Mesa, AZ to Durango, CO.

Alpen Rose RV Park, Durango, Colorado   H43  L32

The Meandering Maddoxes pulled out of Sunland Springs Village, Mesa, AZ last Tuesday morning begining the 2016 travel adventures.  Judy debated whether or not to take her CRV and follow me as I pulled the RV. She decided to, so we will be able to drive it on day trips.

Judy and I took a workamping position at Alpen Rose RV Park in Durango, CO. It is located only four hundred miles from Mesa. The position will require much less time on the job, only two, eight hour shifts, then followed by 4 days off. More about this later.

After heading out Tue, we drove north through the Arizona Rim country to the Winslow, AZ area.  It was a fabulous drive. We stayed at the Meteor Crater RV Park for a couple of days so we could view the crater and revisit the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert after forty years. Judy and I stopped by in 1976 on our way to my assignment on the USS Norton Sound AVM1 in Port Hueneme, CA.

Meteor Crater

The crater was created by the impact of a meteor approx. fifty thousand years ago.  It is the best perserved inpact crater on earth. The meteor was 160 feet across, traveling at 26,000 MPH. To learn more Click Here.

  

Petrified Desert

The Petrified Forest is a place where dinosaurs once roamed over 225 million years ago. A time when lush green forests ruled the landscape with 200 foot tall conifers. Volcanic mountains erupted toppling the trees. Swept away by waterways and covered with volcanic ash and sediment, these trees became entombed and over millions of years became petrified. Through gradual erosion, gigantic logs and remnant pieces became exposed for the world to experience. To learn more Click here.

    

         

Judy struck this same pose 40 yrs ago, the rock has not changed, and neither has she.

Painted Desert

The Painted Desert encompasses over 93,500 acres and stretches over 160 miles. It begins about 30 miles north of Cameron, Arizona near the southeastern rim of the Grand Canyon to the Petrified Forest about 26 miles east of Holbrook, AZ. Along the way, it grazes the backyard of the Wupatki National Monument Indian Ruins. The Painted Desert derives its name for the multitude of colors ranging from lavenders to shades of gray with vibrant colors of red, orange and pink. It is a long expanse of badland hills and buttes and although barren and austere, it is a beautiful landscape of a rainbow of colors.

    

More about Durango, next time.

That is all for now.  Thanks for stopping by.

Next blog: Thursday