Southwest - Day 5
Our maps now have more custom features! As we are carrying a GPS unit with us, everyone can now follow our trip's adventures in more precise detail. For example, the tear-shaped icons are particular "waypoints" during the day; click on them to see where we were and the exact time we were there. The new maps also allow you to zoom in to see specifically where walked, drove, flew, etc. for that day. Zoom in as tight as possible to see where we wandered and explored the areas, or zoom out to see a travel overview of our daily adventure.

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Pictures

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Car Washers at Work

Navaho Nation Reservation

Red Rock Butte

Rock Formations by Chinle

Entering Colorado at 4 Corners
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Day 05 - Sunday, May 24, 2009 - Prescott, AZ to Cortez, CO

We woke up to beautiful blue skies and cool temps (55º). MaryAnn made us another wonderful breakfast and then Jim got out his car washing supplies. We cleaned the car for our trip back home to Colorado today.

It was 10:15 by the time we thanked our gracious hosts, confirmed plans for their trip to Monument to see us in July, and said goodbye! The temperature was now 70º and the humidity was 40%.

We had no problems retracing our path from Forest Trails and then to Highway 89. We made a brief stop for gas before heading north to Chino Valley and then to Ash Fork.

Interstate 40 intersects Hwy 89 at Ash Fork so we traveled east on I-40 along the old Route 66 path. We drove through Flagstaff and then a few miles east of the city passed through Winona. Leaving the interstate, we drove Indian Road 15 through the Navajo Reservation Lands and the Painted Desert.

The flat red land was sprinkled with a few clumps of greenish gray sage brush and mud brick homes and trailers. Each home site has 2 or 3 pick-up trucks in various stages of repair.

When we reached AZ Hwy 66/87 we went north through miles of reservation lands to US Hwy 191. This was a very rough road but it took us straight north to Canyon de Chelly National Monument.

At 3:15 we stopped for gas at Chinle to get us through the north eastern corner of Arizona. Once we left Chinle, we passed more beautiful red rock mesas and drove through Windy Valley. We drove in and out of rain squalls most of the afternoon and we could see standing water in the fields on both sides of the road.

This part of the road was very smooth and there was little traffic. The small Indian towns, barely wide spots in the road, were; Many Farms, Round Rock, Rock Point, Mexican Water, and Red Mesa.

We passed the 4 Corners Monument at 5:00 and then immediately crossed over the border back into Colorado. We were in Cortez, our destination for the evening by 5:45. We got gas and then went directly to the hotel.

Gennie had made reservations at the Comfort Inn, but when we arrived they were transferring to a Baymont Inn. Their Wi-Fi was not working so the desk clerk suggested we go next door to the Holiday Inn Express.

The Holiday Inn was happy to have us and we checked in and also asked for suggestions for dinner. We found our room, settled in, connected the lap tops and Gennie worked on her classes while I started looking at the photos from the day.

At 7:00 we left to wash the red dust and bugs off of the car and had a very nice Mexican dinner at Tequilas right on Main Street. It was almost 9:00 when we came back to the hotel to write the journal, work on pictures, and for Gennie to get caught up on her classes.


Total Distance Driven Today: 450

Miles
Traveled		GallonsAvg. PriceMPG
194.66.074$2.46 Prem32.04
297.88.652$2.88 Prem34.42
142.14.910$2.66 Prem28.94
Comments for Southwest - Day 5


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Ann from NC
May 24, 2009 - 09:07:43 PM
Hi Garcias, Great to see you traveling the US of A. Some super shots and the rock formations are magnificent. Hope to see you in the Carolinas.
Jesper
May 25, 2009 - 01:33:15 PM
Are you not affraid all the car washing will remove coating and paint? ;o)