Day 57-August 1, 2013-To Grants, NM
Drove 282 miles in 6-1/4 hours
Great weather, 85. Finally had some rain, but very little.
The entire trip today was on I-40 through the Petrified Forest with its beautiful pink, purple and mauve mountains, lots of billboards advertising dinosaur museums, meteor craters, Native American jewelry, blankets, pottery and sand art. We stopped in Flagstaff for diesel, it was $4.35 in Williams and $3.61 in Flagstaff, only 20 miles down the road. Thank you again, Gas Buddy App. Then into New Mexico which has gorgeous huge sandstone mountains with cliffs and caves where some Native Americans still live. Mostly Navajo nation here but other smaller tribes too. We lost an hour as we got into New Mexico and another time zone. Stopped for the night in the outskirts of Grants, a little town called Milan. This area is mostly known for its uranium deposits, one of the largest in the world. They stopped mining it in the 80’s but you can still take a tour through a mine. It’s also called the “land of fire and ice” because they have ice caves right next to Baldera Volcano and instead of dirt here it’s mostly black lava. Mt. Taylor is down the road from us, it’s supposedly an active volcano.
After we unhooked we drove into town and ran into a little Mexican restaurant, El Cafecito. It was either that or left overs and Harry went for the Mexican. We haven’t eaten in the RV for so long that the left overs are getting tossed tonight.
We’re still at over 6000’ elevation and we’re both having a little bit of trouble breathing but it’s not bad. I think it’s easier to breathe at this altitude than it is at 110 degrees at a lower altitude.