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..... |
