Meandering to Maine and Back: Day 6 (June 28th) or If a petrified tree falls in a petrified forest does it make any noise six million year later?

The mornings are starting to become routine. I usually wake first, pulling  on clothes before getting coffee ready. Shar usually rolls out of bed 30 minutes later and we either have breakfast or put Austin into Driving Mode. Today was a breakfast day. The visible gates from where we were sitting weren’t opening until 8am after all. 

We ate the last of our hardboiled eggs, while munching our much smaller bag of dehydrated bacon. These breakfast or lunch items can be replaced as we travel, though not a dozen at a time. Our Jetboil might fit five our six, but I’ve only tried making two at a time in the past. 

We emptied your first propane canister while I was making my coffee, pulling the extra from storage. I had been using that canister quite awhile back on the skoolie, so we’re confident there is time to buy another.

We finished breakfast and got Austin in Driving Mode. I had set a timer to give us a three minutes warning about the gate opening so that we could get into position. Two other vehicles could be seen already making a line. Either my timer was off, or they opened the gate early. I was disappointed I didn’t get to catch it on video, but didn’t stay that way long in the excitement of exploring another national park. The odometer said we were 1897 miles into our trip.

We did the well practiced pass and id card dance at the entry station and zipped down the road to the visitors center. We always learn new facts reading the exhibits at these places. Today, though, I connected two separate ideas while looking at a map. It showed the location of Petrified Forest in relation to the equator 6 million years ago.

You always hear how different the climate was back when dinosaurs roamed.  It wasn’t until today that I realized that it wasn’t the Earth’s climate that had changed, it was the tectonic shift of the land under the climate. In the last 6 million years Petrified Forest had shifted from being near the equator to its present location. Luckily, this process is slow and both people and animals have the ability to migrate if the climate doesn’t suit them.

The park movie was located in a different building than the visitors center so we walked over to watch it. This has become our routine in parks/monuments as well. We believe it helps us enjoy the park or monument more fully. They are usually beautifully done and located in air conditioned rooms. 

One of the points of interest is near the visitors center, Long Logs and the Agate House, so we moved Austin a little closer to the trailhead and did the 0.9 mile stroll looking at our first petrified wood and a pueblo made from it. It’s quite impressive how one broken up log can have so much variance in both color and texture.

Shar revisited the gift shop while I refilled our water bottles. She had spotted a towel of Arizona she wanted to buy for her mother. The map of the park indicated it should be comfortably done in a day, so we began point of interest hopping. Some were just quick jump out and looks, while some were short trails to an overlook. The beautiful Blue Mesa gave us an opportunity to use the “If a hike doesn’t show you anything new don’t do.” premise, skipping a mile loop hike. By 3:00 we had hit everything and had finished eating great Romaine lettuce sandwiches at the Painted Desert visitors center. This is located at the northern end of the Petrified Forest. We had made great time without sacrificing enjoyment, just not quick enough. Our next destination, Montezuma’s Castle, would be closed by the time we could get there. Once again I hadn’t checked the Itinerary close enough and had we boondocked at the northern end of Petrified Forest we would have been an hour+ closer and The Castle would have been still open. 

But when you have lemons, you make lemonade. We had some time to fill, and we filled it well. First up was getting ourselves clean. In the past we have done this by getting an AirBnB or hotel room. It’s a nice combo of getting clean and more comfortable bed. We have progressed greatly in our skoolie/van life traveling knowledge and have picked up a lot of tricks and tips along the way. One of the greatest tips of all is a Planet Fitness membership. I drove while Shar researched. She gave the gym in Flagstaff a call for information how members could change home gyms, but was told it was complicated. We felt disheartened. You could almost see the lightbulb above her head as Shar said “What about just signing up online?”  In no time she had the highest level membership at $25 a month, and the app necessary to enter the gym. Black Card benefits include a free guest, use of any location, and unlimited use of the Hydromassage bed. We were set and would save hundreds of dollars vs an AirBnB or hotel. 

We finished the drive, gathered up our new set of clothes and walked into the gym. Shar signed in with the app and got me signed in as well. A sign indicated a male was working in female locker room, so Shar tried the Hydromassage bed while I went to shower. She texted me raving about this gym feature and I tried it while she showered. Let me tell you, that alone would make the $25 a month membership fee worth it! I would stop everyday after work if Coos Bay had a Planet Fitness. You lay there, controlling hot water as it blasts against the waterproof membrane of the bed that you’re laying on. Pressure and speed are controlled by touching a screen. You can even pause the spray to work a specific location. It’s absolutely amazing!

Clean and refreshed we drove to the nearest laundromat to wash our clothes. On the way Shar gave into temptation and we stopped at a Starbucks. It had been so long I thought maybe she had broken the habit, but the Starbuck Siren Song is too hard to resist. 

At the laundromat I worked on the blog while Shar chatted up locals and learned a lot about area. We were done with laundry about 7:30 and began looking for somewhere convenient to set up the jetfoil. We were heating up a meal of mixed veggies, kielbasa chunks, a splash of heavy whip, and half a taco seasoning packet. We ended up on the sidewalk next to a community garden, eating dinner, and chatting with a young couple from Portland named Kamron and Alisha. Kamron had gotten a job in Flagstaff after finishing college, while Alisha was finishing up the University of Northern Arizona. After surviving several hard winters they were planning on heading back to Oregon, probably Astoria, as soon as she graduated. The idea of remaining in Arizona no longer appealed to them. 

We filled Austin’s gas tank and made our way down through the Sedona National Forest, then through Sedona itself. We were closing in on 10pm at this point and began looking for a camping spot. Nothing seemed solid on iOverlander until we were nearly to Cottonwood about 15 miles away. Discouraged we started trying our luck on a couple of side roads and found a dispersed camping area, with only a few other campers. Worn out from a long day we set Austin into Sleeping Mode.

Our luck wouldn’t hold for long though. We had just got into bed when we felt the mattress slowly deflate. We made sure it wasn’t a valve issue and tried refilling it. You could hear the air escape from what seemed a decent sized hole in the end of the mattress somewhere. We both had an uncomfortable night’s sleep, but we didn’t have any other options so late in the day. We weren’t far from the decent sized city of Cottonwood and they had a Walmart. Morning couldn’t come fast enough.

Places visited:

Petrified Forest Visitors Center exhibits

Petrified Forest Park video

Most of the viewpoints in the park

Painted Desert Visitors Center