On the Road to Texas

All usually works out for the best if you give it a chance.  Realized it would be good to have the truck in Texas to get around and the hurricane provided the opportunity to rethink plans.  Left Carmel Valley and headed east across California into the Mojave desert.  First night camping at Red Rocks Canyon.  Perfect night with a moon so bright you could see color.  Surreal landscape - I kept waiting for the UFOs to land.  Signaled the mothership but they must have had other plans as they never showed up.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Next was something equally as surreal as the rocks in the desert - Route 66, Barstow, CA to Williams, AZ. A living tourist trap.  Vintage motels, gift shops, photo opportunities with Elvis and, of course, lots of 50's autos (in various states of repair).  America can make a tourist attraction from pretty much anything.  Interesting to realize that almost none of the folks "reliving" the heyday of Route 66 actually lived the heyday of Route 66.  Only those pushing 80 would be old enough to really remember cruising along in their '56 Chevy reading the Bruma-Shave signs.  Still, it is an amazing landscape and an interesting history about how the southwest developed.  Spent a very pleasant night in Williams and enjoyed people watching.  Some things have definitely changed for the better - saw an interracial couple in the cafe at breakfast and no one batted an eye.  That would not have happened in 1956.

Then, straight up highway 64 to the Grand Canyon.  Great time to be here as the weather is fine and the crowds are nonexistent.  Absolutely splendid hole in the ground.  Nothing like looking a 600 million years of geologic history to completely mess with your sense of time.  Americans are definitely outnumbered here.  Many Europeans, Asians, etc... but not so may Americans.  Definitely heard some interesting languages being spoken.  Still, the park is beautiful - our tax dollars have made for a nice experience.  Very different than the last time I was there in 1967.  Definitely need to return to spend a week or so hiking the canyon.

Spent all day today driving across the reservation toward New Mexico.  It is mind boggling how many juniper trees there are in this country.  Hundreds of miles of nothing but juniper and sage.  Beautiful and staggeringly empty.  I love the west.  Zuni Pueblo next . . .