Day 47: John Wayne had the right idea
Location: Cove Fort, UT
Miles driven: 711
Total Miles: 11,644
I woke up especially early (3AM-ish) in order to get to Monument Valley not long after the sunrise. It was a fast three-hours drive, and I was not disappointed when I arrived on the outskirts of Monument Valley, a place where John Wayne filmed many of his westerns.
It was only a few miles down the road from here to Monument Valley Tribal Park. See, Monument Valley is on land owned by the Navajo, and they independently maintain the area, run a visitor center, and manage tours. It was only $5 admission. Hell, they could’ve charged $50 and I still would’ve paid it. Here’s why:
Absolutely unreal. When I started putting this trip idea together over a year ago, Monument Valley was one of the first places I listed down. I had only see pictures and video second-hand. What a mind-blowing sight. It was close to 95 degrees out, but I had no problem just sitting on the stone wall admiring this view.
The visitor center was pretty impressive. There were a lot of displays about the history of the Navajo in the region, their participation in WWII, and of the people who currently occupy the land. The Navajo here, on the whole, are impoverished, so it was good to know my admission money (and subsequent cafe/gift shop money) was going toward to the community here.
I looked into taking a horse ride tour, but it would’ve been about $60 for just a half hour, so I decided I’d do some hiking on my own. There was a three-mile hike that took you around one of the buttes, and I enjoyed taking my time wandering through this part of the desert.
Starting out on the Wildcat Trail
Multi-colored lizard
great views on the hike
This image looks manipulated, but it's just a trick of perception
Finished the hike
After the hike, I took some time to relax, grabbed a bite from the cafe, and then made my way north towards Hwy 261.
Saying goodbye to Monument Valley
Next, I climbed up the “Moki Dugway” which, through a series of switchbacks, elevates you above the surrounding valley and gives you some great views.
See that plateau? I got to the top of that with my car
View from the top
Continued in a northern direction towards Moab, Utah, which sits right next to Arches National Park, where I planned to do a little more hiking before the day was out.
I arrived in Moab in the early afternoon, but I was thinking I’d hike later in the evening when the sun is going down and it might be a little cooler. So I did some driving around the area.
Great views along Hwy 128
amazing country
Made my way to the park a little after 8PM, and headed towards the Delicate Arch area.
Balanced Rock
Made it to the Delicate Arch parking area, and I was caught off-guard by the number of cars there. Even the spots in the overflow lot were taken. Seems everyone was doing the Delicate Arch hike so they could see it as the sun went down. I was a little dismayed by the crowds, but still content, as I had the opportunity to do the hike back in 2005. Here’s a picture from then:
Delicate Arch
So instead of doing the crowded hike to Delicate Arch, I chose to go to the Delicate Arch Overlook to get a view of the arch that I had never seen.
Unfortunately, in neither of those images can you gain a sense of appreciation for how big the arch is. Since 2005, whenever I showed my pictures of Delicate Arch to others, I chided myself for not getting a shot of somebody next to it to give a sense of perspective. Looks like I managed to fail to provide any perspective again…but trust me, Delicate Arch is huge (52′ tall, to be exact).
I left the park before it was too dark, and made my way west on I-70. I drove farther than I initially intended, and then found a rest stop near Cove Fort, UT, and crashed for the night. My schedule continues to be pretty loose. I’m thinking I’ll keep the driving to a minimum tomorrow, maybe hit up Zion National Park, and then head west to Nevada, eventually.
joe
Day 46
Location: Flagstaff, NM
Miles Driven: 503
Total Miles: 10,933
Got on the road early in the morning to make my way into Arizona.
Arizona dead ahead
I took a route that was seemingly innocuous, planning to get to the Barringer Meteor Crater by the end of the day (Monument Valley was far too aggressive a goal). I didn’t realize how circuitious and windy Hwy 191 was, and I spent a good amount of time navigating my way through the Apache National Forest and its associated mountains.
I took a nap for a couple hours just about 1/4 of the drive through the mountains, so after I woke up I still had a long way to go. It was a scenic drive, though.
Made my way north to Petrified Forest National Park. This park lacks the scenic vistas of some of the other parks I’ve visited, but still is unique as it contains pieces of trees that date back to the Triassic period that have been preserved thanks to volcanic ash and various sediment.
Petrified wood
Petrified stump
Just north of the Petrified Forest is the Painted Desert. I took my time enjoying the view from a high point above.
Overlooking the Painted Desert
From there, I made my way west on I-40 towards Flagstaff. My next intended destination was the Barringer Meteor Crater, one of the best-preserved craters on the planet.
Great city name
the road towards flagstaff
On the way to the crater, I got a message from my brother Mike saying “you sure it’s open?” I made the wrong assumption that even though it was before 8pm and the sun was still up that the crater would be open for viewing.
As I was about six miles away from the crater, I saw a sign up that said the crater area was closed for the day. I figured, “no big deal, I bet I can still get an outside view of it.” Wrong. There is only one entrance to the crater, and it’s well beyond the crater so you can’t even get a peek at it. No matter how much I pleaded with the man at the gate, he would not let me in for quick look. Definitely bad luck.
My best view of the crater. Bummer
If you’re interested, here’s an aerial view of the crater from wikipedia.
I haven’t had a lot of bad luck on this trip, so I can’t complain. The simple solution would be “Joe, just wait til morning when it re-opens.” I debated that, but wanted to make some progress in a northward direction so I wouldn’t have too far a drive to Monument Valley in the morning. Oh well, I’ll catch the crater another time.
the sun sets on day 46
Day 45: Aliens and Sand
Location: near Las Cruces, NM
Miles Driven: 317
Total Miles: 10,430
In the morning, I made my way north to Roswell and I was there before I knew it. I took advantage of some free McDonald’s WiFi, and then went out to explore the town. Sidebar – the new thing about McDonald’s becoming more of a “cafe” experience is cool with me, except it is impossible to find electrical outlets. My guess is that it is part of their strategy…they want people to stay for the coffeehouse experience, but only as long as their laptop battery lasts. I’m onto you, McDonald’s.
Roswell is an interesting small town. Outside of the UFO-inspired interest of tourists, I don’t think there’s a heck of a lot going on in this place, so businesses take advantage of the alien theme and apply it to whatever they might be selling. For example:
I love it.
So the big draw for me was the “International UFO Museum and Research Center.” Admission was only $5 and the museum is full of great information. Not only does it document the Roswell Incident thoroughly, showing all sides, but it also has a lot of information on UFOs, abductions, and space, in general. My only complaint is that the museum is somewhat out of date, as all the photos and displays appear to date back to when the museum originally opened up. Even the space photos…I’m sure they could’ve grabbed a few more images from Hubble that were a bit more up to date.
But that’s a small complaint. I really liked the museum in the way it presented the case of the Roswell Incident. The museum didn’t tell you “THIS is what happened,” but took the approach “Here’s all the info, YOU decide.”
For those who might not know, here’s the incident in a nutshell, courtesy Cufos.org:
| Stories about crashed UFOs have circulated for many years, but until recently they were dismissed as nonsense by most people, including ufologists. |
| New investigations, however,are uncovering startling evidence indicating that a UFO may have crashed in the New Mexico desert in July 1947. A rancher named Mac Brazel discovered strange metal strewn across a wide area of range land he tended. Because of the material’s unusual characteristics, Brazel took pieces of the debris to the authorities in Roswell, New Mexico. Intrigued by the debris, Colonel Blanchard, commanding officer at Roswell Army Air Field, ordered two intelligence officers to investigate. These two men were Major Jesse Marcel and Captain Sheridan Cavitt. Upon their report, Colonel Blanchard quietly ordered that the ranch area be cordoned off. Soldiers removed the debris, sending it to Army headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.
At first the Army command at Roswell issued a press release announcing it had recovered a “flying disk,” as UFOs were then called. This press release was retracted, and further press coverage restricted. At a press conference in Fort Worth, the Army explained that the intelligence officer and others at Roswell had misidentified the debris, which was, in fact, the remains of a downed balloon with a metallic radar reflector attached, and not a UFO. Public interest faded, and the Roswell event became a part of UFO folklore, with most ufologists accepting the official government version of the story. It was not until the late 1970s, with Jesse Marcel’s decision to comment publicly on the strange material and other aspects of the Roswell event, that the UFO crash story was revived. |
And so the museum goes into all the interviews conducted, the various newsclippings, the sworn affidavits made years after the fact, etc.
There are stories that individuals involved in the “coverup” had their lives and lives of their families threatened if they spoke about “what really happened,” such as people involved in shipping the craft and bodies (yes, the story says four alien bodies were recovered).
Now what to believe? I’m not sure, but it’s a fascinating story either way. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I think I lean along the sides of those who feel it was definitely not a weather balloon that crash landed in the New Mexico desert. And again, I think the museum did a great job of presenting the case and letting the visitor decide for himself/herself. I do believe the Universe is far too big for us to be the only intelligent life out there, so I don’t place an alien crash-landing out of the realm of possibility. Who knows?
If you are still reading and didn’t dismiss me as crazy, this post continues…
The museum had some great artwork, in addition to all the news clippings and stories.
After I took my time throught the exhibits, I went into the video room where the film “Fire in the Sky” was playing. I never saw the movie in it’s entirety, so ended up at the museum for another hour and half to watch that. “Fire in the Sky” is based on the story of an alleged abduction that took place in Arizona, but I learned from later reading that the film took a lot of liberties with the story, especially the abductee’s account of events on the ship. Still, an interesting film.
On my way back to the car to run some errands, I ran into an eccentric older dude who called himself “Happy.” He saw my license plate cover “Binghamton Bearcats” and said he used to live in upstate NY, actually in Hornell. He gave me a recommendation for a route to my next destination, White Sands National Monument. Glad I ran into him, the route was very scenic, which included a stretch along the Billy the Kid Scenic Highway.
A weird thing happened on my way to White Sands. I stopped at a gas station, and a man there say my NY tags and wondered where in NY I was from. I told him upstate, and sure enough he was from upstate, as well. Told me he went to school at Alfred University, and for those who don’t know, Alfred is located in Hornell! What a strange coincidence – two random dudes I talk to, over 100 miles apart in New Mexico, both lived/worked in Hornell. Hornell is not a big place for those who might be curious. Funny.
I made it to White Sands as the sun was going down, and had a lot of fun just admiring the dunes then walking on them (which seemed a little stiff compared to normal beach dunes). And part of the drive in the park was just on sand, so it somewhat reminded me of driving on a snowy day.
I learned about the history of this place from the pamphlet I received at the gate (Score, got to use my National Parks pass). The reason the dunes here are white is because of gypsum that was deposited at the bottom of the sea that stood here 250 million years ago. When the rocky Mountains formed, these deposits were uplifted and the Tularosa Basin (where White Sands lies) was created. Now gypsum isn’t often found in sand because it is soluble in water, but the Tularosa Basin is not drained by any river, so the gypsum and other sediments are trapped, keeping the sand white.
Fun fact: the lady attending the gate filled me in on the difference between a “National Monument” and a “National Park.” A President can declare anything a National Monument (through application of the Antiquities Act), but needs Congressional approval to name a place a National Park.
Some more pictures from beautiful White Sands:
The bugs were coming out pretty strong, and it was getting dark, so I got on the road and headed southwest towards Lac Cruces. Speaking of bugs, I think New Mexico takes the cake so far in bug splatters on my car. Like that brief moment in the midwest, bugs here hit my windshield like raindrops…only regularly.
Made it a little past Las Cruces before I settled in for the night. On Wednesday, I’ll head into Arizona to catch a few things that have been on my list for a while, and I may make it up to highly-anticipated Monument Valley before the day is done.
joe
Day 44
Location: Carlsbad, NM
Miles Driven: 254
Total Miles: 10,113
Whew, over 10,000 miles already on this trip, and I’m only in New Mexico. Some friends have been concerned that I might be sick of driving by this point, but so far I’m still feeling good. By the end of my last roadtrip, I had added 11,500 miles or so to my car. When planning this current trip, I suspected I would easily surpass that mark, but probably not at a still relatively early point in the journey.
I spent the majority of the day in Midland. I woke up, used the computer for a bit, then planned to shave as I have almost a week’s growth of facial hair. But apparently there was a water main in Midland that busted, so I had zero water pressure in my hotel room. Alas, no shave (but thank god I showered the camping funk off me the previous night). So not a huge deal, and the hotel ended up cutting my bill in half because of the water issue. Score!
Spent the morning cleaning up the car, and then I was off to go find a place to get an oil change and tire rotation. Took a little longer than I thought it would, but eventually found a Walmart “Tire and Lube Express”. After all that was done, I took the car to get a badly needed wash. My last task for the day was to take care of some laundry that piled up since the Big Bend excursion. I stumbled across a laundromat that offered free WiFi, and by 5PM or so I was all done and ready to hit the road.
Headed west on I-20 towards Pecos, TX, and from there headed north into New Mexico via Hwy 285. Didn’t take long to cross the border, and the sun was going down as I made my way towards the town of Carlsbad.
I grabbed a bite in Carlsbad then decided to head about 15 miles west of there towards Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It was late, after 10PM, but I figured I could get there in the late evening and hit the park early in the morning. When I got there, it seemed the road into the park was closed, and I saw no signs indicating a detour. Either I missed something, or the park isn’t accessible. (Guessing there’s another entrance somewhere).
No big deal, I can catch the park at a later time. I headed back towards the town of Carlsbad, and just pulled over on the side of the road to enjoy the night sky (not as clear as Big Bend, but still pretty spectacular). Took out the camera and grabbed a few shots. With just a little practice in Big Bend, I’ve already gotten better at capturing the dust bands in the Milky Way.
And then I managed to catch something streaking in the sky. It wasn’t visible to the naked eye, but the camera picked it up. My hunch is that it is a meteor, but there is a chance it is also a satellite orbiting above.
A very beautiful night.
On Tuesday I’ll make my way to Roswell, NM, and try to determine whether or not aliens crash-landed there in the summer of 1947.
joe
Days 42 and 43: Beautiful Big Bend, and the journey goes on
Location: Midland, TX
Miles Driven: ~450
Total Miles:9,859
Here is part#2 of the story of Kelly and me adventuring in Big Bend. See below for part#1
There were a lot of animals and insects making noises throughout the night, but we were still able to get a little sleep. The tent was fairly wet from the rain, but it looked like clear skies on the horizon, so the hope was the tent could pretty much dry on its own during the day.
Kelly and I drove over to the Mule Ears overlook to hike the Mule Ears Spring Trail. It was a good hike, but we were a bit disappointed in that we didn’t get very close to the Mule Ears rock formation. Still fun, though, and we enjoyed a couple of hours out in the sun.
Mule Ears in the distance
Big beetle on the trail
Big bug digging a hole
Turns out we were in the desert there hiking for a couple hours, so we decided to go for a drive after the hike. We hit up a cafe we knew that was nearby, and then visited the “ghost town” of Terlingua, TX. I don’t know if you can call it a ghost town if people live there, though. Driving back into the park, we realized how different everything looked now that the sun was out. We could see colors and shapes of the rocks much better.
Since we drove by the entrance sign again, I made sure we got a picture.
Glad I had the chance to show Kelly this beautiful place
Some more pics from driving around the park, courtesy Kelly:
We made it back to the campsite and relaxed for a bit. The skies were fairly clear, so I was optimistic we’d have some good views of the sunset, in addition maybe we’d get to see some stars at nighttime. Around 8PM we got back in the car and made our way to one of the mountain vista closer to the entrance of the park. Once again, the park looked different, as now the setting sun and shadows were hitting the place.
Santa Elena Canyon in the distance
Mazda holding strong in the desert
We made it to the Solto Vista point of the park where we had some great views of southern Texas and Mexico, beyond. It was so quiet, we whispered, as if our voices would unsettle nature.
What a peaceful time watching the sun go down.
Venus was shining in the Western sky, and it wasn’t long after the sun went down that more stars started to appear. It was close to dark by the time we got back in the car, and already there were more stars out then I can ever remember seeing before it was totally dark. The drive back to the campsite was pretty amazing, just peeking out the window and seeing constellations as clear as day.
And then the view from our campsite was pretty tough to beat. High above one of the cliffs it was thousands of stars, and the clear band of the Milky Way, shining strong. Kelly remarked she never saw so many stars, and probably I haven’t seen this many ever, myself (the last time at Big Bend, I had a bright moon to contend with).
Once again, I had a lucky break with timing – the skies at Big Bend cleared, and the moon was near New Moon phase, so the conditions were ideal for some of the best night-viewing in the country.
In the middle of the night I got up to check out the stars once again, and pulled out my camera and tripod to take some shots. Unfortunately a piece of my tripod broke off as I was setting it up, but thank goodness I could still manage to make it stand. I’ve said for months now that I wanted to capture the Milky Way in some photographs, and this was my chance. The setting didn’t disappoint.
The dust bands of the Milky Way shining above the canyon walls
So many stars
Just amazing views from the campsite. I’m so glad the skies cleared up.
That was the our last night at Big Bend. We departed the next morning, and made our way towards Midland, TX, where Kelly had a flight back to Fort Worth. We drove by Odessa and saw Permian High School (of “Friday Night Lights” fame), grabbed some lunch, and then I dropped off Kelly at the airport. Thanks for coming, Kelly (and thanks for all the birthday treats)! So glad I was able to show someone Big Bend, and it was a blast.
On Monday, I’ll try to take care of some business – clean out my car, get an oil change, etc. I’ll venture west towards El Paso and see how far I make it. Certainly was nice, though, to grab a hot shower and have a bed to sleep in.
Until next time.
joe
Trip route – Summer 2010
Joe's Roadtrip 
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