High Canyon Walls /  by Dave Hileman

We did a slower day today. Checked out the laundry facility and vetoed it - try at Kanab later this week. Explored a bit of the town, bought food for two picnics, one today and one tomorrow at the Grand Canyon.

We chose to drive into the Oak Creek Canyon that is just south of Flagstaff. Perfect choice. The landscape is so pretty and dramatic as you descend nearly 2000 feet. First stop was at an outdoor Indian market where we bought a nice Navaho made ornament for the Christmas tree. Then to a picnic area where we had massive cliffs rising over us, birds everywhere, blue skies and spring green trees. It was about 68 degrees and no wind. Perfect. Then off to our hike on the West Fork trail. It took us past the remains of an old small inn built here in the thirties and visited by many famous people over the years. Sadly it burned in 1980. The hike was really nice with simply glorious scenery. If this were Zion it would have had hundreds of people hiking the trail but here we passed only a few. Lots of solitude to hear the steam and the wind in the trees and the great variety of birds. Merlin ID’d 24..

We gave Spike two days off (picnic, remember) so he could fly north to Kanab, our next stay spot and redeem himself with a decent ice cream choice. So, along with our picnic we sought out a Chick-fl-A for a quick dinner. Clearly we do need guidance.

Finished the day with a walk up the old Route 66 street in Williams. Lots of neon.

Tomorrow is going to be a Grand view.

Moving West Again /  by Dave Hileman

Breakfast was wonderful at the Pueblo Cultural Center. Jill had a blue corn meal porridge with nuts, seeds and fruit. I had Superfood pancakes - three massive ones. I gave one to Jill and ate one and a half of the remaining two. They also were made with blue corn meal and a host of healthy nuts and grains. Really good and this meal took care of lunch too, with the exception of a shared apple!

Off to the Painted Desert. Jill wrote in our log:

“The area for miles is flat prairie and then suddenly you are looking over a canyon that stretches for miles and miles. It is full of scrub covered rocky hills and valleys and the colors are those gorgeous desert shades of peach and salmon, red brick, lavender, indigo, sandy brown and gray. The grandeur of it is overwhelming. What God hath wrought!“

The wind was fierce the whole trip and tiring to drive with maximum concentration on the nearly five hour journey from Albuquerque to Williams. Nice to share the driving.

Our next stop was Walnut Canyon National Monument. This is a really cool place to visit and overlooked by most people who are here to see the Grand Canyon. Here you can walk the Island trail that takes you around a mile loop of an outcropping of the canyon that winds through the homes that were built under the overhanging rocks. (You get the added benefit of adding 800 stairs to your daily step count!) How these people lived was extraordinary. Water was obtained by a steep and long descent to the intermittent stream and carried by one clay pot at a time and stored in pottery vessels for the dry season. They farmed the flat land above, hunted and lived in a community of about 200-300 homes from around 1000 to 1250 and then abandoned the site. The people here merged into the Hopi but still revere the site and remember those “who stayed behind.”

Arrived in Williams at an unexpectedly large - read Disneyesque - hotel. Found a good dinner at the Pine Diner, once again Spike scores. The pie was so good that Spike is given a few days reprieve for not finding good ice cream. Still….

One of the overlooks at the Painted Desert

The VC at the Painted Desert portion of park was once a small hotel and restaurant and this is the restored 1940’s lunch counter.

Walnut Canyon

Did I mention the pancakes?

Amarillo Plus /  by Dave Hileman

Up early sort of and off to the Valles Caldera, a recent NPS National Monument. This is a stunning place with a 14 mile long stretch of some of the most fertile grazing land in NM. An active ranch until about 2000 it became part of the NPS a very few years later. Still under development but you don’t need to wait for beautiful views, wildlife viewing, miles and miles of hiking trails and much more. We arrived here by a back road up the mountains that provided gorgeous scenery. After the park, we took another small road to the back side of Los Alamos. Entrance by showing your ID! We walked a bit of the town, saw Bathtub row where the lead scientists lived, some of the town and a few buildings before heading down to Santa Fe. We enjoyed a bit of the main plaza and stumbled into another neat concert (like the one at the Orkney Islands last May). The Santa Fe Symphony Chorus and Chamber Orchestra doing a free concert in the St Francis of Assisi Cathedral. Lovely. Dinner was at the Sawmill - a food court. Jill and I split a very good puttanesca pasta. Spike is doing a good job on the food front, still no ice cream - his job is hanging by a thread.

Tomorrow after breakfast as the Pueblo Cultural Center we are off to Williams, Arizona. Stay tuned!

A small portion of the caldera. The barn c 1900 was used for sheep when this area grazed 30,000 of them before WWII.

Fan of Longmier? This is the house on the show, built about 1918 and used until 2003.

Another of the historic ranch houses, this one painted red, for Ruby, the housekeeper

Lots of these guys and a treat to watch.

This is the site of the main labs of the Manhattan Project, now a park

Wonderful concert in Santa Fe at the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi.

Oldest house in the US. Santa Fe, New Mexico

Amarillo /  by Dave Hileman

Amarillo always evokes a memory for me. First western trip with Cindy in 1976, we would camp one night and stay in a motel the next, usually. Our orange 1971 VW was packed! We arrived in Amarillo after dark, found a campground, set up and went somewhere to get a burger. Back at the campsite, very dark, climb into the sleeping bags in the orange nylon tent and then about 10 minutes later the tent shook, there was a horrible load roar and then spotlights bright as day lit up the tent. Turns out we were 200 yards from the end of the airport runway. Thankfully, only one more plane that night.

This trip was from Dallas, so we worked through a lot of traffic and developments for more than an hour, then things thinned out. As we went north the land flattened and the wind grew strong. Plus the added attraction of fires in the area provided a lot of smoke and haze. We stopped for a tour of the Goodnight Ranch. He was one of the first ranchers in the panhandle and accomplished a great deal and was well thought of by the people of the area as a kind and generous man. The Goodnight trail was one of the first cattle drives. His wife, Mary, also saved the southern Bison, by taking four or five young bison and bottle feeding them. Today’s herd is from her efforts.

We arrived in Amarillo and chose to eat dinner at the most touristy spot in the area, Big Texan. Jill did not try to eat the 72 ounce meal - good decision. The food here is decent. Steaks are excellent, sides a bit uneven - nothing bad and some really good, the rolls are nice too. Then off to our room and no planes overhead. Next day Santa h and the Vallas Caldera National Monumnet

The “Castle on the Plains” An 1880 home that was much grander than enyone expected in this area.

On to Dallas... /  by Dave Hileman

…where we were able to visit some of Jill’s family and friends I have known about for a long time but did not know well in person. It was a delightful time for both Jill and me.

We spent a bit of the morning walking around Hot Springs after an excellent breakfast at a diner that began operation in 1940! The list of well-known people who have eaten breakfast here is extensive.

Then off to Heath a part of the Dallas metro. Dinner was at their favorite family owned Mexican restaurant. You know it is likely good when the first thing inside the door is a room where you can watch the fresh tortillas being made. Great meal with a wonderful family. Aunt Jill was delighted to be with her brother and sister-in-law, her nephews and their families including a toddler and a baby about Mary Evelyn’s age.

The trip took awhile, lots of traffic, lots of construction and one place where we spent 25 minutes to go 3 miles.

A “don’t miss” recommendation by Spike! 🌵🌵🌵🌵🌵

Baby therapy for Jill :)

The Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs

Off to a Great Start /  by Dave Hileman

…for this jaunt to the American Southwest. We drove on day one to Hot Springs, Arkansas. There we stayed at the Arlington Hotel right downtown, easy walk to restaurants, the old bath house, NP sites and lots of bars. As well as the bubbling hot springs water the town is justly famous for. Our only stops were brunch with Jill’s sister in Nashville and at the pyramid under the bridge in Memphis. Fortunately I was able to rescue Jill from certain doom. No need for applause and medals, just what any standard hero would do, he stated modestly. Hot springs is a fascinating place full of history: this is where Spring Training began, horse racing, gambling, speakeasies flourished, and it was a haven for major criminals who declared this neutral ground so they drank, gambled and ate together instead of shooting each other. That always came AFTER they left town. I expected Hercule Poirot to emerge from the bath house or the dinning room and solve one of the many murders (not among the professional criminals) that occurred here over the years.

Next day we visit friends and family

Main dinning room at the Arlington hotel

Men’s sauna bath area

Women’s lounge and music room

The promenade which enabled you to travel to and from the bathhouses without having to walk on the main street.

Oh, yes, did I mention that I rescued Jill along the way?

Yes, We Are! /  by Dave Hileman

Two Lane Touring is saddling up and headed west. Posting starts on Saturday for the adventure. You might see a bit more of our new crew member, Spike. Spike is a native of the great Southwest and fluent in snacks. He is, of course, a Cactus Wren and able to lead into the most fabulous of the National Parks and lots more.

Loss /  by Dave Hileman

This statue is to recall the young men who died in WWI from this small village of Inveraray in Scotland. It sits along the harbor in a small park. How emotional and striking it would have been 100 years ago to those who knew and had lived among those who died in France. Now it is where you sit on a park bench and eat ice cream. But, perhaps, that is a part of why they fought.

Congratulations... /  by Dave Hileman

…to my beautiful and accomplished graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Addie is off to a new job in Los Angelos with her newly minted degrees in Business and Economics. I don’t know what adventures await her but I do know how proud I am of the young woman she has become. Go with love and prayers, Addie.

Oldest? /  by Dave Hileman

This church, but not, I think, this building claims to be the oldest of the Independent Christian church in Tennessee. The congregation began in 1812. Very early for a Christian Church as the Campbells did not even arrive in the US until about 1807. Still interesting.

A mere 55 years ago... /  by Dave Hileman

…Cindy and I were married. We shared a lot of love and life together and many of those times were hiking somewhere. Here she is in Acadia and the two of us a day or two later on the top of Penobscot, perhaps our favorite hike in Acadia NP.

Tide Pool after the Storm /  by Dave Hileman

Along the Atlantic side of Mt Desert Island and Acadia National Park the beauty of the coast after a storm. The sea is not quite calm, the rocks softly glowing reddish in the thin light and the captured pools teaming with life to explore as a cool breeze begins to still.

Deep Breathing /  by Dave Hileman

The air is crisp, clean and scented with the tang of many wildflowers. A lovely day to picnic on the Cherohala Skyway on the NC/TN border south of the Smoky Mountains.