Walnut Canyon | Meteor Crater | Winslow, Arizona

Part Four: Take it Easy

Monday - 3 June 2002: Holbrook, Arizona - We have had just the most exciting day... I hardly know where to start! We were just dreading our day, as we had to spend it at the Cummins diesel shop in Flagstaff. We woke at 5:30 am, and I followed DT in the BC2 - back to 17, via 179, to Flagstaff. It is a climb from 4000 feet altitude to 7000. Since we started so early (our apologizes to all the sleepy campers in Sedona), it was still cool and Goldie did quite well and the "check engine" light never came on during the one hour drive to Flagstaff. It was a beautiful day! Sunny and warm - not HOT HOT HOT, as it had been all weekend. All up and down the highways were "Watch for Elk" signs, and even temporary electric signs, warning of elk on the highway. DT told me, via walkie-talkie (hey, we are a wired couple) that I was going to finally see an elk - because there was a dead elk on the side of the road! Driving several hundred miles in this area, we never did see an elk, or even a deer for that matter.

We arrived at the Cummins shop to a very empty parking lot. This is a good sign. These shops do not take appointments. You show up. You wait. Parts are flown-in several times a day. They are somehow a very efficient, though confused, operation. We checked-in. They were not sure if our part had arrived over the weekend because of their weekend inventory shut-down. They checked. No part. But, no worries, the UPS guy would show-up by 10 am. I headed off to the post office with my turquoise jewelry ready to ship. My post office opens at 7:30. Flagstaff post office opens at 9:00 am - so I was forced to do "self-service" in the lobby, so I hope you girls do not receive your little treasures postage due. I kept feeding money into the machine and it kept spitting gold Sacagawea coins back at me. There were drunken men talking to themselves in the post office. It was a cultural experience. Though, truth be told, downtown Flagstaff is a lovely spot. I stopped at the supermarket also - we had no idea how long we would be in Flagstaff. And when/if we left Flagstaff we had no idea where we were headed, so I thought food would be a good thing to have on hand.

The UPS delivery had included our part. We were called into a bay at the repair shop at about 10:00 am. They can plug Goldie into their computer and read everything that has happened to her... I just LOVE this about our motor home. (Frequent readers of this site may remember our LAST trip (sad, isn't it?) when we had a guy check-out Goldie's chips from a rest area outside of Weed, California, via his laptop?) It seemed the thermometer was working property. How about we try a new air filter and give your radiator a steam clean? Ok. Why not? And, while we are in there, how about we put in a longer blow-by hose? Sure, knock yourself out!

At noon, the mechanic had finished his chores and the three of us went for a little drive - with the BC2 attached - up a steep climb. Goldie didn't even break a sweat! Goldie did not need her hormones adjusted, she just needed a little pampering. To the tune of $400.

Can anyone figure out for me how many nights that would be in a hotel?

No matter. DT was a happy man. His diesel engine was humming again. We had no where to go and nothing to do. We headed east on Interstate 40. My parents had told us to not miss Walnut Canyon National Monument, and the Canyon wren living there, so we stopped. The park is just a few miles east of Flagstaff. Walnut Canyon is truly a wonderful way to spend the afternoon! On all sides of this meandering canyon are hundreds of cliff dwellings! The Sinagua people lived here from 800 to about 1300 AD.

Dwellings at Walnut Canyon


The ruins at Walnut Canyon


Ruins at Walnut Canyon


Ruins at Walnut Canyon

"Walnut Canyon homes were generally situated on cliff sides facing south and east to take advantage of warmth and sunlight. A few sites faced north and west; these may have been occupied during the warmer months. Although the cliff dwellings are the most visible ruins in the park, other archeological sites such as pithouses and free-standing pueblos dot the canyon rims. Archeologists believe that it was the Sinagua women who built the homes. The dwellings were made from shallow caves eroded out of the limestone cliffs by water and wind. To form walls, builders gathered limestone rocks, shaped them roughly, then cemented them together with a gold-colored clay found in deposits elsewhere in the canyon. Wooden beams reinforce the doorways. finally, the walls were plastered with clay inside and out." - From the guide book.

The most interesting thing about these people is how they "disappeared". Or maybe they just merged with the nearby Hopi tribes? It really is unknown to this day. There are many sites in the southwest that were abandoned at the same time. Was it weather, water, war? We may never know. On average, scientists believe, 300-500 people lived here at a time. Walnut Canyon is filled with pinyon, cactus and yucca - this sustained the tribe. They had terraced portions of the cliffs and planted corn and squash. They saved water in pots to use for irrigation. Also, during this time, there was a lot more rain in Arizona then we see now. The ceilings in the caves are still black from smoke. Finger and hand prints can still be seen in the mortar - fascinating! We never did see a Canyon Wren, but we heard them several times - it was enough!

To visit the ruins, you must walk down 285 steps, and then take a mile walk through the canyon. The views are fantastic - the ruins are in the steepest and most narrow portion of Walnut Canyon. However, after visiting the ruins, you must walk back up 285 steps - at 7,000 feet elevation. A good work-out! (Gasp.) Actually, I was dreading the climb back up, but I had no problem with the climb.
 
So, we continued east on 40... but not too far. Seems in this little corner of the desolated desert, there is something to see at nearly every exit! And just up the way was something my geologist had always wanted to see: Meteor Crater. We were moaning about the $8 per person charge mentioned in the guide book, but you never know when you will pass this way again, so we took the exit. When we arrived at Meteor Crater, we realized our 2002 guide book was already out of date, as it was $12 per person to visit a big hole in the ground! It was money well-spent. 50,000 years ago a huge meteor came crashing out of the sky and landed in the Arizona desert. It was 150 feet across and weighed several hundred thousand tons - and when it hit, produced an explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT. Most of the meteor dissolved when it hit - and it broke up in pieces for miles around the crater. A large chunk of the meteor is still thousands of feet under ground. Shock waves swept across the level plain - devastating everything. Meteor Crater is 550 feet deep and over 4100 feet across.

Meteor Crater National Monument


DT at Meteor Crater

The National Monument is privately owned and operated, as it has long been within the property of a huge ranch. Apollo astronauts trained here for missions - there is a great museum on-site showing all the NASA men. There are also two watermelon-sized meteor-chunks on display!!! The claim-to-fame of this crater is that it is the best preserved meteorite impact site on earth and also one of the earliest-proved impact site.

Seriously, the crater is awe-inspiring, even to a non-geologist-type like me. And did I mention how wonderful it is to have DT as a traveling companion? Not only is he "such a good driver", but he is a geologist-by-training and knows all the strange little things a girl needs to know while traveling about the planet. I ask, "What is a meteorite made from?" and - voila - I get the "iron and nickel" answer. When? Why? How? It is like being on a trip with Regis Philbin. (Doesn't Regis know everything? Or is that Alex Trebec?)

But don't worry, ladies. He still defers to my expertise. So, now what were we to do and where were we to go? How about a corner on Route 66 in Winslow, Arizona?

"Standing on a corner, in Winslow, Arizona. Such a fine sight to see.
It's a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me."

For those readers unversed in the above verse: About one thousand years ago, Jackson Browne and The Eagles wrote a song called Take it Easy. It's kinda famous.

Standing on a corner...


... in Winslow, Arizona

I hope you all notice the subtle display in the window behind the statue... "It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford", painted on the window. I have no idea who the guy in the statue is supposed to be. Jackson Browne? Yeah, maybe when he was 16. Don Henley? I have no idea. You can fill-out a form to "buy a brick" and have your message added to the sidewalk for all to see and then you can walk across the street and purchase a $1.50 postcard (postcards are 25 to 35 cents in the rest of the world) at the Hallmark - and then you can walk around the corner and mail them at the post office. Other than that, there is not a lot to see or do in Winslow, Arizona.

Now, it was just getting late and we were seriously in the middle of nowhere, next to small-town USA. We pulled over in Holbrook, Arizona because it was nearly 6 pm and we were hungry. We hadn't eaten all day! The KOA is right by the freeway - like this is a good thing - and sits in a gravel-filled parking lot. For $25 they let you park here and use their stuff. HOWEVER, for $1.99 each morning, they let you eat pancakes... that will be in my report tomorrow. We enjoyed a nice home-cooked meal tonight - chicken breasts, rice and a fresh garden salad... from gardens all around America, I am sure. The Mariners are beating the Oakland A's on the satellite, Lisa is at a sorority banquet dinner fundraiser thing and it is cool enough we will be able to sleep!

"No where to go and nothing to do" can be very tiring and exciting! Petrified Forest National Park is next. And, we have learned of all sorts of Indian ruins and trading posts nearby, so who knows what my journal will read tomorrow.

RV Park: Petrified Forest KOA