Monday, April 13, 2015

Starting Homeward

We left Prescott Sunday morning and  headed out on a long journey eastward.  If we were in a vehicle that could travel 70 mph and get good gas milage we might have hopped onto I-40 East and made good time.  But we are in a beast of a motorhome that gets a whopping 6 mpg and we get that because we drive at 62 mph. So driving on an interstate does not really gain us any time whereas driving on two-lane roads can be shorter in distance without losing much time. And it is more interesting than the interstate.  

Our route took us through the mountains north of Phoenix and through the towns of Payson, Show Low, and Springerville in Arizona then in New Mexico we passed through Quemado, Pie Town and Magdalena before stopping for the night in Mountainair south of Albuquerque. Somewhere along this road we passed a VLA Telescope.  VLA means Very Large Array.  Not sure how it works or what they are looking for but it was impressive.  We spent the night on New Mexico's busiest rail line.  A freight train passed by every 15 minutes - all night!

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Monday we continued through Vaughn, Ft. Sumner (where Billie the Kid is buried), and Clovis into Texas and the towns of Bovina, Hereford (Beef Capital of the World), and Canyon south of Amarillo, TX.  Just outside of Canyon is Palo Duro Canyon State Park whose claim to fame is the second largest canyon in the US aka the Grand Canyon of Texas.

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We arrived late afternoon so had time to take a two mile stroll along the red cliffs and a small stream that runs through the park.  As we returned from our walk, we encountered a flock of jake turkeys browsing the grass between RVs.

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