Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

We made it and in record time! We are 2 days ahead of schedule. Partly because I scheduled 2 stops in relatively the same place–not intentionally. I think I just forgot to delete one when I found the second one. One thing about planning these trips, I never know just how far we will go each day. I have to guess. Traveling with a trailer takes longer and sometimes we just take a detour at the drop of a hat. Sometimes John just doesn’t want to stop yet.

We arrived at the Painted Desert at 4:56. They close the gate at 5:00–we just made it in, whew! We had to drive all the way through to the other side to our campsite. There is free camping outside the south gate. I am going to be honest. There isn’t a lot to see at this national park. While I would never say, “Don’t go.” Once you drive through you pretty much have seen it all. It’s beautiful to see. We set up camp and made dinner. It was so windy I had to stand outside with a blanket held out to block the wind. Even though it was hot all day the evenings definitely cool off–which is good because we did not have power. John did check in the museum/gift shop to make sure we were in the right spot. She confirmed and let John know she would be there at 6:00 am making coffee.

The next morning we got up bright and early and John went next door to buy coffee. Because we are members of Harvest Hosts, our coffee was free. You know John was in heaven. Free camping, free coffee!