Long Drive
My day began in California and my drive came to an end in Raton, New Mexico. I drove for 16 hours across Arizona and New Mexico stopping for the night just short of the New Mexico-Colorado border.

After leaving Needles, California it was a short time until I was crossing the Colorado River entering Arizona. Of course, as I've said in previous stories, the scenery looked very familiar from previous treks this way. There was one difference. In past trips my final destination was my hometown of Wichita, Kansas. On this trip east I was planning on getting to Colorado Springs as my primary destination. I will be working on projects that I started when I was in the 'Springs back in November.

Crossing the Colorado River between California and Arizona

As usual it wasn't very long until I saw the strange sphere shaped building ahead. People who have read my stories know this place. I usually take a picture of the interesting structure as I drive by. On this trip I decided that is was only a couple of months ago that I was driving this route when I took a picture. So, I decided not to bother to take a photo of the sphere. Just as I was driving past the building I saw a sign that said "Now Open" too late to take a picture. I wish I knew what was meant by the sign. I have no idea what type of business is located in the globe shaped structure.

Many familiar rock formations slid by while traveling eastbound on I-40

As I drove east on I-40 I paid more attention to the rock formations along the way. More rock formations slid by as I made my way to a familiar stop in Kingman, Arizona. I found my way to the Andy Devine Blvd. off ramp that would take me to the Flying J Travel Plaza. When I arrived I found that a big motorhome had come through the RV refueling area in the reverse direction. This was necessary because the Flying J propane supply was not located on the side that most motorhomes have propane refill ports. This meant that there was no place for me to pull in and there was no place to wait for the motorhome to complete taking on a load of propane.

Prices at Flying J

I circled around a few times with the idea I could get into position quickly to pull into the RV refueling lane. As it turned out another RV driver decided to pull in behind the motorhome. So, now there was another RV in the lane in the reverse direction. And another motorhome had arrived and was waiting for me to take my turn. I finally gave up and drove to the Chevron station next to Flying J. The price of fuel was 2 cents a gallon higher than the Flying J car diesel price, but to me it was worth not having to wait in line. I was able to refuel my motorhome and get back out on the road before I would have been able to get into the RV lane at Flying J.

Now back on the road I set into a boring routine of setting cruise control at 60 mph and just watch familiar scenery sliding by. It wasn't very long until I could see the top of the mountain, north of Flagstaff, peeking over the mountain range between me an Flagstaff. As I got closer to Flagstaff the highway ascended toward the Kaibab National Forest where conifers began to cover the landscape. A landscape that became covered more and more with snow.

Flagstaff is near when the snow-covered mountain appears

Even though I usually see trains on this route, I didn't see as many on this trip. Even so, there was the sight of one train that I thought was particularly scenic. The engine of the train appeared from inside a forest of trees where snow was on the ground.

A train appears out of the forest

I drove through Flagstaff and headed back down into the desert. After awhile I noticed that I could see, a scene in the rearview mirror of the mountain north of Flagstaff. I soon saw a sight of a place I visited back in April of 1963 when my family and I were taking our first road trip from Alameda, California to Wichita, Kansas. That road trip was a real adventure for two young people with their one year old baby boy riding in the back seat of a 1959 Renault Dauphine. What I saw was what was left of Twin Arrows, Arizona. One of the giant arrows had deteriorated to the point it almost wasn't recognizable as an arrow.

Not much is left of an old Route 66 landmark

Shortly after driving beyond Twin Arrows I entered an area like many out in the wide open spaces. There were miles and miles of nothing but miles-and-miles. The roadway seemed to extend on forever. It was a very boring drive indeed. I am still getting used to traveling with an empty co-pilot seat. Soon the empty scenery gave way to familiar and interesting rock formations bringing to mind a friend who I know likes seeing such natural structures.

As I approached New Mexico the somewhat flat terrain gave way to rising cliffs and rock structures. I looked out toward just such a prominent edifice seen across a valley where the end of a long freight train was traveling in the opposite direction as I was. I kept seeing interesting rock formations one after the other all the way to Gallup, New Mexico and beyond. These would be captured in the last photos I took on this day.

Typical scenery seen in eastern Arizona on I-40

Unusual rock formation near the Arizona - New Mexico border

Shortly after leaving Gallup the sun sank below the western horizon behind me. I continued on into the night with the idea I would get as far as I could before settling down for the night. I wanted to get to Colorado Springs a day ahead of schedule if possible. I knew of several RV campgrounds along the way where I could crash for the night when I got tired of driving. So into the night I drove and drove and drove.

Soon I saw the Acoma Sky City complex which has a nice RV campground, but it still seemed early and I was feeling fine. Next came Albuquerque where I connected with I-25 and began my trek in a northerly direction. Now I was on the highway that would take me to Colorado Springs.

I continued driving into the night with my headlights poking holes in the darkness. Soon the New Mexico state capital City of Santa Fe came and went with the next town to appear being Las Vegas, New Mexico. This is where I decided to call it quite's for the night. I followed signs for the Las Vegas KOA when I found myself on a very bumpy dirt road. Everything in my motorhome was rattling as I slowly advanced into the darkness.

There were no street lights and I began to think that maybe I misread the sign when suddenly the KOA campground appeared next to the road. I pulled in carefully so as to not get situated where I might have to unhook my towed car. I evaluated the this RV camping venue and felt that I didn't want to stay here. There were very few lights in the camping area and I don't like to try to find a campsite in a dark campground.

I was able to make a U-turn and get back out on the bumpy dirt road. It didn't take long for me to get back to the Interstate and head north again. I was feeling wide awake and thought I would try to get to a campground in Colorado. As I drove into the night I began getting tired again. So I abandoned my plan to get to a Colorado RV park. When I reached the little town of Raton, New Mexico I decided to call it a night and find my way to the Raton KOA. Finding this campground was a very different experience than my previous attempt.

The campground was right next to the main street through town. As I drove through town I saw a bank sign that displayed the time and temperature; the sign was reading 15°. The campground was very easy to find and the camping area had well lighted streets making it easy to find my way to my after-hours site. It felt good to get off the road finally. I was settling down less than 10 miles from Colorado. Now Colorado Springs would be an easy drive in the morning. It seemed strange to think that I was in California when I started my long drive and just a few miles from Colorado when I ended my trek for the day.

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