, and I started cooking our oatmeal...after all, it was only 49 degrees outside, and that's pretty chilly for us.  When I went to raise up the dining room shade, I was surprised to see a young lady outside, fooling around with our water spigot.  Whaaa???  Naturally, I opened the window and asked if I could help her!  I think she was as startled as I at that point!

As it turns out, she and her husband came in around midnight last night, never having been in or driven a motorhome before, and now proud owners of a 1998 Fleetwood Discovery.  His uncle, who had Alzheimer's passed away and this couple flew from Pittsburgh, to Phoenix, picked up this coach and drove it to Meteor Crater RV Park, with absolutely ZERO planning or experience.  In the DARK.  And now, in the light of day, they wanted to look at our hookup, especially the water, to see just how it's supposed to be. When we realized how badly they were struggling, of course, we had to step in and help them out.  Educate them, if you will.  First off, we had to explain they were on a site with no sewer outlet, so there was that.  Then Driver got to work on their water situation.  Their coach had been sitting, idle, for at least 8 years, so the filters were totally dry and wouldn't allow water to pass.  Then there were leaks - lots of 'em.  At the hose (I had to help him attach the hose to the spigot, even!), at the outdoor shower faucet, at the sewer outlet, on and on.  While Dick was helping the hubster find and fix the issues with the plumbing, I helped the Missus hook up another (NEW) potable water hose to the site next door and fill the fresh water tank.  Then the guys moved on to the hot water heater.  Then we explained about the outdoor fridge/freezer, which the hubs had thought was a generator.  At some point, someone remarked about the back window vent cover being torn up; he fully admitted to that, but blamed it on being in a narrow-door garage, that he just squeaked out of.  But then his wife pointed out all the roof damage.  Oh yes, all the way down the edge of the roof, where the wall curved over and met the roof, was scraped and peeled up.  Almost from the very front to the very back.  No pictures, didn't want to get involved in that one.  Apparently, they had tried to get in one site last night where the trees were a bit too low.  They must have driven out and come around again, to land in the site next door, where they were so close to the utilities and the tree on the driver's side, they couldn't open their slide.  We explained about our daylight driving and mileage rules.  On the road at 9 or so, stop by 3 pm, and don't go over 300-350 miles.  Sooo much to learn!  Meanwhile, the hours were just flying by, and we were not making any progress towards our own plan.  But, hey, what were we gonna do?  Not like you can just walk away from that mess.  On to Plan B!

So, eventually, we got our oatmeal cooked, eaten & cleaned up, PBJ for us, a meal for doggie, and lots of water was all packed and we took off.  We thought we knew which exit to take, but the brown signs indicated we were to exit almost 25 miles prior to that.  Who are we to argue, so we exited and went into Holbrook, following signs to the Visitor Center.  First up, we came upon the Wigwam Motel.  Have YOU slept in a wigwam lately?

Then we found the Visitors' Center, and got directions back out to the south end of the National Park.  On the way, we ran into these guys just hanging around at a service station.  I had asked, at the VC, and there had been dinosaur bones found in the local canyons, so dinos were a big thing here.

 Our first glimpse of the Painted Desert and Rainbow Forest (Petrified Forest) belied what was to come!

First things first, though, Bailey was invited to become a BARK Ranger.  She was NOT comfortable being turned over to Ranger Jack, but once she got a whiff of the Milkbones he was holding, she settled down a bit and sat still for a photo! All a BARK Ranger means is that I signed a paper saying I would scoop her poop, she would respect wildlife and not go in buildings.  Tho, that last one doesn't really pertain to her, as long as she's wearing proper ID and her vest.

Here are some examples of petrified wood, which is really just stone now.  You can see the mineral deposits have taken the place of the cellulose of the tree.

These are actually trees that fell into rivers or lakes, hundreds of thousands of years ago, and became buried by silt and sediment, preventing decay and decomposition.  Ground water rich in minerals seeped (soaked?) into the wood, saturating it, and eventually, replacing the cellulose with stone.  If you want to see more details photos, or read more about the fossilization process of the trees, click HERE.

You can see the actual TREE shape a bit better here.  This was the Long Logs Trail, aptly named, dont'cha think?  This particular log was about 35 feet long.

This felled tree is known as Old Faithful.  In the trail brochure, there was a photo of Mr & Mrs Einstein standing in front of the "root ball" way back in March, 1931. They were wearing long coats and HATS, to ward off the chill.  We didn't suffer that problem this sunny afternoon!

We traded phones with a family, just as we had done on the corner, in Winslow, and this is the photo the dad took for us.  He really took about 6, all the same. I guess technology eludes some folks.

Driver always wants to get high or as close to the edge as he can.  Sure looks like he could touch the sun from the top of this hill!

There were lots of dry washes (stream beds)...

And plenty of layers denoting time passages...

Be sure to click on the panorama to enlarge it and get a sense of how vast this area really is.

We couldn't go to the Agate House, because it was a 2 mile round trip hike, and doggie was already draggin' her wagon (I wasn't too awfully far behind), but we WERE able to make the .3 mile hike down to the Agate Bridge.  

 The photo immediately below describes one of the changes that happened recently in the park.  Remember, we are looking at formations that have taken hundreds of thousands of years, so, recently, is a relative term!  The log on the right actually fell in 2005 and chunks of it can be seen, scattered at the base of the formation.

 Yeah, I don't always feel the need to explore every trail or path.  This was a perfect example of one of those....

Here we are at Newspaper Rock.  You can barely make out the petroglyphs on the flat side of that bottom rock (front and right sides).  However, when you looked through borrowed binoculars, the bottom right side was actually covered with HUNDREDS of 'em.

Then we drove on up to the Puerco Pueblo, located, conveniently enough, beside the Puerco River.

Now, HERE are some petroglyphs I could see, with my naked eye, and I didn't even have to climb up or over or on any rocks!  Easily viewed from the platform.  Thank you Lord!

A more modern claim to fame for this park is that it is the only National Park that Route 66 ran through, so, of course, they have an homage to that.

In the form of a rusty old Studebaker.

Back in the heyday of the park (the 1920's and 30's), there was a lodge constructed to accommodate overnight visitors and offer day visitors a bite to eat.  Originally, The Painted Desert Inn was made of, what else, petrified wood.  But, as usual, it was renovated, in the 30's, and they adobed over the wood to create the facade we see today.  It no longer functions as an inn or cafe, but is instead, a museum.  A closed museum, as we arrived about 45 minutes too late.

But, our long, skinny shadow selves were happy to take a moment and enjoy the view from the veranda of the Inn.  That long strap the hatted man holds has a puppy at the end of it...I don't know why her shadow didn't make the picture!

We had heard (and seen evidence, thank you very much Gail!) of the spectacular sunsets the desert offers.  Up till now, we had yet to see one.  Tonight, we were treated to a pretty nice one as we traveled the hour and a half back to our camper.  We also were treated to not one, not two, but THREE freight trains alongside of us as we rode down the highway.  Apparently, there was a logjam in Winslow, probably at La Posada, since they were all 3 stopped dead in their tracks, waiting for who knows what.  Or whom.  

We were sure glad to get back to our camper, though, and be done for the day.  And I have the snoring puppy to prove it!  Tomorrow, we intend to go to the Meteor Crater, for which this RV park is named.  It's actually all owned by the same individual, so I'm sure the bookkeeping is easier that way.  Certainly, the branding is easier.  I'm really not sure how a privately-owned, commercial, for-profit entity gets to have its own Federal brown sign and designation as a National Landmark, but, we've seen it, we know it does, and there you have it.  We'll find out more tomorrow, I guess.  As long as it's not pouring down rain.  They keep threatening us with Monsoon Season, and I'm pretty sure it's gonna hit tomorrow, hopefully, not till late afternoon.  Till then, y'all stay safe out there!