Glacial Deposits.indd - Department of Geography - Geology - Illinois ...

there was a TV station reporter doing some kind of a special. The wind was really strong and
kept blowing the hair of the reporter, so they had to do several takes. There is always a smell of
spray paint in the air.
We stayed in New Mexico several times, usually at Santa Rosa or Tucumcari. Here the
landscape would change into buttes and mesas. It always gave me the feeling we were in the
Old West. I could imagine settlers traveling across the terrain trying to find a place to ford the
rivers and arroyos with their wagons. Near Thoreau, New Mexico, is the Continental Divide. It is
just a stop but interesting to know that water flows east and west from this point. At one time, it
was a tourist stop, but now the trinket stores and rest stop are just run down. Clines Corners is a
rest stop we always take for gas and refreshments because of its Native American crafts.
Gallup, New Mexico, has the El Rancho Hotel and restaurant, where most of the movie stars
stayed when making western movies in Monument Valley. The walls of the El Rancho are filled
with pictures signed by movie stars that have stayed there. Just north of Gallup is the Window
Rock, the center of the Navajo Nation and Canyon De Chelly National Monument. This was the
site of some ruins of the ancient Anasazi people. There were cliff dwellings and farmland in this
protected canyon.
Route 66 travels through Arizona following the railroad tracks of the old Santa Fe. It travels
through two National Parks, the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. Each has the beauty
and flavor of the wonders of nature. There were many stops that would try to attract the tourists.
One stop was Meteor City, mostly a trading post with souvenirs and petrified wood; but it also
featured a mural map on a fence that they touted as the longest map of Route 66. The
population was posted as 2. However, the woman that was tending the premises had an infant
child so this may have changed. This attraction was near the Meteor Crater, which was off the
road a few miles, with a ranger station and observation deck.
When you reach Flagstaff, Arizona, you getting close to Williams, the city that serves as the
southern entrance way to the Grand Canyon, a few miles to the north. I had a unique
experience on my first visit to the Grand Canyon. I was traveling with some friends and
colleagues through the West and was especially anxious to see the Grand Canyon for the first
time. We pulled into the camping area late at night with a plan to view the canyon at sunrise.
That night, we experienced a power failure in the camp area. When we awakened, it was so
dark we could not see our hands in front of our face. I crawled on my hands and knees to my
car where I turned on the headlights so that we could get dressed. It was foggy and cool. We
made it to the observation point with flashlights, but we were disappointed because the fog was
thick enough we thought it would block our view of the canyon. As the sun peeked over the
horizon, the rays of the sun lifted the fog like a curtain rising on a stage. Then we witnessed the
vast cavern of the Grand Canyon. I was so in awe that my mouth literally dropped open, and I
forgot to use my camera to capture the moment. The colors off of the rocks and the shades of
the light shinning down the canyon was like an enlightened experience that I never had seen.
The immense canyon was bigger than I ever thought it would be. That day I spent taking
pictures at different vantage points around the rim and tried to capture its beauty. The sunset
views were spectacular. Every time I return to the canyon, I am still impressed with its grandeur.
Farther west on 66 you come to Kingman, Arizona. Over the Chocolate Mountains from there is
a town called Oatman. Once only a gasoline stop, it has now become a tourist attraction for the
wild burros that wander into town at about noon each day. These burros were abandoned by the
miners and have survived through the years. Now in Oatman, bus loads of people come in to
feed the burros and send post cards from the tiny post office found there.
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