Standin’ on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona

Going from EST to Central to Mountain surely has thrown my sleeping patterns off. For the last two mornings I have awakened at 5:15 which is 7:15 at home, pretty late for me but wow, am I tired! Jerry got up around 6:15 so I knew we’d be early leaving today for our last leg of travel before our Arizona touring began. Had I not gotten a phone call from family who didn’t know we were in a different time zone we would have been on the road even earlier. A phone call from home before 7:00 in the morning is scary so of course I sat right down to chat for a few minutes. Everything was OK, just catching up. As it was we were on the road by 7:40 and despite the hour heavy traffic moved along nicely, certainly not the gridlock we were in yesterday! It was 34 degrees, real feel 29 with a light drizzle

Today was not a day for reading or working on the computer while traveling. It was a day to gaze at the beautiful and changing vistas before us. Although I took several pictures using my phone there was no way that the beauty and depth could be captured. Dorothy, we are not in Kansas anymore and we’re not in North Carolina anymore, 2000 plus miles from home. From New Mexico into Arizona the vistas were constantly changing. From snow-capped mountains, mile after mile of open road, horses running across the open land, a couple of cows here and there, mesquite covered hills, signs of previous snowfalls in the medians and in the distance, and what appeared to be stacked red rock turning into gray. Even the cloud colors vary from white to gray to almost red and the sky, oh the sky is indescribably beautiful with a blue that we don’t see in North Carolina. When we crossed the Continental Divide at an elevation of 7275 I was amazed at all of the surrounding beauty. Again and again I tried to capture the views with my phone but it just was not possible. Jerry remarked that if we stopped and took a picture of all of the remarkable scenery we would never reach our destination.

We began to see very different view as we neared the Arizona state line. There was little evidence of snow and the terrain began to change, more desert like, flatter, hilly instead of mountainous. We saw a couple of signs stating “Winter Weather Conditions Drive with Care” although I saw no sign of winter weather other than the cold temperature and 21 mph winds – temp was around 45 but the wind chill must have been much lower. The pale blue sky is different from the Carolina blue skies but interestingly beautiful and arresting. Looking out at the skies, the clouds overhead are heavy but breaking in the distance and then continuing into what appears to be barren land and mountains. As we drove along I was thunderstruck by the glorious sky. In fact it became difficult to view the landscape as my eyes were continually drawn upward. It was difficult to distinguish between the clouds or snow-capped mountains and again the colors were magnificent. Again, no reading today!

We arrived in Holbrook about 12:30 and quickly checked in at OK RV Park. It obviously is not tourist season as there are very few people around. In fact we were put in the middle of the campground and there was no one anywhere near us. We immediately started washing clothes and deciding what to do for the afternoon. After a quick lunch we headed out to Winslow.

Standing on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona – loved seeing the places sung about like Luckenbach in Texas. I told Jerry that I had never heard the song “Take It Easy” and he replied “oh, yes you have – you’ll recognize it” and he was right. I even knew some of the words.

Who is that fellow?

Winslow is about a 30 minute drive from Holbrook and off we went again marveling at the beautiful scenery as we drove. Our GPS took us directly to the corner and we found parking right there on the street. It was cold and extremely windy but we still ventured out. Of course our first stop was the corner where we tried to take some pictures with the selfie stick. We got one picture but it is for our eyes only! We walked across the street in to the gift store where they have anything one might want. To my amazement Jerry asked if there was anywhere he could get a haircut and they told him where the barbershop was. They added that John, the barber might or might not be there and that he was a hoot. Off we went in search of Antler Barbershop and yes, John was there busily clipping a guy’s hair. Since Jerry had to wait I decided to roam around a bit. I went back out and took pictures of the statues, the Ford pickup and the mural. I even took a picture of a couple trying to get a picture of each other. I always like it when someone offers to take a picture of the two of us (from most of our pics you’d think we were traveling alone) so I offered to take their picture. Of course they agreed and ask me how many times I did that in a day. Realizing they thought I was a local I corrected them quickly. They were from Iowa on their way to warmer weather in California. They returned the favor with a picture of me with a statue of Glen Frey, at least I guess that’s who is was.

A little windy!

I went back in the store and found a magnet and a cap but decided to wait until Jerry was there to make a purchase. I went back outside taking pictures of the street and stores but it was too cold and windy to remain outside so back to the barbershop I went. John indeed is a hoot and apparently a very conservative hoot at that. The barbershop wall is filled with antlers (mostly from Wyoming), deer heads and various other animals. He began to talk about folks wanting to end elk hunting in Arizona and the effects that would have on the other wildlife and then he continued to other pretty controversial topics. Since he had a poster up about guns Jerry asked him about the gun laws in Arizona at which time he pulled back his white jacket and showed him the gun on his hip! Guess they have open carry in Arizona. He told us some things about the area. As always it’s good to talk with a local and get the real scoop on the area.

After the haircut we went back to the corner, took some pictures and then returned to the gift shop. I got my cap and magnet and Jerry got a long sleeve shirt.

Before leaving North Carolina we had ordered a bike cover from Walmart as we really hate to cart our bikes 5,000 miles exposed to all kinds of weather. Well, it lasted maybe 92 miles before it began to tear and by the time we got half away on our trip it was worthless. Fortunately we had the box in the car (good thinking Jerry) and since I had ordered it it was on my credit card and I had the verification emails. We had no idea what Walmart would do but we went in anyway. Kudos to Walmart. They were shocked at the condition of the cover and since we had all of the necessary information they immediately credited my card.

On the ride back to the campground I continued to be amazed at the skies and because of the open lands I had an almost 180 degree clear view. There were very dark clouds off to the left where it looked like someone was getting bad weather, sunshine on my right with the beautiful blue sky interspersed with white, off white and pink clouds intertwined in the lovely blue skies. I didn’t even attempt to take pictures as I knew they couldn’t begin to show the beauty. Suffice it say everyone should see this spectre once.

We returned to the coach and quickly got a load of clothes going. Because of the cold the camp office was going to turn off the water between 6:30 and 7:00 so we wanted to get the washing done before then. Jerry got to work on a batch of sausage balls and I began to update the blog.

Off to bed a little after 9:30 and hoping for a good night’s sleep tonight!