some more pictures of Painted Desert below.
next door to Painted Desert lays this other wonder, Petrified Forest.
the area is peppered with those bits of petrified trees. The trunks broke down neatly because of their weight, thus heavy like stone. They haven’t been chopped by humans. Dating back 200 million years, these giant trees were growing on a delta. They died and were covered by sediments rich in silica which helped to preserve their structure. The silica slowly replaced the vegetal matter and the trees got fossilized. Erosion and other geological factors brought the trees in sight again.
back on the road. Unfortunately the Route 66 has been decommissioned in the 80’s, replaced by the Interstate 40. So one drives in fact only on that I 40 if wished. Or as I did, leave the I 40 whenever there is an old loop of the Route 66 that survives. Business has been hit hard by that Interstate of course. Mexican food! Finally! I had been craving for it.
in hotels, shops, fuel stations, people hardly spoke to me so far. Only other motorists were keen to start a chat. C’mon, the car had a Missouri plate, I had a worse French accent than now and that was way before the fucking Freedom Fries issue…I had to wait for California, more open-minded people and less rednecks around I suppose to get people interested and curious by the rest of the world. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas…leaving up to their reputation apparently. That reminds me Texas in 93 where the bank employee (supposedly educated?) had put Belgium as a small island near Australia!! I swear I don’t make this up. At least she was partially right…on “small”. And some of our nationalists behave as if on an island, true.
those so-called wigwams were made in concrete! Not even canvass…poor taste if you ask me.
the station was closed. For good apparently nevertheless the gas board.
talking of poor taste…pretty ugly. At least the “visually impaired” know where they are.
not in Chicago nor Los Angeles. Maybe the 66 was extended from here
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