"Doing things Differently"


07-29-04

We awoke this morning to reasonable temperatures - low 70's in Kingman, Az. in a Flying J.  Finally, gas prices are starting to come back to normal - $1.799.  We left Kingman and decided to follow Route 66 instead of getting back on the interstate right away.  Route 66 runs along I 40 for a while.  Found a couple of interesting towns along 66.  Some had nostalgia from the 50's and 60's, while others seem to have lost interest in the older stuff and has been absorbed by the new.  Progress, I suppose - (or at least that's what we're told).  Anyhow, we made several side excursions coming in I 40.  I didn't realize it but after we left Kingman, we climbed a few hills, and it wasn't too long that we were at 5000 feet altitude.  At least half of the state along I 40 is at that altitude or above.  When we got into those higher altitudes, there was some greenery along the way, instead of all desert, and some of it kind of looked like Penna.  There were pine and spruce trees, with mountains in the background, signs along the road to watch out for deer and elk (elk ? - yes).  Didn't know Arizona had elk.  Found some land for sale in Arizona for a good price if anyone is interested.  Even though the temperatures here are generally higher than back home, the humidity is very low, so it doesn't feel as hot.  With temps of 95 - 97 and low humidity, it actually felt more like 80 or 82.  It just didn't feel like close to 100.  Anyhow, we were riding along and some of Arizona looked like desert, some mountainous, some dry, some green, depends where in the state we were.  My guess is that at that altitude, the winters may be kind of rough.  Just a guess, mind you.  We finally drove into New Mexico about 7:00 or so and about 20 miles from the border stopped at a Wal Mart for the night.  When we got here, there was about 9 others already parked for the night.  Turns out that this area is predominately American Indian.  We went inside for a couple of groceries, and were outnumbered by about 20 -1.  Only saw a few people inside that would have been considered caucasian.  Everyone else had to be native Indian.  What a surprise.  Wal Mart had about 15 or so registers open, and all but 1 of the cashiers was of Indian descent.  The employees, managers, people shopping, just everybody.  Didn't know this was an area with that many around.  We got groceries, came back to the motor home, and we eating a snack, when a woman with a man came up to the side window and asked for food, (we had the curtains up and 1 window open for air, so she could see in with the lights on).  I cut a pound of Mozzarella cheese in half and pulled out a stick of  crackers, and handed it to her out the side window ( wasn't going to open the side door - you never know).  She thanked us and left.  First time anyone has approached us after we parked since we left home.  Anyhow, it's time for bed.  we lost an hour of time in our travels today.  We are now on Mountain time instead of Pacific time.  Think we will pack it in and head for bed.  Will post pictures in a day or two.  See ya.....