Wednesday, July 14, 2004, 9:36 am
Day Five

We’re driving out of Flagstaff now, which we’ve decided is a very pretty region. It’s up in the mountains, so there are trees here, pine forests that stretch across the slopes. I like pine forests, because of the lack of undergrowth. They look like places you could wander through without trouble. It’s also a bit cooler here, do to the altitude, but I’m sure it will heat up as we we head back down into the desert proper.

Yesterday, I didn’t write an entry as I drove most of the way from Albequerque, where we stopped for lunch (Cracker Barrel again) to Flagstaff. We actually had a bit of an adventure on the way.

As we entered Arizona, the puffy white clouds that had been dotting the blue sky all afternoon began to gather into a more ominous mass on the southwestern horizon, exactly the direction we were heading. Given that the tarp covering all our stuff in the back of the truck has gotten a bit ragged, we weren’t sure we wanted to brave what looked to be a nasty patch of storm. In Holbrook we decided to back track and take a northern road and then cut west to Flagstaff. The way led us onto Navajo land and through a good stretch of the painted desert. It was really beautiful, majestic in its inhospitably, though of course a good number of people have made it their home. I can’t imagine living amidst the buttes and plateaus — while I find them appealing and inspiring, I think they are far too dramatic to ever feel like home. But who knows; maybe I’d feel different if my exposure was more than a few hours.

As we headed westward past the reservation towns (Lucy said they looked like nice little communities; they just make me feel guilty) the sun started to go down, and I began to worry about reaching the Interstate before dark, especially when the road we were on turned to gravel, and then dirt. Actually, it was just a few miles of road construction — they are apparently in the process of repaving — but I was glad to have a vehicle that doesn’t mind rough roads so much.

The reservation lands end at the mountains and we wound through the Coconino national forest for another 20 minutes before hitting the Interstate again, just outside of Flagstaff. All in all, I’d say the detour added an hour or two to our travel time, and was successful since we missed the storm and, as a bonus, we got to see some amazing scenery up close. Chris even glimpsed a coyote scurrying across a hillside once. Definitely nothing we’d have seen from the Interstate.

There is a lot in this region that I’d like to stop and visit. The Grand Canyon, obviously, and the Petrified Forest, which we passed signs for yesterday. It’s just not feasible with a cat in tow, and the truck filled with our belongings as it is. And Anna’s really too young to understand the point of so much driving around just to look at things. A few years, maybe, and then we can take a nice leisurely vacation through the area and visit all the sites.

We stayed last night at another Super 8 motel, after dining at Pizza Hut. We’ve got a timely start this morning, and with luck we’ll hit Needles, California by lunch time, and reach Mom’s house in the late afternoon. We’re all tired of sitting in the car — well, Chris and I don’t mind the sitting in the car so much, I think, but we mind sitting in the car with Lucy and Anna. They’re doing the best they can, of course, but Anna’s patience is wearing really, really thin. She’s got no conception of time and asks for breakfast, lunch and dinner indiscriminately, not so much because she wants to eat, but because she knows that means she can get out of the truck. She also has periods of melodrama — at one time yesterday she started crying because she missed her bathtub. She’s doing the best she can, but I know she’ll be happy to be done with the trip.

We’re heading down at a rapid rate now, and we’ve lost the trees, and the bushes are turning into scrub. Back to the desert.