Flagstaff day 2

I've been thinking pretty deeply today about Flagstaff. A flagstaff is a stick with a flag on it. I'm just wondering. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight without thinking about it. Anyway, Flagstaff's elevation is 7200 feet. There is effectively 23% less O2 at this altitude. I mention that because I rode a few of the Forest Service trails behind the KOA this morning. During the short ride to the trailhead my heart rate was above 150. This is not a good sign. During the ride I encountered a young lady who was out for a hike. She passed me. Kinda embarrassing. Anyway, I exhausted myself but recovered enough to take Jenny on a hike on some of the trails that I rode. So, we both got some much needed exercise. We move tomorrow to Kanab Utah.

Flagstaff KOA

Today's drive was a windy challenge. The Sprinter has a feature called "crosswind assist" when it senses that the van is about to get blown over the upwind brakes apply themselves for a brief moment. The first time it happened it scared the shit out of me. It happened maybe a dozen times today. The wind was really bad. We are in camp under the ponderosa pines and it's still really bad. It is a cool wind however. We might need the heater later. This KOA backs up to a national forest with trails. I will try to ride a few of them tomorrow. We stopped a few times on the way here. We weren't in a hurry. I tried to capture the blowing dust a a gas stop along the way. We are here for 2 nights.

American RV resort

We made it to Albuquerque unscathed. The last time we stayed here was probably 5 years ago. This place has deteriorated quite a bit or my memory of it has deteriorated. Anyway something has deteriorated. We probably won't stay here again. There was a pretty strong thunderstorm that blew through here after we arrived. It was preceded by a wall of dust. RVing has many different experiences. We head to Flagstaff tomorrow. It took us 17 days for us to get out of Texas. I took no pics on the drive. I'll see if I can find something in the archives.

Palo Duro day 3

It was 56° this morning and 98° this afternoon. The park rangers opened the trails one at a time as they dried out. We had a couple of good hikes on freshly opened trails. One of the trails we hiked had a sunscreen dispenser at the trailhead. That was a first for us. We have seen large numbers of roadrunners everywhere we have been. It's hard to take their picture (beep-beep). That colorful lizard picture is unedited. We get on I 40 tomorrow and should end up in Albuquerque for a one nighter. Hopefully nothing blog worthy will happen tomorrow. Here's hopeing.

Palo day 2

It started raining this morning and hasn't stopped. The soil in the canyon is not sandy, it's just dirt. The trails are now just mud. The park trails have all been closed due to that sad fact. No significant, or for that matter, insignificant outside activity occurred today. I will give you some Palo Duro Canyon info: "Palo Duro" is Spanish for "hard wood" in reference to the Rocky Mountain Juniper tree that is common in the Canyon. The "Red River War's" final battle was fought here in 1874. That was the end of the Southern Plains Indian rebellion and opened up the area for settlement. Of course it was previously settled by the Indians but that's another story. Charles Goodnight moved in and started raising Longhorns. His ranch reached its peak in 1885 at 1,325,000 acres and 100,000 head of cattle. The canyon is 120 miles long and 700 feet deep. It's the 2nd largest canyon in the country. One of the branches of the Red River  started carving it right after Trump was born. Maybe before that, it's hard to tell. Hopefully things will dry up soon and we'll be able to get out. More tomorrow. PS-the burger was pretty good.

Palo Duro Canyon SP

This is the second time we have visited this Park. I think we are here for 3 days. I'll have to check. The campgrounds are in the bottom of canyon with no cell service and no wifi. The world could end and we wouldn't know it. I guess we'd find out eventually. We will be hiking and I will be biking starting tomorrow. I will keep you informed as best as I can.

Big Spring Texas

There is, what used to be, a big spring here. The natural spring dried up in the 1920s. The city of Big Spring has replaced the original natural spring with a reasonable facsimile and built a park around it. There were numerous informative plaques to read covering the history of the spring near the viewing platform. At least 12,000 years of historical evidence has been discovered. The Spaniards first noted it's existence in the early 1500s. It was being used forever and then we showed up. Are we good or what? There was a disc golf course in the park and I couldn't resist playing a few holes. This is a one night stand. We are in Palo Duro SP tomorrow.