Heatstroke and Flagstaff

Good morning viewers,

So  our journey through the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest NP took a bit of a turn for the not-so-good yesterday with Miriam getting pretty sick after a short 15 minute jaunt outside the car and into the 107* desert sun.  We limited most of our siteseeing to slow drive-bys in the sub zero chill of the air-conditioned Buick.  Even so, it was an amazing park, one I would go back to again in a heartbeat when the temperature is back down in the double digits.  Seeing the petrified logs and learning about how they were made from my co-pilot slash geologist was a really terrific experience. 

On our short hike off the road we got to see some spectacular wind-eroded stone, sun-baked desert soil (the crackly kind that looks like tan peanut brittle), and a few amazing specimens of petrified wood in pristine condition.  We also ran across one of only two members of the category fauna that we saw in the entire park,  a tiny and skittish lizard hiding in a cool rock formation (cool as in temperature, although it sure was neat to boot!)  The second animalian cousin of ours was a very proud raven who seemed to LOVE showing himself off to everyone's cameras in the parking lot of one of the overlooks.  I followed him around the parked cars for a bit, snapping shots of what seemed to be intentional poses for my camera.

We met our raven friend at a place called "Newspaper Rock", which was a collection of boulders on the desert floor peppered with beautifully preserved petroglyphs.  Most of the symbols seemed logical - horse/antelope looking things, lizards, stick people, moons - but what it all meant stuck me as quite a mystery.  I'm not sure if anyone has ever deciphered them, but it was amazing to get to see them just as they were thousands of years ago when someone carved them into the rock.  I wonder if they mean something deep and philosophical or just simply the news of the day, like the earliest recorded writings were.  I think it was the ancient Sumarians (I could be wrong here) who first invented a written language not to impart ancient wisdoms onto future generations but simply to keep track of business transactions to make sure their debts and dealings were settled.  Either way, I strangely don't mind not knowing what they mean since it doesn't detract from what an awesome thing it is to actually SEE the handiwork  of people who lived long long ago.  Its a totally different experience from seeing it in a textbook or on a television program. 

Throughout the desert we saw mesa after mesa with beautifully colored stratification and forms.  It was amazing to think that the wind and desert sand can form hills and valleys here when its usually the force of water (about 1,000 times denser than air) that does most of the work shaping landscapes where we live.  The colors in this part of the desert ran the gamut from reds and pinks to violet, dark and light blues, greens and yellows, and the ubiquitous tan and brown with many areas covered in a deep black (ash from ancient volcanoes).  I found the southern end of the park to be far more exciting and beautiful than the northern area, which encompassed the famous Painted Desert.  Maybe it was the diversity in the south with the petroglyphs and petrified forest, rather than what seemed to me as a colorful collection of hills that stretched on forever. 

After passing through the park we stopped a rock shop (I'm sure there's a name for it, kinda like how you call a bread store a bakery)  about 20 miles west where there was an enormous collection of petrified wood among dozens and dozens of other types of minerals and stones.  Apparently the owner had a huge tract of land in the area where he harvested (mined?) the rocks and wood.  We left with a few chunks of petrified wood and picture sandstone to add to our geology collection at home, since taking anything from the national park is illegal, as well as bringing what we have been calling "bad juju" on us, which is certainly not something we want being literally in the middle of nowhere half the time. 

A short hotel stay in Winslow, AZ and an hour drive west on I-40 has found us in a little hipster cafe in Flagstaff, AZ.  So far it has been one of the cleanest and least congested cities on our trip (that we've driven through), and the temperature dropped from 96 on the highway to a bearable 86 in town.  We decided to cut out the rest of the southwest portion of the trip on account of Miriam routinely getting sick from the excessive heat.  Our minds were made up when we saw a weather report this morning warning of a "killer heatwave" about to spread across the southwest,  with temperatures reaching 110 and higher, up to 130 in Death Valley.  We should be able to reach the west coast today or tomorrow and the relative safety of the cool ocean air to avoid another repeat of yesterday. 

The Buick is also fairly unhappy in this high heat, threatening several times to overheat when we drive slowly or uphill for extended periods (like getting to a campsite or through a city).  On the highway it is still running just fine, even when the outside temp is reading 110*.  The less we have to stress out our 20 year old car in this heat, the better off we'll be down the road.  We are also going through ice much more quickly with this relentless heat, making it risky to keep fruit or meat  with us, and we're both pretty sick of oatmeal and canned food at this point.

So its on to the west coast at this point.  We'll miss the Grand Canyon and Arches NP, but we're going to try to make it to Joshua Tree, although the temperatures are not looking terribly agreeable there either. 

Sorry for the lack of pictures with this post, all our photos were taken on the real camera and I'm once again on my phone. Updating has proven to be more cumbersome and difficult than we anticipated, especially when it comes to doing so with the laptop.  Hopefully when we are in a "base" in San Fransisco or Palo Alto we will be able to do a better update and fill in some of the gaps in our trip (there are many!).

Till next time!
RhodeKill Rob