Highway 61 Visited

I got up and packed the car up and headed out on Interstate 40, westbound for Arizona. I crossed the border into Arizona and to my right was some large "Indian Trading Post" sort of affair tucked in below some low red rock cliffs. Commercialization of the Native American culture. Anything for a buck.

I kept going through the southeast corner of the Navajo Nation and at Exit 311 I took a right into my final national park on the trip: Petrified Forest. I toured Petrified Forest going north in 1997 and enjoyed it. This time around, I was headed south...well, generally south. You see, to get south through Petrified Forest, you have to loop northward to the Painted Desert portion of the park then cross over the interstate and south through the petrified forest itself.

I stopped at some of the vistas and viewpoints. The Painted Desert didn't look beautiful as the angle of the sun on this morning wasn't the best to bring out the colors. On to the Petrified Forest area. Newspaper Rock is an area of boulders where ancient peoples left hieroglyphs which can be seen through spotting binoculars. The Tepees, with layers of different colors of rock, look like their namesakes but much larger. The Agate Bridge is a giant petrified log laying horizontal across an arroyo (wash), supported by a manmade concrete beam. The Crystal Forest is an open hill littered with large petrified logs, often broken into sections a few feet in length. I hiked around the loop trail in the crystal forest with the morning sun already heating things up.

The park spills out on the south end onto Highway 180. I took a left and headed southeast, crossing the Little Colorado River and continued past Hunt, Arizona and down to Concho. At Concho, I picked up Highway 61. Of course I did my best Bob Dylan imitation and sang "Highway 61 Revisited". It goes something like this:

Highway 61 Revisited
by Bob Dylan

Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61."

Well Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose
Welfare Department they wouldn't give him no clothes
He asked poor Howard where can I go
Howard said there's only one place I know
Sam said tell me quick man I got to run
Ol' Howard just pointed with his gun
And said that way down on Highway 61.

Well Mack the Finger said to Louie the King
I got forty red white and blue shoe strings
And a thousand telephones that don't ring
Do you know where I can get rid of these things
And Louie the King said let me think for a minute son
And he said yes I think it can be easily done
Just take everything down to Highway 61.

Now the fifth daughter on the twelfth night
Told the first father that things weren't right
My complexion she said is much too white
He said come here and step into the light he says hmm you're right
Let me tell the second mother this has been done
But the second mother was with the seventh son
And they were both out on Highway 61.

Now the rovin' gambler he was very bored
He was tryin' to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes I think it can be very easily done
We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on Highway 61.

A true classic song. Highway 61 in Arizona is only 19 miles long. Soon I was merging with Highway 60 and heading into Show Low through road construction. I contacted my friend Sandra in Chandler to set up a lunch date. I hadn't seen her in several years so figured now was as good a time as any to make amends..."Oh lord, won't you buy me, a Mercedes Benz..." oh, please, don't let me break into Janis Joplin songs!

My first visit to Show Low and I have to say that is a really nice area of Arizona with the pine trees and the high desert feel to it. Then down the long grade to the Salt River Canyon. I stopped on the far side of the bridge and just up the cliff a way to take a photo of the Salt River. It did not happen; the canyon is so steep and so enormous in height, that I simply couldn't see the bottom. Climbing up the switchbacks out of the canyon I almost felt I was within spitting distance of Phoenix. On through Globe and Miami and Superior to Florence Junction. Here I looked to the north and saw some amazing mountains, craggy and unique. I decided that on another trip, I will have to explore there. Next town on Highway 60 is Apache Junction and from there you might as well kiss any solitude or scenery goodbye because you are in an arterial into the heart of the Phoenix Metropolitan area, the Superstition Freeway.

I forget who I visited in Phoenix other than I did make it to Ahwatukee to Sandra's workplace, a spine clinic where she is a physician's assistant. We headed out to lunch in her new Nissan XTerra and had a good time catching up on one another's lives.

From there it was only three hours to home. I pointed the car down Interstate 10, set the cruise control and pushed on through Tucson and to my home in Sierra Vista.

It is always good to reach home.