Day 41 – Petrified Forest NP to Holbrook

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It seems I was asleep before my head hit the pillow, which last night was a pannier full of our electronics. Deborah, on the other hand, did not have a restful night sleep due to prairie dogs finding our tent interesting and tripping over the guy ropes around the tent all night.

We woke just before dawn, which was about 6:15 am now that we are in the Arizona timezone. We watched the sunrise as we hurriedly packed up camp just in case any Park Ranges didn’t measure a mile based on aching arms and stones in sandals but used some sort of dated imperial measurement instead. The walk back to the bikes felt more like three miles due to the climb back up to the Painted Desert Inn from the desert floor.

The bikes and the belongings we had left behind were still there, which we were both really happy about. Honestly!

We arranged our panniers back to the way they were before our overnight adventure. After a short chat with the only two others that were camping on the desert floor, we headed off to explore the Petrified Forest National Park. The route through the park is about 25 miles, with lookouts and stop-offs along the way, so even if we tried we would not be able to get lost today.

The scenery around us was as beautiful as any that we had experienced today, with colours so vivid they could have been painted, which is I guess why they call it the Painted Desert. Just as we were about to cross the bridge over the I-40 we came across where Route 66 once passed through the park. While the site was nicely remembered with a plaque and an old car, there was no sign of a road, just a line of telegraph poles running through a field of desert vegetation. It also was home to the first Historic Route 66 signpost bearing the state of Arizona, so if nothing else a good opportunity for a photoshoot to add the penultimate state sign to our collection.

At our first scenic stop, Newspaper Rock, we had a brief chat about what we were up to with two weighted bikes with a large group, which we assumed were related, but never thought to ask. They were on a week vacation and on their way back to LA. I asked how long it would take them to get back. A question I regret asking, just slightly, as soon as I asked it. Nine hours was their reply. It will take us two weeks, three if we make a detour to see the Grand Canyon.

We continued on, visiting Agate Bridge and Jasper Forest, although we did miss out the 7 miles round trip of the Blue Mesa.

At Crystal Forest, we bumped into the group again. Either our cycling is getting a little faster or we weren’t paying as much attention to the park as we should. In our defence, I would say it wasn’t the latter as we were finding the park fascinating.

There are two primary categories of ‘things’ to look at in the Petrified Forest. Petroglyphs, left by the ancient people of the area several thousand years ago and petrified trees. We had seen a few of the latter in the Painted Desert, but as we progressed through the park the scale and number of these fascinating results of nature and science became more and more impressive.

After the Crystal Forest we continued through a landscape of colours that would be difficult to better, a landscape of reds, browns, whites and greys, all finished off with a cobalt blue sky.

As we pulled into our last stop in the park, the visitor centre, the group were just coming out of the front door. As we have had a photoshoot with people and groups for far less on this trip, we asked and they obliged. I said we were doing a daily blog and would add the photo to the page, at which point one of the group asked how many followers we had and if we were famous. I confirmed that one of our two daughters doesn’t read it, but at least another three friends do, so not the biggest following, and no, we aren’t famous… thank goodness!

From the park to Holbrook, our bed for the night was quite boring. It seemed as soon as we left the park the scenery went decidedly brown. What we did notice is that the Petrified Forest does not have a monopoly on petrified wood. As we approached Holbrook it was clear that there was a thriving petrified wood industry here, with every other business being something related to the material. In fact, we would have saved ourselves $20 as there were whole fields full of neatly lined petrified wood waiting for a buyer to come along and haul it away for a garden ornament. In fact, there were pieces on sale that dwarfed anything we found in the park itself.

We had decided that the Americas Best Value Inn would be honoured with our presence tonight, however, before that, I had spotted a Safeway in town. As I had not been to a Safeway since my last trip to California with Sun Microsystems back in 2009 I just had to go to check it out and see if they still sold my favourite bread.

We bought enough food to last a week, but would likely be devoured in the next 24 hours, then headed to the motel, passed a few Route 66 attractions that would need to wait until tomorrow for their turn to be in front of my camera. The motel didn’t look anything like I was expecting from the booking.com website, but it was cheap and as long at the rooms were okay it would do for one night.

Unfortunately, the hotel was out of ground floor rooms, so a few journeys up and down the stairs carrying panniers and bikes, just to make sure we got some exercise in for the day, and we were ready to chillax for the night. We have spent the evening eating and watching TV while hoping the distant sound of the road will quieten down as the night progresses and that Ivor and his pals don’t come to town and party tonight.

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