Off to AZ

We finally left on election day. We voted by absentee ballot.  The weather was warm and we left about 10AM.  We spent the night on the road and traveled towards southwestern PA.  I looked at the map of PA to discover the Flight 93 Memorial was near so we stopped.  It was cold and cloudy in the coal mining part of western PA but the memorial to the 54 passengers and crew was very well done.  Of course I remember 9/11 very well and remember the plane crashing into a field in PA instead of somewhere in Washington, DC.  I was extremely impressed with the national park service
finished project.  It is well worth the stop. 

After the NPS memorial stop, we traveled on into Ohio joining I-70.  We stopped at our grandson's place in Lake St. Lewis, MO for one night, then we all visited the Western Expansion Arch.  We went to the top of the arch showing a grand view of the area and the Mississippi. John and I had been there before but never to the top of the arch.  The museum was closed for repairs but we had been there before.  Nevin had never been to the Arch before so it was great for all!

After our goodbyes we headed thru MO into OK and the Texas panhandle joining I-40 in OK.  I wanted to go north around the Santa Fe area in NM so we found a state park called Villanueva State Park, and took a break for a few days.  We went to Fort Union NM, the biggest fort in the west long ago.  It is just ruins now but spread across the plain.  It was very, very windy.  The fort was nicknamed Fort Windy and I could see why so.  It was a supply fort for a whole network of smaller forts in the territory.  You could see the old road and wagon wheel tracks from the time when oxen pulled all supplies wagons. 

The B was pushed around by the wind on I-25 and a large plastic barrel blew into our rig so we headed back to the campground to wait out the wind in NM. The winds of the west are very different from the east and wind warnings are best to be listened to!!!!! The next day it was colder but no wind.  We headed towards Petrified Forest and stayed at Holbrook, AZ before doing the tourist thing, hiking the Blue Mesa trail. We stopped at the Painted Desert Inn in Petrified and talked to the volunteer who was there.(We volunteered there in 2013)  Then we visited the visitor center and got to talk to one of the rangers we had worked with. We headed south towards Globe, AZ for I changed my mind about going to Death Valley National Park.  I did not think we had enough time before volunteering at Organ Pipe National Monument in December. 

We toured Tonto National Monument, another cliff dwelling, (very good stop) talking to the volunteers there and then headed to Globe where we spent the night.  It was cactus country right next to a very low Lake Roosevelt.  It was part of Phoenix water supply and very low.

Since it was almost Thanksgiving we decided to spent it in Poncho Villa State Park, right on the border of Mexico and New Mexico.  It was a great historic find.  The park was on land that was an army base in 1915.  Poncho Villa raided Columbus, NM and killed 18 people in 1915.  The army sent a force into northern Mexico to capture the bandit but they never did catch him.  That was before the US entered WWI and the technology of warfare was changing quickly.  In the force that was chasing Poncho Villa they used airplanes and trucks to carry the troops but the gasoline had to be carried by mule train.  I thought that very funny.  Anyway, there was a museum at the state park that was interesting for it had local pre WWI artifacts.  History came alive for me that was before only a tale in my high school text books.

Then..................I felt funny and I decided I did not want to be so far from civilization for the month of December so after Thanksgiving, I called our ORPI supervisor and told her we were headed home.  The EZ up she had received that I bought for us to use at ORPI I donated to the park.  I was soooo very sad and made my apologies but back we came to cold New England.  Bah Humbug....and I was looking forward to a Ajo Christmas.  We have been there at that time of year before and I wanted to do it again.  Oh well, you plan and then life happens.