Ok, so we left off at the hotel on Saturday night.... Sunday morning we filled up with diesel, I had only used about a half tank, Im getting somewhere around 24 mpg. We have traveled somewhere around 2000 miles so far. Though I top up when I know it could be awhile between reputable stations, I am only on my 4th full tank of diesel. Not bad out of a 5500lb AWD crossover. Our first stop of the day is slated to be the Petrified Forest National Park.
The area that is now the National Park used to be a lush forest with 160ft tall conifers approximately 225 Million Years years ago. The park encompasses approximately 346 sq miles but if you visit the road through the park it is only about 20 miles long. We ended up stopping along the way a few times to look at long broken up pieces of petrified wood that seriously looked like someone had fallen a tree, bucked it into 15in long rounds and then never came back to split it. The color of the stone that now made up the wood ranges in just about every color in what I could describe as faded pastels. The color comes from the concentration of minerals that were present at the time the tree was submerged into the mud and water which preserved the tree long enough for the organic material to be replaced with minerals such as silicate, iron, and manganese. Pure silicate creates crystals resembling diamonds and is the same mineral that is to blame for the opal that comes out of southern Australia. These rocks are so pretty and would look good in your yard or maybe on a book shelf. So much in fact that many people each year do just that. They go into the park, help themselves to a nice chunk and end up with a streak of bad luck. While its illegal it doesn't stop people, it does however mean that when they send it back to the park with an anonymous apology letter the rock ends up in what they call a "conscience pile". No one knows when the pile was started but it is now the official home for all the bad juju rocks returned in hope the offenders luck will turn around. Moving on we did get to stop and see some more Petroglyphs eventually concluding our drive through the park with lunch at the restaurant that used to cater to travelers on the infamous Route 66. We had Navajo Indian Tacos, but I feel like this may be somewhat of a universal taco because its a lot like the Modoc/Klamath Indian tacos we have at home.
After leaving the park our next destination was the final destination for the weekend, Albuquerque. We were expecting between 3.5 or 4 hour drive. What we didn't expect was the incredible red rock bluffs when you near the New Mexico border. One in particular that stands out is known as Church Rock which stands above the valley like a castle on the rock (or church). It is known in recent history as an area that was mined for Uranium. In 1979 there was a spill that contaminated local waterways with heavy metals, but the mining continued on to as recent as 1986, this is when the last mine shut down. In recent years the Navajo have created organizations to now address the damage created from the spill and the mining and then went a step further to ban any further uranium mining inside the Navajo Nation. Also in this general area you will also find a turn off to El Morro National Monument, which is an oasis type waterhole that has over 2000 inscriptions carved into the sandstone surrounding the body of water. We didn't get to stop here because its about 45 minutes off the highway and we were on a mission. Also on this drive we crossed the continental divide. If you don't remember this lesson from 4th grade, its the peak of the roof so to speak of the North American Continent. If rain falls on one side it flows east, if it falls on the other it goes west.
I don't know if that means we are no longer traveling away from the Pacific Ocean and now traveling to the Atlantic Ocean or if that means I'm overthinking it.
Pulling into Albuquerque having seen what felt like no other significant civilization over the past 2 days was quite surprising. Coming in on Interstate 40 you come over a crest and descend into what looks like a large city. Maybe as big as Las Vegas. After some research Albuquerque is actually approximately 50 sq miles bigger. After navigating some busy freeways we arrived at our vacation rental and almost went to a hotel. We are staying in "New Kimo" neighborhood. The house is nice but I'm sure I wouldn't have to walk far for some crack rock. Maybe across the street. I had to remember that some may think the same of my rental home in Roseburg located in old down town. Its likely these are all working class people doing their best to survive in these times and in a fairly large city. I also try to remember that most the time people don't like to crap where they eat. So.... we decided to stay and so far its been quiet and not as bad as it seemed at first.
Ok, home stretch here.... last paragraph, seriously! On the drive Krystal looked up what the "local" food is here. Turns out there is a serious debate about whether its Green Chiles or Red Chiles.... which one make for the best dish. Supposedly it'll split a room like a conversation about abortion. As far as our preference, we ordered food from a highly recommended Authentic New Mexico Food restaurant and we decided when considering green vs red.........that we like them both. Maybe we aren't cut out to live a life in Albuquerque. We did however like the sopapilla which are like little fry bread pitas. That is something we can all align on I think. Its like a smaller elephant ear, but it fits on your plate.
With that out next stop is an overnight in Amarillo and then to Dallas, TX for a week. Its about 9 hours combined which is a little shorter than our trip through Nevada which was 5.5hrs first night and 7hrs the next. Itll be split up a little better as well, 4 hours first day and 5.5 the second. I attempted to have my coolant leak fixed that I thought was taken care of in Vegas here in Albuquerque, they couldn't find the leak. I'm resorting to a stop leak made by a company known as "BG", its an organic sealer and should'nt coat the inside of the cooling system but I'm in a tight spot and resorting to desperate measures. Ill dump that in to top us up on Saturday morning. Wish us luck.