Now back on the road at 7:34 we took the 303 Loop to Interstate 17 North, stopping an hour later in Anthem, Arizona for a couple of Starbuck’s finest. Holiday traffic, the usual number of trucks and lane closures kept the drive interesting. Once the drive is about 4,000 feet the scenery is much better. Nothing wrong with saguaro cactus mind you, but after 35,000 or so it’s time to move on. Elevation is a key to scenic change In Arizona and at about 4,000 trees start to appear. Real trees. Like Pondorosa Pines and maybe a few Douglas Firs. Almost like heading over Mount Hood back in Oregon.
At Flagstaff we headed East on Interstate 40 to our overnight stay in Gallup. At this point the trees ended and there weren’t even any saguaros. Bummer. There is one odd thing I noticed about this area. It appears that when people get tired of their single wide mobile home they just up and leave it. No kidding, there are dozens of them in various states of decay along the Interstate.
Our plan, and we all know what happens to plans, was to do a little shopping in Gallup before checking to our hotel. First stop was to be Ortega’s, one of our favorite stores in Santa Fe and Scottsdale. Closed for remodel, visit us down the road. We couldn’t find down the road. So it was off to Perry Null Trading. Closed. Most of the Indian trading stores must close for the holiday. We did manage to stop at two places, but escaped with wallet intact.
After checking in I begin to write up the blog while Barb searches the internet for our source of dinner. Ok, Barb found a place that was open on the holiday and as we are walking to the car we notice an Applebee’s next to the hotel. Do we want to drive or walk. Walk won, so we each had a bowl of soup and salad. Very healthy.
Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe to meet Al and Ann for a three night stay, but first we will stop in Albuquerque for a little shopping and lunch.
381 miles today.
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