Flagstaff AZ

We drove past the Petrified Forest and the Meteor Crater on our way to Flagstaff. We are in a commercial campground that resembles a retirement community. Since we're retired I guess I should feel right at home. We do have the only car with a couple of kayaks on the roof and 2 bikes on the back. We also don't have a Chihuahua. I will not conform to the accepted standard. I needed a pic for today's post so I took a pic of myself. After careful review it was determined that picture was not up to davejennyjournal standards. Here is Jenny doing dishes.

El Malpais NM & Ice cave

I had a primo bike ride this morning up Zuni canyon. After I returned we went to El Malpais Nation Monument. It's an area of cinder cones and lava flows. We did a pretty interesting hike and I did the skree thing. I looked up at that slope and couldn't resist. Next up was a privately owned cinder cone called Bandera crater. It was really cool. It erupted a mere 10,000 years ago. Also on the property was a lava tube that due to some peculiar circumstances has a 20 foot deep ice cube in it. It never gets above freezing in this hole. There was a long staircase that descended into this cave. At a certain point the air was 85 and after a few more steps it was 31. The 2 pics are of the ice. (It green because of some Arctic algae) and Jenny looking into Bandera crater.

Boys will be boys

Watch "Dave skrees the volcano" on YouTube

Grants New Mexico

We didn't really move a lot of miles today. We wanted to be closer to a few attractions that will take some time to see. On the way to Grants we left the interstate and drove a few miles out of our way to visit the Acoma Pueblo. It's called "Sky City". It's built up on a mesa top. It is the oldest continuously occupied city in the U.S. First settled in 1150 AD. The guide was an Acoma indian. He told us about the Spanish Conquistadors and how badly the natives were treated. Very interesting and well worth the price of the tour. We then parked the RV and drove to El Morro National Monument. This is a pour off pool of water at the base of a large sandstone escarpment that has been a stopover point for travelers for centuries. The monument was established to protect the inscriptions that were left by early travelers. The Spaniards left many long inscriptions written in Spanish. The oldest date is in the 1500s. The trail guide translates the Spanish into English. This stop was a highlight.

Petroglyph national monument.

This place is billed as the largest concentration of prehistoric rock art that can be accessed without an arduous trek into remote areas. That's a quote. There are 3 separate parts. The petroglyphs are etched into basalt rock. You walk along the rocks and just look around. There are supposed to be 20,000 etchings. After that it was Walmart. I got some stuff that should greatly decrease my bike flat tire problem. We leave tomorrow for points west.

Day II Albuquerque

Got the valve stem problem fixed. I can now actually check the tire pressure and add air if needed. I don't really think it was outrageous to expect to be able to do that when I took delivery. I suppose I'm just being whiny. I should try harder to chill. We did do a nice bike ride on a paved trail along the river. 15 miles in just under 2 hours. It took an extra 15 minutes because I got a flat and had to change the tube. This happened to me yesterday too. 2 days, 2 flats, 2 tube changes. I have no more spare tubes. Walmart tomorrow.  We visited Albertsons. Here's what we bought.

Rio Grande River Trail

Watch "Jenny rides the trail" on YouTube