Painted Desert

We rode to Flagstaff, Arizona from Cortez via US 491. The only reason this is significant is because apparently it is the deadliest stretch of highway in New Mexico! We didn't find out about that until we stopped for fuel and coffee and saw an article about it in a local newspaper. It used to be called Route 666 - aka The Highway to Hell.

We rode through the Petrified Forest National Park which also contains the Painted Desert. Both are well named. The Painted Desert is just full of colour changes while the Petrified Forest is literally an old forest (obviously the trees have fallen down) which has become petrified. It is very eerie seeing acres and acres of petrified logs (sometimes entire tree trunks)lying about. While it is illegal to remove anything from these National Parks, someone told us the National Parks Service estimates they lose up to a ton of petrified material a day to souvenir hunters.

We also managed to find - and ride - some sections of the legendary Route 66 so added yet another great experience to our trip.