Petrified Trees

Monday August 30. Woke up this morning thinking that I'd like to do something else here before I left. I had thought about hiking down into the canyon, but it requires two days and you have to book it months in advance. So, I did the next best thing, I flew over it in a helicopter! Absolutely amazing! It was a beautiful, clear morning and the views were outstanding.

After that I rode back to Flagstaff (you have to to get out of the park) and took interstate 40 east. I'd decided last night to go and visit the Petrified Forest National Park. On the way I stopped at a place called Meteor Crater Natural Monument, that I heard someone talking about. It is in the middle of nowhere, but there is a big museum there because there is a massive hole in the earth caused by a meteor. It was originally thought to be something volcanic, but in the early 1900's someone proved it was caused by a meteor. It was the first confirmed meteor crater in the world. Watched an excellent movie about it. The guide said they could fit 20 football fields on the bottom and have seating for 200000 fans! It looks extactly like you would expect a crater to look like. In fact Nasa used this site to train astronauts for moon landings. And at this museum they have the American Astronaut Wall of Fame! Americans think of everything.

Rode a couple of pieces of Route 66 today. Met a group of 45 Norwegian bikers who were riding on 29 bikes from Chicago to LA along Route 66. They arranged the whole thing from Norway and drop the bikes off in LA. I can't imagine traveling with that big a group.

Then I drove to the Petrified Forest. Watched another good video presentation about how they were formed. The simple story is that over time minerals replace all the cells of the wood and although they look like trees and branches they are actually made of rocks and minerals. Really amazing. I entered the park from the south and rode through it to the north exit through the Painted Desert. This is another beautiful landform that looks similar to the badlands. The rocks are all pastel colours, of pinks, yellow, browns. Around every corner is another view. I spent a few hours riding through at a very leisurely speed along a mostly deserted road. Even stayed for the sunset which was terrific. Then I had to find a hotel. This part of Arizona is very unpopulated. I wanted to get to highway 12 to ride north to Monument Valley and Mesa Verde, but couldn't find a hotel. So, I had to ride an extra 25 miles east in the dark and enter New Mexico and lose an hour because of time change. So tomorrow I will double back into Arizona.