Thousand Trails came thru for me! I was able to book seven nights at the Verde Valley park in Cottonwood Arizona. This is a great location, very much central Arizona, only an hour south of Flagstaff and just 30 minutes from Sedona. Best of all its only 1.5 hours to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, certainly making that doable as a day trip.
Leaving the Silver City area, I decided to make a quick overnight stop at the KOA campground in Holbrook, AZ keeping the miles down to only about 270 for the day.
I went via Highway 180 which is a very scenic drive, climbing up out of the Chihuahuan Desert to around 8000 feet astride the Black, Mogollon, Diablo, and Blue mountain ranges of the Gila National Forest.
In a bit of serendipity, a lovely roadside picnic area came into view that was timed just perfectly for a stop to break my fast. The Aldo Leopold picnic area has great views, picnic tables and a bathroom, the sun was shining and it was warm enough to enjoy a picnic, what more can you ask for?
Feeling refreshed I hit the road again and made my way towards Arizona.
This drive turned out to be one of my favorite so far on the trip. You know how some days everything just works right? The trailer was towing perfect, there was no traffic at all, and all the songs on the radio are your favorites. It was just one of those days. Great winding roads and stunning scenery; pine forests, alpine meadows and desolate snow capped mountain peaks. What more could I ask for?
Heading down from the mountains I saw a road sign for The Petrified Forest National Park which was completely not on my radar! Once I had cell signal I pulled off and did a quick bit of google research. It was still early afternoon so I would have plenty of daylight left to make a short detour and see the park today.
Usually I don’t like to visit parks or other things while towing since parking is a pain. But this looked like it would totally work out, I could go in the South entrance, stop at the visitor center and the scenic overlooks along Petrified Forest drive to see the sights and then exit the North entrance having seen both the Petrified forest and the painted desert with a bonus bit of Route 66 history thrown in for good measure!
While at the visitor center I even found my new favorite dinosaur! The “Smilosuchus gregorii” aka Phytosaur. I like to think its named after me. 😜
Petrified wood is so fascinating and this area has so much, entire groves of trees clumped together and petrified. And you get the painted desert vistas as you exit the park. Simply an amazing place!
Click on the sign for more photos.
Leaving the park just as the gates were closing for the day, I soon arrived in Holbrook at the KOA. Nothing special here, just a spot in the gravel parking lot for the night.
My next stop was just down I-40 and only 6 miles off the Interstate. Arizona’s famous Meteor crater! More than just a big hole in the ground, an interesting stop with some Apollo era NASA history thrown in for good measure.
Designated as a National Landmark, the site hosts the Barringer space museum and if you are a space geek it’s worth the visit. If your not then you can just check out my pictures in this album.
Back on the road feeling all full of cool space knowledge my next stop would be Winslow Arizona. Made famous for the line in the Eagles song “Take it easy”. I too would have to stand on a corner in Winslow Arizona…
Checked that one off the bucket list! Other than the photo opportunity and a couple of Route 66 gift shops there is NOTHING in Winslow, I can see why the guy in the song was happy to hop on the flatbed Ford, oh my lord…
Next post will feature the Grand Canyon!
Hey Its Gregg! 
I think that dinosaur was named after you. Give it a beard and you could be twins.
Nice photos.
LikeLiked by 2 people